Your worming programme, wormers and your horses cost a lot of money to maintain! So how can you make sure after all that work you can reduce the risk of worm reinfection to your horse?
Your horse will always have a worm burden! So whilst we can never make your horse “worm free” our goal is always to keep the burden low.
How to prevent pinworm Reinfection
If you are trying to prevent pinworm reinfection then cleanliness and disinfecting is so important as well as treating and testing. It is notoriously difficult to get rid of pinworm so having support really helps. You can see this post on pinworm for more information.
How to keep your horse’s Redworm burden low
If there is no good grass your horse can’t graze naturally.
And if your horse’s poo gets left on the field it becomes a breeding ground for parasites. It hugely increases the risk of worm reinfection.
Regular checks + tasks
🌱 Avoid over-grazing to rest the field + allow the grass to recover from ‘poaching’. The recommended ratio is 2 acres for the first horse + an extra acre for each extra horse.
Strip-grazing, or track systems can help to look after the grass. Create strips with movable fencing so that the whole field isn’t used all the time.
🌱 Reseed bare patches as + when they appear, especially in high-traffic areas like gateways. Treating them sooner rather than later will prevent them from spreading.
🌱 As with the grass in your garden, to prevent damage to the grass, don’t leave things in one place for too long. Regularly move water troughs (or jumps in the field they will kill the grass)
Seasonal jobs
🌱 Add a good quality fertiliser in early or late summer. This replaces lost nutrients, keeps the grass in top condition + encourages it to grow.
🌱 Don’t let the grass grow too long. Try to keep it at about 5cm high during the summer.
Poo piles + muck heaps!
💩 POO PICKING IS ONE OF THE MOST IMPORTANT THINGS YOU CAN DO.
It is VITAL in helping to prevent worm reinfection. It reduces the risk of attracting flies + allows the grass beneath to keep growing.
Poo pick as often as you can – several times a week, if not daily. Especially in summer when flies are much more common.
💩 Also, keep your muck heap as far from your horse as you can. If you have to have your heap in the same field as your horse, fence it off so they can’t graze near it. Redworm larvae can travel up to 3 metres from the muck heap + you don’t want your horse picking them up as they graze!
Obviously, we can’t prevent horses from getting worms.
But we can keep track of the worm burden by having them on a targeted worm testing program. Such as the EFECS Annual Subscription Plan.
The pay-monthly plan gives you everything you need for worm counts + worming advice.
✅ We post your tests to you when you need them.
✅ We email results + any recommendations to you within 48 hours of receiving your sample.
✅ And of course, you have EFECS’ Expert Clare on hand to answer any questions you may have!
Find out more + sign up here.
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