New research has shown that current horse worming protocols are not effective in preventing the development of resistance and often result in over-worming of horses. Previous worming recommendations involve rotating between drug classes and worming each horse every 6-8 weeks.

However, the latest information puts horse owners in aposition to potentially save a lot of money by implementing 'Strategic Worming'. It is impossible to totally eradicate all worms and there is a huge variation in the number and type of worms that an individual horse will carry. 

Strategic Worming instead aims to minimise their impact on the horse whilst also reducing the development of resistance to the currently available drugs by worming only as often as each horse requires.

Horses can be split into three categories

• High shedders of worm eggs
• Medium shedders
• Low shedders

The best strategy for worming your horse depends on which category they fall into. Low shedders only need to be wormed twice a year with appropriate wormers, whereas higher shedders may need worming much more often.

Faecal Egg Counts are used to see which group your horse/s fall into.  This is a very simple test that we can perform at the clinic, simply ask us how.  It’s not necessary to do this test prior to every worming, once a year is generally enough to ensure the worming program is effective.