Get
your new horse’s worming right with Strongid™-P
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Summer’s long days and milder weather make
it one of the most tempting times to take on a
new horse but the overall health of the new arrival
should never be overlooked. The impact of worms
should be one of the first issues to consider,
not least because your new horse’s health
status could pose a serious risk to other horses
on the yard. Pfizer, manufacturer of Strongid-P,
has provided some crucial tips to help you get
your new horse’s worming programme right,
for the healthiest start on a new yard.
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“A new horse
is capable of bringing high levels of worms into the
yard, with the added horror that maybe these worms
are resistant to one of the types of worming treatment
available. This means they could be tough to get rid
of and could cause ongoing problems for the entire
yard,” warns Ben Gaskell BVSc MRCVS, Veterinary
Adviser at Pfizer Animal Health.
Ben advises that prevention is always better than
cure. The ideal scenario is to obtain a detailed medical
history of your new horse at purchase, including the
past year of the horse’s worming regime, which
should specify the frequency of worming and the type
of wormer used on each occasion.
Sadly the new horse usually arrives with no medical
history. This means a faecal egg count is needed to
assess the current worm burden, devise the most suitable
worming treatment and decide how his treatment can
be best integrated into the yard’s general worming
programme. Your new horse should be kept stabled for
around 48 hours after it has been wormed to avoid
contamination of shared grazing.
Worms vary from season to season so it is important
to remember that a faecal egg count is only a snapshot
of the worms in your horse at that particular moment.
It is crucial to monitor the new horse carefully during
the following year, with regular faecal egg counts
and advice from your vet, so that a full picture is
obtained. As your worming programme improves, testing
can become less frequent.
It’s also important to remember that tapeworm
can’t be identified by a faecal egg count. They
can only be traced via a blood test carried out by
your vet. It is advisable to work a twice-yearly tapeworm
treatment into your worming programme as a matter
of course if this blood test isn’t carried out.
Ben’s final piece of advice is not to forget
good pasture management. He says: “Keeping your
grazing in good order will help significantly with
your overall worm management programme. Collect droppings
on a daily basis, keep stocking densities low, rotate
and rest your fields regularly and graze other stock
such as sheep or cattle on the land. These measures
will all help to reduce contamination and the exposure
of horses to infective larvae.”
Look out for Strongid-P’s Love Your Horse leaflets.
They are available free of charge from your local
tack shop, saddler or feed merchant. Make sure you
get hold of your set to help you plan the best worming
regime to keep your horse in peak condition.
For further
information call 01737 331333 Option 2 or
email strongid-p.uk@pfizer.com
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