Dalehead Equine Veterinary Practice

Equine Worming Program

Download PDF Worming Program (PDF 103kb)

Worming programme 2009

Worm Egg Counts

We recommend that you have a faecal worm egg count at least once a year, to monitor the effectiveness of your worming programme. These are FREE!! If you regularly buy your wormers from us, if you do not regularly buy wormers from us then the counts cost £7.79 including V.A.T.

Worming Guide

The correct dose of wormer should be given for the weight of your horse. The weight can be estimated using a weigh band around the girth. As a rough guide, a 12.2hh Welsh pony will weigh 250-275kgs and a 15.2hh middleweight hunter around 500kgs. If you are unsure of your horse’s weight, it is better to overdose than underdose as most wormers are very safe, but be careful with Equest which should not be overdosed or given to foals. Most syringes contain enough to treat a 600kg horse and one sachet will normally treat a 300kg pony. All horses in one field are best wormed at the same time. We recommend a worm egg count from a small droppings sample once a year to check for any worm resistance. Good pasture management including weekly dung removal is an important part of worm control.

Strategic worming

Regular worm egg counts coupled with a blood test to detect tapeworms can be used to reduce the frequency of worming by treating horses only when necessary. If no eggs are detected then re-sample at 3 monthly intervals each year. A tapeworm blood test may be taken annually.

If you have any queries about this worming guide please call us on
01729 823538.