Risk Grading Process

Not all horses and ponies are at the same risk of worm infestation and therefore they do not all need to be on the same worming program.

To find out more about this contraversial statement please carry on reading this section of the web site.

Worming Strategy Selection

There are many different methods of worming available today and selecting the correct one is not easy. It is critically important for the well-being of your horse, pony or equine establishment that you select the correct one for your circumstances. This may not be the same as your friend down the road, a large riding school or a vets standard chemical program and the only way to ensure that you choose correctly is to ensure that you assess the risk to the horses and ponies in your care from worm infestation and worm damage.

Assessing the Risk

Intelligent Worming will assess the risk that your horse or pony is grazing infected pasture. A risk assessment is then carried out on each individual horse or pony to assess the risk that they are at of having an existing high worm burden.

The most appropriate worming strategy and worming program is then selected and designed.

The importance of each of these elements is explained below, however to follow any other procedure when choosing a worming program may result in the following:

You are buying wormers that your horse does not need.
You are buying wormers that may not contain the chemical that your horse needs.
You may stop worming when it is dangerous to your horse to do so

All of the effects result in either a waste of money to you or a danger to the health of your horse.

Complete a risk assessment

The risk assessment wiil be carried out by one of our equine advisors.

The assessment will cover:

Each horse, age, weight, health and history
Land husbandry practise
Yard management procedures
Worming history

All of the information will be reviewed and evaluated and a risk grading given to the yard in total and then to each horse contained within the yard.

The risk grading will indicate the risk to each horse from worms. If they are high risk then the horse will probably be taking in worm larvae permanently as he grazes. If they are low risk then there is probably no worm larvae in the pasture. As you can imagine the worming program should be quite different in each case.

We have prepared some information sheets on the average risk grading:

High Risk

Medium Risk

Low Risk

Undertake worm egg counts

The risk grading process identified the risk to each horse from worms within the environment that he is currently kept. It does not ascertain whether or not he currently has a worm burden or the size of the worm burden.

This will have a huge impact on the worming strategy decision. You would worm a horse with a reading of 3,500 epg quite differently to one with a reading of 100epg.

The initial worm egg count will not give a definite answer to the question, “Does my horse have worms?” It will provide an indication as to the level of worms that the horse has, and this is all that is required.

Order a worm egg count

Decide on the worming strategy

Once the risk grading process is complete and the worm egg count results are know then a worming strategy can be decided. It should answer the following questions:

Do I need to stay on a chemical rotational program?
Which chemical should I use this year?
Are the worms benzimidazole resistant?
Is it appropriate to use herbal parasite control methods?
Can I stop worming and use worm egg counts instead?
What wormer does my horse need for the worms that he has?
When can I clear my horse out of worms?

Call our equine advisors on 01267 241136 to start the risk assessment now.