Looking 4 advice-switching from a daily wormer to monthly for horses

[snowhorse]

I am looking to take our horses off Strongid C 2X to just a monthly paste wormer.

With the Strongid C 2X we only did paste wormer in the spring and fall. We liked the daily wormer because it used to a carry an insurance policy that if the horse coliced while taking the wormer they would pay up to $5000 of colic surgery. So it was always just a good buffer.

They have since dropped that insurance policy, and its very pricey to keep 4 horses on this. Since they have been on it for going on 10 years....I am looking for advice on a monthly wormer regimine.

I am located in Eastern Massachusetts, and its been years since I have done a monthly wormer, but from what I remember you switch up the brand and type of wormer monthy. Didn't know if anyone had an example of what they do, and what wormers you use.

Incase this matters- we have 18 y.o Andalusian, 20 y.o Morgan, 13 y.o Quarter Horse/Morgan X, 23 y.o Paint
They for the most part live outside 24 hours, only get fresh pasture from Mid spring(when the fields are dry enough) thru Mid to late fall. They are used for recreational trail riding, and parades.

Any help/thoughts would be appreciated

 

[patandchickens]

It is not generally monthly, it is generally every 2 months.

The primary school of thought has been to rotate every worming, between CLASSES not just between brand names, with the exact rotation you use depending on what climate you live in and what exact parasites you expect to be problematic. A real common thing is to rotate between ivermectin (or moxidectin) and pyrantel pamoate every other worming. Most will make sure that an ivermectin or moxidectin worming follows the first few killing frosts of the year (to get any bot larvae developing in the horse). Nowadays some will make sure to do a tapeworm-getting edition at some point during the year (either zimectrin gold or the 5-day course of strongid).

Another school of thought, more recent and probably better in theory but not doable in all situations, is to rotate every YEAR. This reduces the likelihood of resistance developing. However it can result in your spending a whole year worming with something that does not fully address your horses' worming needs.

You could discuss it with your vet next time he/she is out, or do a buncha reading online to form your own decision. I would recommend www.thehorse.com as a good starting point, you have to sign up to read most of their articles but it is free (or at least was last time I looked).

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[miss_thenorth]

How big of an area do they inhabit? I would think that monthly, and daily for sure would be overkill (no pun intended) If they are in close quarters, always walking eating sleeping around poo, I might be a bit more concerned, but then again, really wouldn't want my horses in that type of conditions. I deworm with the seasons, but I have just obtained a microspcope, so I willl be doing fecals to determine deworming only as needed.

 

[MustLoveHens]

The best way to go is to ask your vet. Since you do pasture your horses at least part of the year then a monthly or bi-monthly routine might be what he or she would recommend since your horses are at a higer risk for parasites.
Ideally, according to the drug companies anyway, the correct worming schedual is every 8 weeks using atleast three different drugs. Ivermectin ( ie.Zimectin) Fenbendazole (Strongid or Panacure) and another drug like Anthleticide. Since the drug campanies want to sell product this explains a whole lot. Although, pastured horses and those horses that show and travel to unknown locals and stay in unknown places and stalls do need a strict schedual like the one the drug companies recommend.
It's my opinion that every eight weeks is too much and that we have a tendency to over worn our horses, but each senario is different so what is necesary for you might not be necesary for me.

 

[snowhorse]

My aunt who lives in Florida, just does a monthly fecal and worms only when needed.

Which seems like a good thing to me, however, the tests down there are like $5 bucks...and up here I don't have such luck. It would be considerably more.

I would not be using the daily wormer along with the monthly. I am looking to only do monthly or bi-monthly.
The last barn I worked at locally, some time ago, I know we did monthly.

We trailer our horses everywhere. And they graze at most places we bring them to trail ride. So I would think maybe a stricter schedule may be in order for them. As they do travel quite a bit.

 

[patandchickens]

The classes of common horse wormers:

ivermectin and moxidectin (I forget what the technical chemical name of this class is) --
includes Ivermectin, Zimectrin, <anything>-mectin

Equvalan, Rotectin 1, and Quest

the pyrantels -- that's all the Strongids (pastes, or daily wormer) and Rotectin 2

the -benzamidizoles (spelling?) --
includes pretty much everything else, including but not limited to Anthelcide, Panacur, and Safe-Guard.
A lot of resistant worms to this class, in many areas of the country, so not used real often anymore.


Again, it is REALLY IMPORTANT to look up the CORRECT chemical class a wormer is in, otherwise (as in one of the above posts) you can mistakenly end up 'rotating' within a class which is not such a good plan.

It is certainly an option to do fecals in order to decide when, how often, and with what to worm. However note that not everything will show up in fecals (bots, for instance, will not) and even things that DO produce eggs do not necessairly produce them *constantly* so a single negative fecal does not mean the horse is 'clean'.

Pat

 

[Orchid]

If you have the option of getting your hands on the latest issue of EQUUS magazine, there is a really excellent article in it about the need to change our current deworming schedules before the current dewormers become useless due to over/improper use. I highly recommend reading it if at all possible - it's a real eye opener.

 

[snowhorse]

Quote:
Yes I will have to get my hands on that, Thank you!