By: Worming Your Horse Info
Worming Your Horse
“Now is the time of year to treat your horse for encysted small redworms,”
advise the experts at Pfizer Animal Health.
These parasites are the most common worms found in horses today. They can pose a very serious health risk to your horse and it’s important to make sure that they are treated properly during the autumn or early winter.To encourage owners to dose their horses accurately this season Pfizer is giving away a free equine weigh tape with every purchase of Equest™ & Equest Pramox™* - the only wormers in the UK that treat encysted small redworm in a single dose.
Using a weigh tape to work out your horse’s weight helps you to avoid under dosing, which increases the risk of resistance development.
Small redworms can grow up to 2.5cm in length and are thin and reddish in colour. Small redworm eggs are passed in the faeces and then hatch on pasture and continue to develop into more advanced larval stages before being ingested by the horse as it grazes.
The larvae burrow deeply into the wall of the gut where they encyst and may account for up to 90% of the redworm burden in your horse. Encysted small redworm will not show up in a Faecal Worm Egg Count - even if your horse has shown a negative or low count it could still be harbouring several million encysted small redworms.
Encysted small redworms can remain dormant inside a horse for up to two years, but they usually ‘wake-up’ in late winter or early spring, developing and emerging from the gut wall all at the same time.
In severe infestations mass emergence can lead to a disease syndrome known as ‘larval cyathostominosis’, causing diarrhoea and colic with up to a 50% mortality rate. Young horses of less than six years of age are likely to be at higher risk of the disease but small redworm can cause life-threatening illness at any time of year and in any age of horse.
“Treating encysted small redworms successfully in the late autumn or early winter is important to avoid the risk of larval cyathostominosis"
