For horse owners scooping horse poop is part of everyday life. Whether you’re mucking out stalls or practicing manure management on your horse pasture by picking piles, you are always pitching in to clean up.
Two horses sharing the scoop about parasites and poop
By establishing a baseline with a fecal worm egg count, it is straightforward to develop a tailored deworming plan for each horse in your herd.
© 2018 by Paul
Between ‘room service’ rounds, it pays to scoop up some horse poop into a horse worm egg count sampling kit, and do some detective work. Wouldn’t you like to know which horses are carrying which worms and how many, before you grab yet another stack of horse dewormers from the tack room and blindly administer your horses some random chemicals they may not even need?
Each horse is unique thus each horse will require a different deworming plan. By establishing a baseline with a fecal worm egg count, it is straightforward to develop a tailored deworming plan for each horse in your herd.
The American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP) considers fecal egg count tests the best method to assess the parasite burden in horses to identify the frequency of treatment needed.
While Spring and Fall are a good time to paste deworm for bots and tapeworms, the FECT, or fecal egg count test will identify the roundworms and small/large strongyles worm egg count in your equine population.
With foals and horses under three years of age, the prevalence of roundworms is higher than in the adult horse population and these horses are particularly at risk, so doing your due diligence and checking for microscopic worm eggs is imperative.
With over 34 species of strongyles, the majority of parasitic damage in horses is the stronghold of the small and large strongyle worm. Amazingly some horses pass as many as 5000 strongyle egg/gram of stool. When you see the dew on the pasture, picture that a drop of dew taken from one blade of grass may contain as many as 100 infective larvae. Frightening for sure!
While the advent and administration of Ivermectin knocked the large strongyle population on the head, today scientists are seeing increased resistance in small stronglye worms to present day dewormers. The small strongyle worm has been shown to be responsible for certain colic cases, so it is smart to find out whether you have a dewormer resistant worm population on your pastures and harbored in one or more of your horses.
Put your Sherlock Holmes tweed cap on and get online and purchase some sampling kits. The FECT kits come with a prepaid return envelope that you can just pop in the mail after you have scooped a tiny amount of fresh manure into the plastic container and added your name/address and horse’s name to the package. As oxygen causes eggs to hatch, it’s a good idea to stuff the little plastic container full with the use of the tiny plastic spoon that comes in the kit and you can throw out afterward.
Within a few days your detective work will be completed at the laboratory and a worm egg count completed under a microscope to show which worm eggs your horse is actually shedding if any, and a report will be provided. But the case is not closed!
Armed with this diagnosis, you can now deftly administer the right dewormer paste to hit the right type of worm and minimize the chances of dewormer resistant worms in your horse herd by not overmedicating.
Some horses may need no treatment at all, while for others you may treat and then repeat test to ensure that you have achieved the 90% reduction in egg count that should easily be attained with one treatment. The frequency of repeat testing will depend on the results found in the baseline and a good laboratory will make educated suggestions for your particular needs.
If you repeat test and that reduction is not accomplished then you know you are dealing with a dewormer resistant horse worm population.
What should you do next? Consult with a veterinary professional who is experienced in the field of equine parasitology. When you purchase your testing kits online check that the vendor or laboratory offers a direct line to chat with a qualified vet, so that you can have your questions answered promptly by a professional that has specialist experience and focus on horse parasites, and is up to date on the latest protocols.
This way you are assured peace of mind and garner an effective worming program based on sincere knowledge, not just rote answers dispensed from a flow diagram by a customer service representative or by your own research on the internet for an answer.
‘Get the scoop on horse poop’ today and adopt a horse deworming protocol that makes ‘horse sense.’
By Nikki Alvin-Smith
This article is brought to you courtesy of Horsemen’s Laboratory Inc., Mahomet, IL. –
About Horsemen’s Laboratory: Established in 1993 by John Byrd D.V.M., an experienced lifelong horseman and a graduate of the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine. As an equine medicine practitioner in California for 13 years, Dr. Byrd served as ex-officio member of the board of directors of the Pacific Coast Quarter Horse Racing Association where he also served as the organization’s official sales veterinarian. In addition, Dr. Byrd frequently officiated, as veterinarian for horse shows sponsored by the management of Orange County Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa, California. Dr. Byrd’s extensive experience with horses led him to observe how a horse’s health could impact performance leading to the founding of the specialist lab for equine fecal worm egg counts. Please visit https://www.horsemenslab.com/ for more information.
About Nikki Alvin-Smith: International and national published freelance writer and photographer in such world renowned publications such as The Chronicle of the Horse, Horse and Hound, Dressage and CT, Warmbloods Today, The Horseman’s Yankee Pedlar, Reiter, The Equine Journal, Spur, Hoofprints, Horsin’ Around, Horses All, Field & Stream, Western Horse and Gun, Pony Quarterly, Horses All Canada, Catskill Horse to name a few. Ghostwriting, blog services, PR/Marketing copy either direct with manufacturer or for agencies, copy editing and editor services also available. Nikki also produces catalog copy, white papers, e-books, corporate brochures and advertising copy for international corporations and PR/Marketing for celebrities.
As a Brit who has called the America home for the past 34 years, Nikki brings a unique perspective to the equestrian world. Nikki is also an accomplished Grand Prix dressage trainer/competitor, competing at international Grand Prix level to scores over 72% and is a highly sought clinician offering clinics worldwide. She has been a horse breeder/importer of warmblood and Baroque breeds for more than 25 years. Together with her husband Paul who is also a Grand Prix trainer, they run a private dressage breeding operation and training yard in the beautiful Catskill Mountains of New York. Please visit http://www.NikkiAlvinSmithStudio.com to learn more.