The fight against parasites in farm animals, such as horses, has never been a minor issue. The arduous task of controlling the parasite population and reducing environmental contamination is an issue that has kept us veterinarians awake at night for years. For this reason, many times, we make owners dizzy so that they know how often their horse should be dewormed and about the importance of doing it regularly.
From our site we want to help you answer the question How often should I deworm a horse? But the most important thing is why we should do it:
The life cycle of the red verme
As a veterinarian I always like to explain the why of things, not just say that it is something that should be done regularly. For this reason I will make a brief description of the life cycle of the red worm or small strongyles, one of the typical parasitic worms of horses:
- The grazing horse eats the eggs of the worms that are in the grass.
- The eggs hatch or break in the stomach and the larvae migrate to the large intestine.
- They incubate and encyst in their intestinal walls.
- They can quickly become adults or remain asleep or inhibited on the wall for a while.
- If they are adults, after 12 days they will go to the liver.
- Between 6 and 7 weeks after ingestion of eggs there will be migration to the kidneys, where they will mature.
- Adult worms return to the intestinal wall to become encysted, causing ulcers and bleeding.
- They lay eggs that will come out with the feces on the pasture, reinfecting the horse when it eats or others around it.
Symptoms of infection
All horses carry a load of parasites in their gut, called normal hosts. The problem lies when the parasite load is very high, causing damage to the intestines or internal organs.
For this reason the observation of our horse is fundamental and we can observe the following symptoms in our infected horse:
- Intermittent colic
- Swollen belly
- Bad body condition
- Weakened coat
- Intestinal problems such as diarrhea
- Itching around the rectum
- Loss of tail hairs
- Urinary problems
- Respiratory problems
Parasite Control
As we explained in the previous point, all horses and all pastures have a certain parasite load. The problem is when the load on both the animals and the environment cannot be controlled. Here lies the key to keeping our animals he althy. The control of these small individuals is based on breaking the life cycle of the parasites themselves, carrying out deworming programs and good maintenance of the pastures.
The amount and frequency of treatment in our equine will depend on the intensity with which it grazes. The veterinarian will be the one to advise us on the best for each one. If grazing intensively, it should be every 2 months, otherwise, every 6 months is recommended for stabled animals. In the case of foals, treatment can be started after 6 weeks of life, repeating every 2 months.
The fundamental control will be the faeces in the pasture, to avoid reinfections. If we are not constant in the control, surely our horse will suffer from the parasitic infestation. A practical way to remember it is by deworming with the change of seasons during the year.
