Is it Possible to Deworm Your Horse Too Often?
Worms can be very dangerous for the health of your horse and it is very important to keep treating with equine wormers sothat the worm population can be kept under control. However, make sure that you are sticking to the recommended scheduleand not worming your horse any more than is necessary, as this can be harmful as well.
The problem with using horse wormers, such as Equest, too often is that they become less effective. The more the worms are exposed to the chemical, the more they build up a tolerance for it, much like a person who drinks often and requiresmore alcohol to become intoxicated. The worms which build up a resistance to the equine wormers are the ones that breed,passing on these resistant traits. This will result in a strain of worms that are immune to the treatment and can no longer be killed.
How to Prevent Worm Resistance
There are a few things that you need to keep in mind in order to avoid setting up conditions in which worms can become resistant to treatment. Here are some tips:
• Rather than use so many dewormers, make sure that you are also looking at the big picture which includes pasturemanagement. Clean your pastures out regularly and make sure you rotate horses into different pastures.
• You should also make sure that when you are feeding your horse, the hay or grain is lifted off the ground where it isless likely to become infested with parasites.
• Don’t give your horses Equestwormers more often than the dosage recommended by your vet. Giving your horse more of the treatment doesn’t always mean fewer worms.
• Don’t just go on autopilot and keep giving your horse the same treatment year after year. Make sure that you are doing periodic faecal egg counts so that you are aware of the level of parasites within your horse and can adjust your treatment accordingly. You might need to lower or raise the amount you administer or change the type of medicine.
• Treat each of your horses individually. No two horses will have the same immune system and it is possible that one of your horses might have built up more of a resistance than the others. Therefore they might be harbouring moreparasites in their system.
• The key is to perform the minimum amount of worming possible in order to keep your horse healthy. Doing more is not necessarily always better.
It is possible to deworm your horse too often and this can lead to the worms and other parasites within your animal buildingup a resistance to equine wormers. Keep these tips in mind when developing an Equesthorse wormer program so that youcan prevent this from happening.
When you are developing your Equest horse worming program, be careful not to give your horse too much medicine or itwill lose its effectiveness in treating worms.
