Kruse Equestrian

Kruse Equestrian MDHB licensed & insured. Riding lessons, coaching, training, farm sitting & other equine-related services based out of Earleville, MD.

03/19/2025

In a world where everyone is rushing to ride, the details of a pre-ride routine are often overlooked. Establishing confidence, relaxation and manners from the start of the session will make your experience for the day all the more pleasant. Our lack of a formal tie station presents a great opportunity for all of our horses to ground tie, requiring attention to the handler and a holding of space. The best way to achieve this is guidance, repetition and including the horse in the process. Our time spent with horses should not just be a task!

03/18/2025

🔬Breaking Down New Recommendations for Equine Deworming 🪱

Deworming horses is a practice that seems to constantly evolve – the more we learn, the more recommendations change to ensure we are making the best decisions for our horses and the industry as a whole, and sometimes it can feel hard to keep up! We used to recommend rotating dewormers every 2 to 3 months to combat parasites, however, I hope by now, the only thing you rotate are your pastures (sorry – a little equine science humor). Rather, you should be utilizing targeted deworming for your mature horses. This means you are performing f***l egg counts to (1) identify your high shedders and (2) performing f***l egg count reduction tests on your herd to determine which dewormers are still effective. So let’s dive into how targeted deworming would work with your horses.

I want to make sure everyone is aware that through deworming, you will NEVER get rid of all the parasites – and that is not one of the goals of deworming. Rather, we want to minimize the risk of parasitic disease and delay further development of anthelmintic (dewormer) resistance. To accomplish these goals, we want to target parasites that are often associated with parasitic disease (primarily strongyles and tapeworms), provide more frequent dewormings to high shedders which contribute to environmental contamination, and only use dewormers that are effective for our herd.

However, not all horses are created equal and some variables can impact deworming recommendations such as age (see my previous post about deworming young horses), geographical region/climate, shedding level, and access to green grass. This is because many of our concerning parasites are transmitted when horses are on pasture, and we want to target them during periods of high transmission when they are more readily spread.

All horses should receive one to two baseline treatments of a macrocyclic lactone (ivermectin or moxidectin). Current recommendations are to deworm in the spring and once horses are removed from pasture going into winter. If you do not remove your horse from pasture, you can just time these for the spring and fall.

For high strongyle shedders (>500 eggs per gram), additional dewormings can be done during periods of higher transmission. This varies by geographical region and a study predicted the successful development of strongyles eggs for six different locations (Leathwick et al., 2015). This model suggests colder northern climates have a short window of transmission during the summer months. This window becomes larger as we move south to warmer climates until we reach southern states where transmission can be observed throughout the entire year. An exception here is arid states in the southwest (which I will discuss in a moment). If you want to see the graphs detailing these transmission windows, take a look at the 2024 AAEP Internal Parasite Guidelines.

Based on these findings, I would choose to deworm high shedders in colder climates during the summer months when transmission is observed. In comparison, high shedders in southern states may also benefit from an additional deworming in the winter when it is more mild. These recommendations could change based on the weather conditions observed each year.

I do want to specifically address arid regions of the United States (primarily in the southwest (including Nevada, Arizona, Utah, and New Mexico). When horses are located here and are not kept on green pastures, small strongyles and tapeworms are unlikely to require the primary attention in parasite control programs. As a result, the current recommendation for horses without pasture residing in these regions is to perform regular f***l egg counts to determine the necessary level of anthelmintic intervention required (Ramey and Nielsen, 2019).

So hopefully these recommendations help clear things up as to how to deworm! I still continuously see inaccurate and outdated information on this topic so it is important to stay educated for the sake of our horses!

Cheers!
Dr. DeBoer

Leathwick DM, Donecker JM, Nielsen MK. A model for the dynamics of the free-living stages of equine cyathostomins. Veterinary Parasitology. 2015 Apr 30;209(3-4):210-20.

Ramey DW, Nielsen MK. Limited strongyle parasite occurrence in horses kept in an arid environment. Equine Veterinary Education. 2020 Aug;32:37-40.

At Kruse Equestrian, the schooling never stops for our program horses! We value intentional conditioning and fitness for...
03/18/2025

At Kruse Equestrian, the schooling never stops for our program horses! We value intentional conditioning and fitness for injury prevention as well as continued educational development for sport. These rights are to ensure the soundness and happiness of the typically under-appreciated lesson horse. It also provides a real feel of academic riding to students.

LV Cammy, 2015 Gypsy Vanner mare & main player of our lesson program

03/07/2025

Although the general biomechanics of the horse is complex, a longitudinal flexion stretches & extends the topline should be part of every daily training or warm-up before every riding session, because it loosens the muscles & initiates whether the horse is in a relaxed state.

