Get your new horse's worming right

Get your new horse's worming right Summer's long days and milder weather make it one of the most tempting times to take on a new horse but the overall health of the new arrival should never be overlooked. The impact of worms should be one of the first issues to consider, not least because your new horse's health status could pose a serious risk to other horses on the yard. Pfizer, manufacturer of Strongid-P, has provided some crucial tips to help you get your new horse's worming programme right, for the healthiest start on a new yard. "A new horse is capable of bringing high levels of worms into the yard, with the added horror that maybe these worms are resistant to one of the types of worming treatment available. This means they could be tough to get rid of and could cause ongoing problems for the entire yard," warns Ben Gaskell BVSc MRCVS, Veterinary Adviser at Pfizer Animal Health. Ben advises that prevention is always better than cure. The ideal scenario is to obtain a detailed medical history of your new horse at purchase, including the past year of the horse's worming regime, which should specify the frequency of worming and the type of wormer used on each occasion.

Sadly the new horse usually arrives with no medical history. This means a faecal egg count is needed to assess the current worm burden, devise the most suitable worming treatment and decide how his treatment can be best integrated into the yard's general worming programme. Your new horse should be kept stabled for around 48 hours after it has been wormed to avoid contamination of shared grazing.

Worms vary from season to season so it is important to remember that a faecal egg count is only a snapshot of the worms in your horse at that particular moment. It is crucial to monitor the new horse carefully during the following year, with regular faecal egg counts and advice from your vet, so that a full picture is obtained. As your worming programme improves, testing can become less frequent.

It's also important to remember that tapeworm can't be identified by a faecal egg count. They can only be traced via a blood test carried out by your vet. It is advisable to work a twice-yearly tapeworm treatment into your worming programme as a matter of course if this blood test isn't carried out.

Ben's final piece of advice is not to forget good pasture management. He says: "Keeping your grazing in good order will help significantly with your overall worm management programme. Collect droppings on a daily basis, keep stocking densities low, rotate and rest your fields regularly and graze other stock such as sheep or cattle on the land. These measures will all help to reduce contamination and the exposure of horses to infective larvae."  

Look out for Strongid-P's Love Your Horse leaflets. They are available free of charge from your local tack shop, saddler or feed merchant. Make sure you get hold of your set to help you plan the best worming regime to keep your horse in peak condition.  For further information call 01737 331333 Option 2 or email Strongid-P@pfizer.com

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