The responsibility for protecting a horse from parasites is one every horse owner faces. Horses have worms… all of them do. The good news is that it can be kept under control with property management. Manure removal, practicing good sanitation measures, bot egg removal, and keeping to a good schedule are a must. Not doing so can take a staggering toll on a horse’s health, even resulting in death. Follow your recommended guidelines for your horse’s weight. Avoid using a product with the same product every time you worm. The active product ingredient should be rotated. Regular worse of paste wormers is an easy way to reduce paste wormers of your horse. It is a part of good horse keeping that should not be overlooked.
The frequency of giving your horses worming medicine depends on how frequent their contact with other horses they're not pastured with is, and how good their pasture management is. Horses with poor pasture management, and/or frequent contact with horses they're not pastured with should be given worm medicine on a rotational basis every 6-8 weeks. Horses with good pasture management and little or no contact with horses they're not pastured with may get by with being given worm medicine every 3 or 4 months on a rotational basis. [Note: This assumes you worm all horses pastured together at the same time.
I believe a good, safe worming program will incorporate fenbendazole, ivermectin and pyrantel pamoate on a rotation basis. At NorthWest Horse Park we feel the important of a strong worming program is essential to healthy horses. To ensure horses are on the same schedule and similar program, a rotation worming program is included for all horses in their boarding agreement. A schedule is followed to include:
JANUARY – Fenbendazol
MARCH – Ivermectin/ Praziquantel
JUNE – Pyrantel Pamoate
SEPTEMBER – Ivermectin
DECEMBER – Pyrantel Pamoate
Specific dates are not established as the delivery dates depends on the year and freeze/ thaw occurrence. If horse owners prefer to not have their horses placed on a worming schedule, they can be omitted if quarterly fecal counts are provided to NorthWest Horse Park from licensed veterinarian.
Some chose to use a daily wormer for better coverage. The daily wormer would need to be supplemented with, at least, ivermectin (in fall, after a good freeze), as pyrantel tartrate daily wormer doesn't kill bots. A twice yearly course of fenbendazole, double dose according to the horse's weight for 5 days in a row, is needed to eliminate encysted small strongyle larvae. A twice yearly treatment with pyrantel pamoate, double dose according to horse's weight for two days in a row, *or* 10 times the normal daily dose of pyrantel tartrate daily worm medicine for two days in a row, will be necessary to eliminate tapeworms.
Please note that if you give a horse that has a lot of worms an effective purge type worm medicine (any commercially available worm medicine other than the daily wormer), so many worms can die at once that it can clog up the horses veins, heart, lungs and other parts of the body (what part of the body depending on the type of worm) with dead worms and cause the horse a lot of suffering, maybe even kill it.
What do each of these drugs do?
ivermectin - kills everything except encysted small strongyle larvae & tapeworms.
pyrantel (pamoate, tartrate) - kills everything except bots & encysted small strongyle larvae (double dose of pyrantel pamoate paste for two days in a row, dosage according to horse's weight, is required to eliminate tapeworms.
oxibendazole - wide spectrum, safe and effective dewormer. does not kill bots.
fenbendazole - kills everything except bots (double dose according to horse's weight for 5 days in a row required to eliminate encysted small strongyle larvae & tapeworms). The least expensive way to use fenbendazole probably is to purchase Panacur granules
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