I have a 6 year old mare. When I bought her almost 2 years ago she had a pot belly. We figured it was because she was mostly on vacation and that it would go away with work... which it didn't, so we just assumed this was her natural "shape".

I worm my horses regularly, 4 times a year, rotating wormers, according to the vet's suggestion.

So, I happened to get a fecal test on this mare one day and found out that she had a very high worm count. At the vet's suggestion, I wormed her with two rounds of Pyrantel 2 weeks apart, which didn't help much. Then 2 rounds of Ivermectin 2 weeks apart, which finally did bring the count down to 0! Yay!

The interesting thing there is that the pot belly disappeared at this point. Her legs even looked longer! It was a significant change.

So, a month or so later, the pot belly is back and she's rubbing her tail. I don't need a fecal test to know the worms are back. I've just done another 2 rounds of Ivermectin, as the first didn't help.

ANY SUGGESTIONS??? Am I just going to keep worming over and over? Is she going to develop resistant worms?

I have 2 horses living out 24/7 on 20 acres of pasture. Both lightly worked, grained once a day. The other horse has 0 worm count.

First of all, you are going to have to get a fecal sample done again, just to be sure you are dealing with the same type of worms.

Worm eggs live in horse dung for sometime, and can be ingested by horses if they graze too close to the dung that has eggs in it. That is why it is recommended that paddocks be picked regular to prevent re-infestation or transmitting from one horse to the other. Since your pasture is so big, picking it is not a viable option. Can you have a neighbor with a tractor and drag go through the entire pasture to break up any dung heaps? That will help but not ideal. You also need to worm both horses at the same time. Good luck! It can be quite a big challenge to get a hold of, but once you get it in check, everything should be fine.

I had a horse that was infested w/ worms and I had him on a DAILY DEWORMER for 2 years. It was in crumble form and added to his grain daily. Talk to your vet about putting ur horse on a daily dewormer. After the 2 years, I was able to switch over to the regualar worming schedule and had been fine ever since.

Can I assume you are doing all the horses on the farm?

Years ago I had a yearling... the fecal test found tapeworms (they had to look hard to find them)The host is slugs...double dose with Strongid T and then again 14 days later. I did the entire farm - GONE

be very careful, too much dosage can cause all the worms to escape at once and cause an impaction.

There is a GREAT thread on this on the CoTH forum...read it ALL

http://chronicleforums.com/For...w+to+kill+Onchocerca

when our little guy came and was chalk full of them this is the schedule we followed on a 2 week rotation
ivermectin
ivermectin
5day double dose safeguard
eqvalan gold
quest

he is now on a regular rotation with everyone else and the pot belly hasn't come back. personally i think regular dosing of Quest and Quest plus works the best, but you have to make sure the horse doesn't have a really heavy load before giving it. The 5 day double dose of safeguard (fenbendazole)is just as effective but safer if they have a heavy worm load, it is quite a bit more expensive then Quest though. Quest kills more worm life stages which gives you a longer period before your horse will have mature worms in the gut. Also, make sure your horse isn't just being re-infested by eating the other horses poo. I found my guy doing that and started him on pro-biotics which stopped it. with 2 horses on 20 Acres, they have no reason to eat near their own poo, so more likely there were lots of early stage worms that weren't killed by your deworming schedule and they have now developed and are giving her the pot belly again. if i were you i'd do the 5 day double dose of fenbendazole to start. you can buy it as safeguard in stores or panacur from your vet or online.

There is the Q-word (s-h-i-v-e-r).

I know this can be a contentious topic, but bear in mind that some horses just do not worm well with Quest...ever. I personally have had good and bad experiences with it...but the bad are enough to put me off of it. I will not worm with it.

The above post has some interesing comments on the effectivenss of Quest, but these should be taken in the context of a healthy horse that has been on an effective worming program and pature management program...and one that has not had issues with Quest in the past.

Personally, I would talk to your vet. Worming can be as unique to the needs of your horse and the area that he lives in or came from. It can change year to year. Your vet will give you the various options that will give you peace of mind when it comes to the choices that you make in horse health care.

Hope that helps.

Excellent advice, Glory.

Best to get a fecal done, to find out just what type of worms, and how many, you are dealing with. No sense spending loads of money on a variety of dewormers, when maybe just one type will help, depending on the level of infestation.

Even with a fecal, you cant get an accurate measure of encysted small strongyles (which will emerge after deworming again and again) or tapeworms unless, by chance, you catch the tapes while they are shedding.

your mare may have developed a resistancy to worms. If you're worried about a high worm count prior to deworming, get a good fecal done to ensure the worm count is not too high, and to tell you which type of dewormer to use to target the type of worms that are high at that point, deworm according to vet instructions, and then shortly thereafter get another fecal done to ensure that the deworming medication was effective. And then, although it's a little costly, do a fecal every six weeks or so, until the mare has a relatively consistently low worm count/needs to be wormed. Given the acreage they're on, it shouldn't be a problem. Some horses are just less resistant to worms than others, and frequent fecal analysis will be well worth the money, to use the correct dewormer and to ensure it's working as it should. Good luck.

Chemical worming products have many downsides, like resistance as Ravencreek has said. I use a natural product called diatomaceous earth on all the horses on the property. It not only kills internal parasites but it also kills larva in the horses manure. Many people take it as a supplement and it has some mineral value.

Using DE on resistant horses is almost always 100% effective from my experience. It costs about $20 for a year supply for four horses.

Melanie

Interesting post Coalescent Farms. I have seen several posts on DE on other sites, especially in keeping bugs down in general....including ants in your house.

Bears some investigation. Thanks for bringing it up.

Hello there,

It sounds like your horse has pin worms by the rubbing of the tail. Most dewormers get all roundworms and of course ivermectin is the best dewormer. Most worms have become immune to fendbendazole, so if you are using this it pobably isn't killing as many of the worms it should. The problem with quest is that it' s lethal dose is very low compared to ivermecin or any other wormers. This just means it is very easy to overdose, so you nust be very careful with the dosing. I don't believe you are supposed to use with high worm burdens because it is so effective and could cause an impaction. Some horses just have higher worm burdens than other so your horse may just need to be wormed more than the others.

It is the fall so you should wormfor tapes you can not detect them in a fecal sample.

Hope this is helpful..

Thanks for all the feedback everyone. An update in case anyone was interested... We ended up using Ivermectin twice a couple of weeks apart, and then a month after that Quest +.

I tested all the horses about a week ago (6 weeks after Quest +) and no one has worms. Problem solved! The mare seems to be feeling good and has lots of energy. :-) We will put her back on the regular worming program now and check her again in the spring/early summer.

by the way, not a direct link but indirect link; if you've dewormed your horse do not put that on your garden - as some of the chemicals from the dewormer - you got it, will then effect your vegetables. Personally, I do not even spread dewormer infected manure on the fields from which I draw hay, I keep it totally seperate as it has trace elements of the deworming medication in it. And don't let your dogs eat it, as it can no doubt be a health risk/problem to them