Month: October 2016

Targeted Equine Worming Programme in action

We have had a targeted equine worming programme in action since 2010. In 2013 a cool phone app was released that has allowed me to monitor my targeted equine worming programme in action. Following on from my last post, I thought it might be interesting for readers if I shared just one of our horse’s worming record over these last few years.

Paddy- 17 year old ISH

March 2013- new yard                               Ivermectin/Praziquantel

June 2013                   test 50 eggs              NO DOSE NEEDED

Sept 2013                    test 150 egg

Tape weak pos         DOSE DEFERRED to wait for frost

Dec 2013                     encysted redworm Moxidectin/Praziquantel

March 2014                test 0 eggs                  NO DOSE NEEDED

Aug 2014                     test 0 eggs

Tapeworm neg          NO DOSE NEEDED

Dec 2014                     encysted redworm  Moxidectin

March 2015                test 50

Tapeworm neg          NO DOSE NEEDED

July 2015                     test 0                            NO DOSE NEEDED

Nov 2015                     Tape positive             Ivermectin/Praziquantel

Feb 2016                      encysted redworm  Moxidectin

May 2016                     test 0                            NO DOSE NEEDED

Sept 2016                     test 0                            NO DOSE NEEDED

Tapeworm pos           Praziquantel

DEC 2016                  Will need worming for encysted redworm-

I will use Moxidectin as only moxidectin or febendazole deal with encysted redworm and there is well documented resistance to febendazole.

So there you have it- a real targeted equine worming programme in action. My testing dates aren’t perfect; life can get in the way for all of us.  Looking at this record also made me realise that I have used a lot of Moxidectin (Equest). As this is the only wormer left for Strongyles with no recorded resistance in the UK or Ireland we should probably use it as sparingly as possible to preserve its’ effectiveness for the future.  So I should use more straight Ivermectin, or even Febendazole or Mebendazole with a resistance test following dosing. By testing more or less regularly for tapeworm I have given 4 worming doses for Tapeworm out of a possible 8. By doing regular Faecal Egg Counts I have avoided 8 doses for redworm.

Why bother? Why not just worm and be done with it?

Well, wormers are essentially a poison- they are designed to kill worms but do also have other deleterious effects on the gut flora and the immune system. The horse’s hooves show event lines after worming, particularly with combination wormers, a sure sign that there is a systemic inflammatory effect reflected in the hooves.

Most horses don’t need regular worming. In a stable herd, 2/3 at least have a basic resistance to redworm and don’t build up high intestinal populations quickly. Why worm the horses that don’t have worms?

Emerging resistance will be a problem for all of us. In modern hospital there are superbugs which only a few select antibiotics can beat. Some of those select antibiotics were released years ago, unpopular initially because they were not particularly effective,  and are now back in favour because their lack of widespread use meant that the common bugs didn’t get over-exposed to them and so didn’t mutate to resist their effects. Once resistance becomes a problem drug companies are less incentives to release new drugs 15 years ago a newly developed antibiotic would quickly sell a billion doses, now a new antibiotic is kept in reserve, to prevent resistance and to save the lives of those infected with multi-resistant organisms. There may well come a time where bowel cancer surgery becomes high risk again despite amazing technical advances because we cannot eliminate infection. The same will happen with wormers- new compounds are likely to be kept for best and as such are much less profitable and therefore slower to be developed and released.

Testing can be expensive. I pay £11.50 for FEC and £17.50 for Tapeworm saliva tests. If the horse then needs worming that month is expensive. But most of the time, testing is cheaper than just worming. It’s very unusual for more than 1 horse to need worming after testing. This year none needed worming in May, two of 4 didn’t need anything this time and the other 2 needed a dose for either redworm or tapeworm but not both.

I hope I have demonstrated that it’s worth thinking about a implementing a targeted equine worming programme.

Getting ready for a barefoot winter

Getting ready for a barefoot winter- are you ready?

Getting ready for a barefoot winter; because it can be a gruesome time when your horses live out in a herd in a field. Last year there was a fortnight when I didn’t actually see the horses in daylight at all; luckily we have a lady who pooh picks, necessarily a daytime actvity, and she helped to keep an eye on them. I remember taking flash photos on my phone at feeding time to check them over, as well as making good use of the phone torch option.

Getting ready for a barefoot winter; we have promised ourselves to be better prepared this year. We have put some pea gravel down around the hay feeder so Gill doesn’t have to do the gloopy mud dance with the wheelbarrow. We each slipped at least once in the mud last year, although there were no full festival style face plants. We have made a short track going onto the field from the gate for the haylage deliveries; the truck can drive on, drop the bales and they are stored in an electric fence square next to the gravelled feed area- luxury indeed. There is still a churned up area in the corner of the field from the tractor deliveries last winter.

We have done our autumn worm counts and saliva tests. Four horses had four different results. One clear, two weakly positive for tapeworm, one with a medium redworm count. Typically Con, the loan horse who was due to go home, was the clear one, and it was our three that needed treating. So two wormed with Equitape and one with Strongid- P. They will all get wormed again for encysted redworm once the temperature drops and we will worm count and saliva test again in Spring. Since we started doing targeted worming 3 years ago, I have only had to worm for tapeworm once about 18months ago and the two old horses have consistently low faecal egg counts. We saliva test twice a year and egg count three times a year. We use Westgate labs for all our test kits, resonably priced, fabulous service, very prompt resuts and great advice over the phone.

http://www.westgatelabs.co.uk/info

Rocky is 4 now and still seems to have a susceptibility to redworm; I guess he will be the one in the herd that often needs worming. By testing and doing targeted worming we are doing our bit to slow the spread of drug resistent parasites in our area.

Apparently there is an ELISA test for encysted redworm in development: in theory we could get to a situation where none of the horses need worming for years at a time once that is available.

We have also weight-taped all the horses and, a great suggestion from a friend, I also have a selection of condition photos to allow for comparison as winter drags on.

And finally, we have acquired a new horse. Gary has an ex-racer called Beat to go hunting on. He tried him with 3 shoes on, the horse then arrived with no back shoes and actually seems to be coping quite well. We will aim to transition him in Spring once hunting is over, as Gary wants to crack on and have some fun first.

Rocky is cantering under saddle and stomping around the forest. Cal has had some foot X-rays and a combined consultation with a trimmer and a holistic barefoot friendly vet. I’m still porcessing all the information and gathering more advice to see if we can come up with new ideas to get his feet going better.

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Spot the shiny new Scoot Boot on the other foot 🙂

And the super  Equisafety Mercury jacket- my favourtie piece of equatrian clothing. No one can say they haven’t seen you!!

So lots of stuff to report on over the next few weeks I hope.

Getting ready for a barefoot winter- bring it on!!

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