Another goal, just as important with the method of switching between the longitudinal flexion & the vertical flexion is that it can strengthen the primary muscles along the back & neck region if performed in the correct manner.

Simply lowering the head down onto the withers & then releasing the pressure at the desired height, will result in a calming effect on the horse. So that going on to the vertical flexion, the horse is already calm & relaxed into the lift of the neck & chest.

Did you know this? 🤷‍♀️

I’ll be out of the office March 14th, 15th & 16th! ✈️ Make sure to take note for any lesson scheduling next week!
03/06/2025

I’ll be out of the office March 14th, 15th & 16th! ✈️ Make sure to take note for any lesson scheduling next week!

Sometimes I forget what these ponies are known for! As soon as I take the braids out, I remember again. Summerhills Magg...
02/26/2025

Sometimes I forget what these ponies are known for! As soon as I take the braids out, I remember again. Summerhills Maggie Mae 🌺

Congratulations to Miss Maggie & Gidget on their first series-end prize! 4th place in a competitive line-up! These two t...
02/25/2025

Congratulations to Miss Maggie & Gidget on their first series-end prize! 4th place in a competitive line-up! These two took on the Making Strides Leadline division and were quite an impressive pair. Thank you to Making Strides for providing phenomenal prizes!

02/24/2025

Mareda was getting her usual cross fibers friction grooming tonight. I love grooming because it can really give you a lot of feed back on how your horse is feeling both physically and mentally. Mareda was very calm tonight and enjoyed her neck groomed but when I got to her pectoral near her shoulder joint she gave me nudge. She didn’t have to get “loud” about letting me know something didn’t feel good. She knew a gentle nudge would be the key to getting me to stop what I was doing. I still wanted to be sure to work the area and make sure she was comfortable with the area still getting touched, so I switched to using my palm. I held it there a moment before going over the area in a gentle sweeping motion. She went back to relaxed and was able to enjoy the rest of her grooming.

Listen to those subtle signals your horse gives while grooming them. They are telling you something valuable about how they feel in their body. It’s really important to listen to that for both gaining their trust and for keeping their body comfortable for the longevity of their riding years and beyond.

Mirror mirror on the wall, who’s the prettiest mare of them all? 😍 Sweet LV Cammy enjoying the sun today!
02/23/2025

Mirror mirror on the wall, who’s the prettiest mare of them all? 😍 Sweet LV Cammy enjoying the sun today!

🚦 Thinking on the year ahead?🔴 No on-site training horse spots open until May at this time.🟡 Lesson availability on the ...
02/19/2025

🚦 Thinking on the year ahead?

🔴 No on-site training horse spots open until May at this time.

🟡 Lesson availability on the SGG horses is becoming limited as we come into longer days & warmer weather! A wait list will develop as existing clients upgrade their rides per week, and there will not be room unless there are more program horses or less clients. This is to ensure the continuity of training rides for the horses as well as appropriate rest time. Do NOT wait if you intend on having a horse-filled year- this is your time to squeeze in!

🟢 Sessions with client horses are available with travel options to your facility!

📸 Jim Barnes

Spent our pre-snow day a little differently than usual! ❄️ Stay warm everyone, and back to normal operations on Friday!
02/11/2025

Spent our pre-snow day a little differently than usual! ❄️ Stay warm everyone, and back to normal operations on Friday!

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Pre-Ride Routine
Pre-Ride Routine

In a world where everyone is rushing to ride, the details of a pre-ride routine are often overlooked. Establishing confidence, relaxation and manners from the start of the session will make your experience for the day all the more pleasant. Our lack of a formal tie station presents a great opportunity for all of our horses to ground tie, requiring attention to the handler and a holding of space. The best way to achieve this is guidance, repetition and including the horse in the process. Our time spent with horses should not just be a task!

Home longeing: a controlled change of direction and finishing up on his easier side, using the whip in place of an inside leg to encourage balance and focus on letting him stretch down. I like to do the easier side second, if it makes sense at the time, before the horses get tired and it lets them finish off confidently.

Home longeing: his left is his weaker side, especially in the canter. He demonstrated lots of tail swishing and the sudden stop/try to turn, making it obvious he was having a hard time with his balance and transitions. He is not in trouble for communicating this, but I know I have to be clear and helpful to make the process easier for him. Rhythm and relaxation are the basis for everything, especially for Marley. I have to get creative by changing between going back to what he’s good and understands, letting him stop to decompress entirely, having him going for short stints and rewarding his try by backing off, and then also pushing him through it to get to the other side of what is dysfunctional. I can also change his direction in a controlled manner to try to get the flow by building up the work on each side. It’s also really important to see that there are still areas of weakness, even in a horse that is showing First with good scores & schooling Second. It’s important to see what is going on with the horse without a rider’s influence!

Debut recognized First Level, October 2024- 1-1

BEFORE: started August 2022, this was September 2022

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