Good pasture management and animal husbandry techniques will also help to reduce your reliance on chemicals to control your horse’s worm burden. Follow these simple guidelines and read some of our more in-depth articles (below or right) to help keep your horses and their grazing environment as healthy as possible.
- Keep horses with the same grazing companions for herd stability. Rest and rotate grazing and don’t overcrowd fields.
- Poo-pick at least twice a week to keep parasite levels down and try to leave some fresh dung piles to help dung beetles do their bit too!
- Cross graze pasture with other species eg. sheep.
- Keep new horses separate until tested and treated accordingly.
- Don’t worm and move; after worming ensure horses stay on the same pasture for a few days to help slow down resistance.
- When first starting on a targeted worm control programme all horses should be tested when worming is due or slightly overdue so as to get a true result.
- Check for resistant worms; if a positive result is found, treat the horse then sample again in about 10-14 days. If the wormer has been effective the second count should be either ‘no eggs seen’ or very low.