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Deworming Schedules
Deworming Schedules for Horses
Introduction
This is a companion article to the Deworming Overview article. In Deworming Overview we cover general principles, important management considerations, testing your horse for parasites, and how to administer a paste to deworm your horse. In this article we have distilled down the information from that article to create effective schedules based on different management situations, pregnancy, and age. If you have questions about these recommendations, or wonder why your favorite dewormer is not listed below, review the Deworming Overview article where the logic of these schedules are discussed,
...more.
This topic contains 5 different deworming programs:
- Parasitologists Recommendation
- Program for adult horses where all horses are dewormed together
- Program for adults which are difficult keepers or situations where horses are on contaminated pastures.
- Program for Foals
- Deworming the Debilitated Horse
Parasitologist Recommendation: the best program
Parasitologists have long recommended that the best way to deworm is to pay attention to proper management considerations and base the deworming practices on the results of fecal tests. By avoiding the frequent use of dewormers it is thought that resistance will develop slower. Recent large studies support the idea that selective use of athelmintics, based on fecal egg counts, do preserve the efficacy of the dewormer. Using this program can save money in the long run by decreasing the amount of dewormer administered and less colic treatments.
Good Management
You should start this program by instituting good management practices:
- A stable population of horses where there is no exposure to new horses without them being checked for parasites and dewormed with a moxidectin product 21 days prior to introduction to the herd.
- Manure is thoroughly composted before spread on pasture.
- Pasture has a good stand of grass with minimal bare wet areas. Areas of the pasture heavily contaminated with feces are regularly cleaned up.
- Frequently remove bot eggs from the horse...more.
Determine Your Parasite Seasons
Divide your year up into four 3-month long seasons based roughly on average day time temperatures. The exact month where your seasons begin will differ somewhat depending on your latitude and altitude. The following temperatures are averages for the month:
Most commercially available products provide these dosages when the horses proper weight is dialed up on the syringe. The one exception may be some preparations of fenbendazole. This dosage is only available in the Panacur Powerpack at the time of this writing.
- Hot Season: day time temperatures exceed 85 degrees F
- 2 Moderate Seasons (spring and fall): day time temperatures between 45 and 85 degrees F
- Cold Season: day time temperatures less than 45 degrees F
Deworm Using The Appropriate Season's Product
| Beginning of the Warm-Moderate Season (Spring): | moxidectin (0.4 mg/kg body weight). If pastures are not regularly swept move the horses 3 days following deworming to summer pasture and drag the winter pasture. |
|
Beginning of the Hot Season: (daytime temperature exceeds 85 degrees); |
pyrantel pamoate (1.36 mg/kg body weight) |
| Beginning of the Cool-Moderate Season (Fall): | ivermectin (200 mcg/kg body weight) with praziquantel (1 mg/kg body weight). If pastures are not regularly swept move the horses 3 days following deworming to winter pasture and drag the summer pasture. |
|
Beginning of the Cold Season: (daytime temperatures are less than 45 degrees); |
larvicidal dose fenbendazole (10 mg/kg body weight daily over 5 consecutive days) |
Determine Your Need to Deworm
At the beginning of a new season consider the need for deworming for this period:
- Run fecal float tests on horses and if the fecal egg count is greater than 150 eggs per gram of stool administer anthelmintic to the horses so effected. Not all horses may need treatment (see the Overview Article for more on this). Identify individuals that seem to have much larger than average egg counts and mark them for a recheck half way through the season and possible repeat of deworming with that seasons product at that time.
- Consider other signs of parasite problems that may not show up in a fecal:
- How often you should test your horses will depend on how infected your horses are and how sure you are about your pasture contamination situation. In heavily parasitized and/or heavily contaminated pastures consider a year of aggressive deworming before rechecking is sensible as horses are likely to remain exposed and positive until the pasture and horses are cleaned up. Moderate levels of infection should be checked at least twice yearly. As time goes on and patterns of parasite egg recovery are discovered fewer fecals should be required. After two negative fecals a once yearly check should be adequate.
- There may be some concern about the cost of running fecals so often but experiments with the use of this program have found that by treating based on fecal results you may reduce anthelmintic use by as much as 80%. In large herds you can consider pooling samples of those groups of horses who have established themselves with similar patterns of egg count recovery.
Yearlings and Adults: A Basic Deworming Program
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