Worming Horses in the Spring

It is important to keep horse free from illness and as a horse owner you need a plan of action for controlling worms. The parasite life cycles that can affect your horse are linked to the seasons. So your worming schedule should take into account the time of year.
Table of contents
Why do I need a seasonal worming schedule for horses? What do I need to worry about in Spring?What worms do I treat for in the spring?Tapeworms Encysted small red wormRed worms Bots How to perform FWECWhat should I do before giving the wormer?How do I give a wormer?

Why do I need a seasonal worming schedule for horses?
As a responsible horse owner it is important to consider the problem of resistance. There is an increasing threat of worms becoming resistant to the chemical ingredients which are in the wormers.
It is no longer acceptable to dose all horses routinely throughout the year.
It is more and more acceptable to dose correctly as little as possible but as much as necessary. This can be achievable by assessing every horse individually always practising good pasture management and using faecal worm egg counts FWECs appropriately.
What do I need to worry about in Spring?
This is when encysted small red worms mature and emerge from the large intestine damaging the gut wall. This can cause health problems for your horse including weight loss diarrhoea colic and sometimes death.
Ideally if you have tested or treated effectively over the winter months you shouldnt have a problem. But it is important to remember that if your horse is experiencing unexplained health conditions it is vital to contact your vet immediately.
Spring is the perfect time to start faecal worm egg counts FWECs to identify horses needing treatment. It is important to remember that FWECs are never 100 accurate. The reason for this is because not all parasites eggs are easily detectable and some parasite stages dont lay eggs.
The number of eggs produced by parasites will vary from horse to horse even if they have the same level of worm burden. But FWECs can show if the horse has a high burden and can also show the horses passing shedding the most eggs and contaminating the pasture which is very important to know.
What worms do I treat for in the spring?
Treat your horse in spring for
Tapeworms
Treating at the beginning and end of your grazing season at roughly six months apart is usually