As the new year begins, we often feel that we need to make changes, start on a new path, and say goodbye to old habits. But have you considered your horse or horses in your new resolution planning? Our suggestion – upgrade to the recommended meaningful and sustainable worm control and focus on slowing down resistance. Say to goodbye to the old deworming habits.
Why are horse owners turning away from the old way?
In Australia, like other countries dewormer resistant is rampant. Horse owners everywhere are starting to heed the message – abandon the old way! Stop worming horses too much. It only forces the worms to genetically change to survive worming treatments. Horse worms are resistant to the very chemicals used to kill them. They love the stuff!
If you think about it, it should come as no surprise because there are many examples of insects and bacteria that have become resistant to the arsenal of chemicals to kill them. For example, insects resistant to pesticides and bacteria to disinfectants and antibiotics.
The current recommendation is to scale down the number of worming treatments and only medicate horses with a wormer when necessary. Our new goal is to keep the level of worms under control, so they don`t develop into large numbers or high levels where a horse is at risk of sustaining disease.
Now is the time to keep our horse wormers functioning as long as possible because there are no new horse wormer drugs coming soon!
“We`ve always done it this way?”
Resistance doesn`t happen overnight, it takes time. When worming for horses worked well decades ago, there wasn`t a lot of research until it stopped working well – BIG mistake deworming horses every 8 weeks or so.
Dr Craig Reinemeyer, a renowned expert on equine parasitology emphasises that we need to manage and control horse worms, not try to eradicate them. Our efforts at eradication are what led us quickly to this problem of resistance.
So how to ride your horse on the new worm control journey?
At WormGuide, we see first hand happy customers checking to see if the horse wormer they use actually works, they love the Truth Teller Test – a lot of customers have discovered what they were doing wasn`t working and made changes that work.
Precision egg counts is the only way to check.
Customers are so happy planning a proper worming program for their horse or each horse in their herd. They use the Super Surveillance Test for the info to develop a meaningful schedule for each horse. Most horses need deworming only twice a year, but some need a little extra. How sustainable is that!
When it comes to horse babies, test, treat, check is the only way to keep them save. We welcome all 2021 horse babies into 2022.
Why not check for resistance on your horse property – have you got a worm population that is resistant to ivermectin or moxidectin? It`s happening in Australia, the reports of resistance to our last line of defence against small strongyles are coming in. Start the new year knowing it`s safe to keep using these drugs in 2022. It`s Gold!
Meet WormGuide Equine, your game-changing worm control partner
As a new year resolution, transitioning to the recommended meaningful and sustainable worm control approach is a great goal. Let WormGuide provide all the support needed to help your horse`s worm control stay on track.
WormGuide is game-changing faecal worm egg counts by providing horse owners all over Australia with the best egg counts available and all the support you need – Put simply- we care a lot!
With precision egg count results, why not get the best to take on 2022.
Kick start your horse`s new year with a faecal egg count right here!
