worms... turning out question...??

[Jump The Moon]

Okay,
so the horse my horse is going to be going out in the field with has arrived and is thought to have worms - he's had a wormer (i think he's having another in 4 weeks, if that gives you any more of an insight) I know worms can be passed around easily, but, if Billy's up-to-date with his wormers is he Ok to go out with this horse??

Help appreciated, thanks:)

[vicklynn]

This horse is new to the barn/pasture? Dont they quaranteen? I wouldnt put my horse in with a new horse.
I never did before anyway. My horses had their own stalls and turn out was in their paddocks, or one of the arenas, if they were not being used. If someone wanted to ride, we had to put them back, paddock or stall.
I had large paddocks. I got lucky, had adjoining paddocks and took the middle section down while I was there.

[FredRock]

Has the new horse even been wormed yet?

How big is the pasture and what kind of grazing, if any, do they have? The smaller the pasture and the less grazing available will increase the possibility of a horse getting worms because they have more opportunity to come in contact with it. If this was a 2 acre pasture for two horses with ample grass I wouldn't worry too much, but if it was just a small turnout with bits and pieces of grass left, I'd be a little worried.

I don't know if a horse up to date on worming would get worms or not; it's not like it is a continuous stream of the wormer, it's a one time shot. (unless he is on daily wormer) I would think he has just as much of a risk as any other horse to get worms, but that you could expel them with regular worming. I could be completely wrong of course, but from what I know that's what happens.

[Ryle]

Just because your horse is up-to-date on deworming won't prevent him from picking up parasites from the new horse. And depending on what product was used on the new horse and when he was last dewormed, there is a chance that he will still be shedding parasite ova. That being said, if there have been horses in the pasture in the past, there may already be parasite ova there as well--they can survive for months to years on a pasture depending on weather conditions.

And you can't know that a horse does or doesn't have parasites just by looking at them. Having a fecal egg count performed on the new horse would be a good idea just to know whether the last deworming was effective or not and if the horse is still shedding parasite ova.

The best way to minimize parasite contamination in pastures is to pick up feces every 2-3 days. And to deworm at appropriate times and with drugs that you know to still be effective where you are.

[Jump The Moon]

Ok, thanks y'all.
This horse is in quarenteen for a little while, I should expect (they usually are).
He left our yard 6, 7 months ago and has now returned. He had a wormer as we said, the BO's know about everything so I don't expect they'll be taking any risks... we're being careful. He has his own stable seperate and he stayed in all yesterday (I should think he will today aswell, we'll see later when I get down there).
The pastures, er, roughly an acre or so... it's just the test-paddock to see if they get along, it's got good grass and is on a slight slope... if that provides any help?

[Ryle]

Do feces get picked up regularly?

[Jump The Moon]

They have been so far yes (but that's just on / around the yard... as for the fields they SHOULD be and I have been trying to keep up with it, although the BOs sposed to get it done...

[WashingtonBay]

I guess my perspective is that people who board at a stable that has horses coming and going all the time would make themselves nuts worrying about this. I would just worm as you normally do and run fecal tests a few times a year to see how you're doing. :)

[vicklynn]

WB, yes, If you have a quaranteen area, people will not question the situation.


We had horses come and go where I boarded, no one ever questioned the quarantined horses.
We also were not allowed to run any horse, with a quarantined horse, until that horse came out of quaranteen.
Bringing in a horse, that can have any disease is not healthy for the whole barn.
Everyone was happy, even the person owning the quarantined horse.
Hey, 3 weeks out of yrs to board an have fun at a barn, is a small price to pay.

[WashingtonBay]

Quarantining new horses a couple weeks for disease is one thing... Real quarantine where they can't touch and sniff over the fence is important to protect against Strangles, among other things, at barns where horses are coming and going. But two weeks is not nearly long enough to know definitively they don't have worms. Worms are an ongoing management issue for horse owners, not something that we can quarantine ourselves into ensuring we are 'free' of. That's all I'm saying... If the horse has been vaccinated and wormed and quarantined awhile where the facility allows for that, then turn them out. And keep up with worming, because it's never over.

[Jump The Moon]

This is the current situation: all horses up to date with wormers and turned out in their fields.
This horse (was with us at this yard about 6months ago and has now returned) is also out with Billy, doing well ATM.