General information about parasites

Throughout their lives, horses are continuously exposed to a variety of internal parasites. Some of these may be well tolerated, even in large numbers; others can be extremely detrimental to the animal's health. For this reason a routine worming programme should be used to prevent worm related disease. Common signs of worm infestation include colic, weight loss, diarrhoea, and in some cases, liver disease. It is said that 70% of spasmodic colic’s are due to worms, and a variety of other types of colic can also occur.

It is now considered important to have horses regularly checked for the presents of worm, even when wormed regularly this will provide important information on the effectiveness of the worming programme. Counts done before and after anthelmintic treatment allow the monitoring of drug-resistance. Counts done between scheduled treatments allow the monitoring of the worm load and thus allow changes to the treatment schedule if necessary. At Trinity we recommend the McMaster Egg Counting Technique a method for determining the number of parasite eggs per gram of faeces in order to estimate the worm burden in a horse.

Worms that are not often detected using this technique include Tapeworms, Bots and Pinworms. Tapeworms are very difficult to diagnosis because their eggs are contained in packets, which are actually segments of the adult worms that break off and are passed in the faeces at irregular intervals. If you are worming for tapeworms check the suitability of the wormer you are using.

More information

Large Strongyles, Ascarids or Roundworms, Pinworms, Small Strongyles, Stomach worms, Threadworm, Tapeworms, Hair Worms, Bots

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