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HorseAdvice.com » Horse Care » Worms, Deworming, Parasite Control » Deworming Schedules » |
Discussion on Advice on my deworming schedule | |
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Member: Erinport |
Posted on Friday, Apr 22, 2005 - 3:43 pm: Hi All-Wow, this is a popular, and confusing, topic. Everyone seems to have their own opinions, some educated, some based solely on experience, some due to what they've read or heard from others. I have set a deworming schedule based on a bit of all of these. I've done a lot of research on the internet, read tons of posts on this website, talked to vets, talked to my trainer, etc. Just when I think I've got it down, some thread on this website tells me that I'm doing something wrong! Ugh! So, instead of adjusting it again, I'll give you all my personal deworming schedule, and let you go town with your opinions about it, including you, Dr. O. First let me start by telling you about my horse keeping situation. I have two geldings in a (approximately) 6-acre pasture. There is a stock pond for water and a run-in loafing shed. My parents have three mares in an adjacent pasture, also about 6 acres. The two pastures are separated by a ten-foot lane between them. The mare pasture also has a stock pond and loafing shed. Our horses are on 24/7 turn out, and are never stabled. The pasture is primarily fescue, unfortunately. We keep it cut as short as possible in the spring, and we've never had problems. We always have hay bales available for them, again, primarily fescue. They are not grained daily, but only occasionally. No, it's not the ideal horse-keeping situation, but it's the one we have. And it's pretty typical of a Southeast Missouri farm. My worming, on the two geldings, is as follows: January 1 - Moxidectin (Quest) March 1 - Fenbendazole (Safe Guard) May 1 - Ivermectin/Praziquantel (Zimectrin Gold) July 1 - Pyrantel Pamoate (Strongid P) Sept 1 - Oxibendazole (Anthelcide EQ) Nov 1 - Ivermectin (Eqvalan, Panacur, or something similar) My parents worm the mares in a somewhat more haphazard fashion, usually with some cheap form of Ivermectin, and whenever it occurs to them. I would imagine that they frequently miss wormings, as they don't keep very good records. All of the mares appear a bit pot-bellied to me, but it could be because they're not exercised enough. My geldings look to be in excellent condition, especially having just come off winter. I have never done any kind of stool testing for worms or eggs, and wouldn't know the first thing about it. So I truly don't know if my worming regimen is working or not. They appear healthy, are eating well, and have passed vet exams with flying colors. If I'm sticking to my regimen on the geldings, but the mares are not really on a regimen (just being wormed intermittently), am I wasting my time? Or will the boys be okay? Am I using any brands or formulations that throws up a red flag for anyone? Am I treating the appropriate parasites at the appropriate times of the year? Worming is such a complex issue, and there is so much conflicting information out there, it's really hard to settle on, and stick with, a regimen that I can feel confident with. Any comments and/or advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks! Erin |
Moderator: DrO |
Posted on Saturday, Apr 23, 2005 - 8:06 am: Erin your questions are addressed in the article, Care for Horses » Deworming & Parasite Control » Overview of Deworming including how to test if you have a problem or not. Usually haphazard deworming does not give good results.DrO |