Your Guide to Graded
& Approved Competition Stallions
Worming the young & breeding horse
Important Things To Know About Worming.
Worming your horse is important, as they commonly destroy your horse’s organs and cause serious, sometimes fatal, health issues. So, making sure you are worming your horse at least 2x a year is necessary for maintaining his health.
Type of Worms:
There are many different parasites that are in the grass and hay that your horse is eating; your horse is at risk for getting many different types of worms. Dewormers will only work to eliminate the specific type of worms that it is meant to kill. This is why following the rotation of the wormers is important because if you continuously worm for one specific type of worm, your horse will likely get an infestation of the other worms that you are not worming for. Here are some of the most common types of worms in horses:
Pinworms
in Horses
Your
horse can pick up pinworm eggs from bedding, water, and feed. They can also
be exposed to the eggs from brushes or grooming materials, a tail wrap, or even
inside the stall or on fencing. If another horse has these worms, your horse
will likely get them. These will cause your horse to have itching around his
rear end.
Tapeworms
in Horses
Tapeworms
are one of the most common types of worms. Horses will pick them up while they
are grazing, as they will pick up mites from the plants. From there, they will
stay inside their intestine and are able to live off the food. The most common
symptoms of tapeworms are mild colic and diarrhea.
Bots
in Horses
You’ve likely seen the evidence of bot flies, as we do our best to use a bot knife and remove the eggs from our horse’s legs and bodies during the warmer weather. After the eggs are laid on their bodies, horses can ingest the eggs when they lick themselves. These parasites will also live in the intestine and can cause mild colic and poor health.
Ascarids
or Roundworms in Horses
These worms are some of the most dangerous, especially to foals and horses under the age of two. This is because ascarid larvae migrate into the blood vessels and go into to horse’s the lungs and liver when ingested. Like most worms, these worms will live in the small intestine. Since the larvae goes through the lungs, many young horses suffer from a respiratory disease, colic, and have a hard time gaining weight.
Bloodworms
(Small and Large Strongyles) in Horses
These worms are Ingested by horses when eating grass in pastures. The blood worm eggs will hatch and climb on the grass blades where they are then swallowed by the horse when grazing. Both old and young horses are at risk for these worms to burrow into their intestines, which cause diarrhea, colic, weight loss, and a general overall poor condition. Then, once the bloodworms mature, they are very dangerous. They will damage organs and weaken a horse’s abdominal artery walls. The most common symptoms include colic, weight loss, and diarrheoa.
Threadworms
in Horses
Threadworms
are another worm that is highly dangerous, especially to foals and young horses.
These young horses can be infected when nursing from their infected mother with
larvae. From here, the worms live in the intestinal tract, causing weakness
and diarrhea in young horses.
The
age of the Horse Matters When Worming:
Foals need to be dewormed initially at 1 – 2 months of age. After that, you’ll want to continue worming this foal every 30 – 60 days until he/she is 1 year old. Then, once your foal hits a year old, he can move forward with a routine worming schedule, as discussed above.
Moxidectin Paste and Praziquanteles: Removes and controls small and large strongyles, pinworms, ascarids, stomach worms, hairworms, and bot.
Ivermectin Paste and Praziquantel: Removes and control small and large strongyles, hairworms, pinworms, lungworms, stomach worms, bots, and ascarids.
Pyrantel Pamoate: Removes and control small and large strongyles, pinworms and roundworms.
Fenbendazoles: Removes and controls small and large strongyles, pinworms and ascarids.
Pyrantel Tartrate (Daily Dewormers): Provides continuous protection from small and large strongyles, pinworms and ascarids.
Horse’s Weight and Dosage When Worming
You will want to have an accurate weight estimate for your horse to determine how much wormer your horse needs. Each wormer has specific instructions on it that will let you know how many grams your horse needs. Read the instructions carefully so that you do not under or overdose. Check with your vet if you have any specific questions about these wormers or dosage. Worming your horse is important, as they commonly destroy your horse’s organs and cause serious, sometimes fatal, health issues. So, making sure you are worming your horse at least 2x a year is necessary for maintaining his health.
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