30/11/2025
There’s finally been frosty weather! This means in the last week we’ve had a lot of questions about what recommendations we have for worming.
It’s easy to get confused as due to different management, immune systems and types of horses our advice can seem very different even for horses kept in the same yard.
Young growing horses, donkeys and very old horses need slightly different management, comment below if you would like more information for these types of equines.
❄️Our winter plan depends on what your egg counts and previous management have been:
o Horses older than 4 years who have had egg counts consistently below 400epg all year and have not needed worming:
🩸Book in for a redworm blood test when temperatures are falling below 6C
🐴Ask us for a saliva test to check for tapeworm – these worms don’t show up on a worm egg count as their lifecycle is different.
🪱Worm based on test results or leave for now if everything is negative
o Horses older than 4 years who have had egg counts over 400epg this summer:
🐴Ask us for a saliva test to check for tapeworm – these worms don’t show up on a worm egg count as their lifecycle is different.
🪺If horses have had high egg counts throughout the summer they are very likely to test positive on a blood test for redworms, so running the blood test may not be needed in all horses.
💉Worm for encysted redworms +/- tapeworm depending on your test results
💩During warmer weather do a worm egg count: 💩
Pop in to reception to pick up some free sample pots and gloves. Then pick a couple of pinches from different faecal balls from a fresh dropping to place into your pot ( we need about 4g total to run the test). Write your name and your horses name clearly on the pot and try to drop it in to us as quickly as possible ( you can refrigerate your sample if you can’t get it to us straight away but make sure its kept away from your food)
