Having grown up with horses and having them for many decades in my life it has become abundantly clear to me that they do not need harsh chemical wormer's on a regular schedule!  Yes they need them on occasion but not every month to six weeks as some manufacturer's recommend.  I prefer to use the old time tried and true Ivermectin if my horses would need one, not the new harsher chemical ones. 

How abut thinking about things a bit differently, how about getting a fecal on the dark of the moon before you do anything?  How about knowing if your horses even needs anything before  just giving a randomly chosen chemical wormer because the feed store said so?  How about looking in to a more natural approach?  Prevention and digestive health as the key!

What I have found in the years I have been helping customer's which I have  been doing since 1998 is that a horse with an unhealthy gut is a horse with a sewer for a digestive tract which parasites love!  Parasites thrive in a sewer... so much to live on!  LOL.  When a horse has a healthy digestive tract in the first place it does not invite a parasite infection,

Even Horseman's Labs who is one of the largest fecal testing labs has said that over the 18 years they have been tracking the tests coming in  85% test negative, leaving only 15% of the tests positive!  Included in that 15% the positives can be a low egg count where they suggest that the owner do nothing a retest in 3 months or a high egg count where they suggest a chemical.  I have been told, but have not confirmed, that they rarely see Tape Worm which is the "newest and greatest scare" by the pharmaceuticals.  So what does that mean and why is everyone using chemical wormer's so often without evening seeing if your horse, pony, mini or donkey would need a harsh chemical?

My theory is that the big pharmaceuticals have, with their huge marketing budgets, scared everyone in to thinking/feeling that your horse is going to die unless you use their oral paste wormers on schedule or mix them up from Panacure, to Power Pak, to whatever.  So why do so many indiscriminately and routinely do a chemical wormer?  Because the pharmaceuticals said so? They aren't cheap, and do you even understand what they do to your horses digestive/gut health?  Did you know that each time you give your horse a chemical wormer it disrupts and or destroys the natural microbial balance of his digestive tract, which is far harder to regain each time you give that, and can cause immune issues in your horse?

Yes we do need to keep an eye on our horses, yes we do need to do feca'ls to even know if there is a possible parasite infection/load. Yes on occasion we may need to give our horses a chemical wormer, but in my experience it is being far over done.  Growing up with horses it was rare that anyone of them in the 1960's/1970s ever got a wormer.  The vet would come out once per year check them all out visually and only do the good old fashion tube wormer of Ivermectin.  Not every horse, and hardly any of them at all really.   We had 88 acres, they grazed, they drank from a natural spring, they were supplemented with whole oats and alfalfa in the winter, no vaccines, no chemical wormers on a regular basis.

What is the life cycle of a parasite?   Each parasite has a specific pattern but they generally follow a similar pattern.  An infected horse passes the eggs, larva or parasites in its manure thereby contaminating the environment.  Horses grazing in a pasture or from hay on the ground can then unknowingly ingest the eggs or the larva,  The eggs/larva then develop and mature in the horses digestive tract  (can be in the stomach or in the intestines and the cycle begins.

The common parasites in horses are Large and Small Strongyles, Ascarids (Round Worms), Tape Worms (but are not all that common), Pin Worms, Bots which lay eggs on the horses hair especially the legs and the horse ingests them (we don't have those out where I live).

The most dangerous of the parasites/worms are the large and small Strongyles - the photo above are small Strongyles.  The large Strongyles hatch in to larva which the horse unknowingly ingests while grazing these larva mature in the intestinal tract and burrow into the blood vessels.  Their movement can cause damage in the digestive lining up to an including a blood clot, severe colic symptoms and death.  Small Strongyles do not migrate outside the intestinal tissue but instead encyst in the large intestine until conditions are right for them to emerge doing damage to the intestine walls.  These are the most tested for an easiest to eradicate if found (via a fecal) with the use of a chemical wormer.

So what are some of the symptoms of a parasite infection or load?  Weight loss, poor body condition, dull or rough hair coat, chronic diarrhea, colic like symptoms, tail rubbing in the case of pin worms (or in a mare dirty udders), a pot belly or even a certain kind of lung worm or migrating parasite can lead to a cough.

Where you live or how your horse lives can also make a difference!  If you live in the mid west or upper mid west and your horses enjoy pastures they are at a higher risk of parasitic infections.  If you live in the South West where our conditions are dryer and your horses have a dry feed lot that is kept clean you have less of a chance.  If your horses is at a boarding facility with many horses using the same areas i.e. arena, turn outs et al your horse is at a higher risk due to some horses being high shedder's exposing yours regularly.   Your horse can even get infected out on a trail ride if he/she is grazing in an area of grasses an infected horse has been.

Having said all of that prevention is the key!  I have a closed herd and I go years without having to use a chemical wormer, my herd is fecal tested two times per year, spring and fall and rarely do any tests come back positive.  We do go off the property usually to our local arena which is kept clean and groomed. The only times I have had to use a chemical wormer has been after I have opened my ranch to others during our fire emergencies wherein my horses have been infected with round worm each time. 

However, I did get two of my mini's thru a rescue effort out of Iowa and my first mini was loaded with all kinds of parasites I had never seen.    As soon as she came home (Annie first - then Diamond months later) I had the vet out and did a fecal, he said on a scale of 1-10 she was a 12 for parasite load... off to the feed store I went and got a Power Pack, wherein each day became a new and different science experiment with the shapes, sizes and colors of parasites coming out of her.  I had to bag the manure several times per day and dispose of it then we retested after a month and she still had some, so Power Pack away we went again!   My vet said what she had was common to the mid-west not out here.  Happy to say that Annie has been here going on 11 years now and parasite free ever since and only on our Mini Zyme daily in her bucket feed and our  Mini Herbal Wormer.  I use the Herbal Wormer monthly for my herd from around March/April when the weather starts to warm through October/November until we get our first frost, getting fecals done in May and in September to make sure we do not have any issues developing. 

So what does one do?  Prevention is the key in most cases, feeding clean hay in hay bags, on a mat in a stall, or a clean area also helps.  The key however is making sure  your horse has a healthy digestive tract!   Keeping an eye on their manure for any signs of mature parasites too!

We offer up some advice that works for many, we have our customer's get a fecal done, then depending on the results we recommend a few things.  Get their horses on Equine Zyme or Mini Zyme as the case may be to boost their horses digestive health, use our Herbal Wormer or Mini Herbal Wormer on the full moon cycle, and if there is an egg count then on the 6th night of the full moon cycle we recommend using a half dose by weight of Ivermectin and that has more often then naught cleared the issue.  We also provide  you with the full moon worming schedule for the year when you purchase our herbal wormer.

Your horses health depends on you, and their digestive health is critical to their immune health!