# Can't rid horse of bloodworms



## garlicbunny (Apr 30, 2009)

Have had our mare for almost 2 years. She has never had a neg fecal, this is our third attempt to rid her of them this year. The second time this year (with a new vet) she had 5 days of panacur..still had them. This time she is on a dose and a half for 5 days, and Quest on day 6. Both were from reccomendation from Ohio State. This time she is being confined either in a paddock where there are no other horses or her stall. We are just going on day 3. Just wonder if any one else has or has had this problem and maybe anything that rid your horse of these dang worms. I checked with the BO and except for a couple horses he they are worm free. 
Our mare does not look wormy though, I am getting ready to put the grazing muzzles on both my horses. Thanks a lot guy and gals , I am just concerned if this treatment doesn't help.

Oh the vet said the OSU stated that either the pastures are highly contaminated, she is resistant, she is suceptible or all 3. I don't think it is the pasture as my gelding is out there and the others and I know for a fact he was negative.


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## Elana (Jan 28, 2011)

Horses have worms.. and need regular worming to manage them. It sounds like your horse has small strongyles. The horse is reinfected every time she eats hay or anything on the ground. 

Sooo.. the way to manage worms is to set up a worming schedule with your vet. 

In all my years of owning horses I have never had a negative fecal. The issue is to attempt to keep the count (load) as low as possible through management.


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## jaydee (May 10, 2012)

I'm thinking that you mean what we call redworm in the UK?
If the grounds contaminated (which it must be) you'll never get rid of them and if you move her she should really be quarantined until she's clear
She might have a resistance to the active ingredient so you need to change that and be sure you're also treating for encysted worms because they do the most damage.
Everyone on the facility needs to worm at the same time and if possible rotate grazing areas and chain harrow, hot dry weather helps reduce them and people used to graze a few cattle on contaminated land as they are able to ingest them which reduces the problem. All poo should be removed daily


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## poppy1356 (Jan 18, 2012)

Did you do the Pancur powerpack for 5 days or just the regular panacur for 5 days? Big difference between the two. If you did the powerpack then Quest is the next best thing. You might need to do some pasture/paddock management though to get it under control.


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## garlicbunny (Apr 30, 2009)

Elana...really? I board so I can't really do the managing myself. Horses are somewhat rotated, but most of the year they are in the same pasture. I asked the vet about the powerpak before I ordered and she said the regular 1 1/2 tubes doseage for 5 days, then the quest on the 6th day. I can;t imagine what OSU will recommend if this doesn't clear them up! Poor thing was so sweaty in the stall yesterday (no fans allowed on when no one there) so I asked vet if I could move her to the front paddock where no horses are unless they are new or injured or medical reasons, anyways she was not really recommending that because we don;t know for sure if that area is contaminated, but since their are no regular horses that is where I put her. I cant see anything in her poo...I dont know, it is always something.. 
I do clean up any poo in the area that my horses are in by themselves..daily, but my two and 7 others graze together. I certainly cannot clean up after all nine that are in one area, it is many acres as well so that is out of the question. Thank you all, I have read up on the encysted worms as well so will talk to her about that too.


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## poppy1356 (Jan 18, 2012)

Sorry but the powerpak is 57grams per tube and the regular is only 25grams so even two regular tubes per day isn't enough.
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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## jaydee (May 10, 2012)

You might find this info helpful too.
I know its difficult when you board and not easy to dictate to the owner but he/she is charging you and the others for a service and part of that should be to supply a good safe grazing environment and pasture management is part of that
More acreage does reduce the risks and horse will avoid the contaminated 'toilet' areas where they can but the larvae will 'travel' and get taken in with grass as the horse eats.
HORSE WORMING from Jonathan Wood Ltd


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## Elana (Jan 28, 2011)

garlicbunny said:


> Elana...really? I board so I can't really do the managing myself. Horses are somewhat rotated, but most of the year they are in the same pasture. I asked the vet about the powerpak before I ordered and she said the regular 1 1/2 tubes doseage for 5 days, then the quest on the 6th day. I can;t imagine what OSU will recommend if this doesn't clear them up! Poor thing was so sweaty in the stall yesterday (no fans allowed on when no one there) so I asked vet if I could move her to the front paddock where no horses are unless they are new or injured or medical reasons, anyways she was not really recommending that because we don;t know for sure if that area is contaminated, but since their are no regular horses that is where I put her. I cant see anything in her poo...I dont know, it is always something..
> I do clean up any poo in the area that my horses are in by themselves..daily, but my two and 7 others graze together. I certainly cannot clean up after all nine that are in one area, it is many acres as well so that is out of the question. Thank  you all, I have read up on the encysted worms as well so will talk to her about that too.


*You are in Ohio *so it sounds like strongyles. Get a species so you can share that.. it might help.

IME I always had positive fecals and simply wormed regularly. The introduction of Ivermectin based wormers was a nice break through as it also helped to control other things and it reduced the frequency of worming and reduced the need for rotating wormers as much. Ivermectin actually made large strongyles a much smaller threat (large strongyles can clog arteries). 

I just put my horses on a worming schedule and wormed at regular intervals. This could be 4 weeks or 6 weeks. In a dry lot, shared pasture situation pre-ivermectin days we wormed horses every 2-3 weeks. In fact, continuous feeding by the Strongid C method is still out there. 

Like I said. I never had a negative fecal. I managed the worming and had healthy horses. Interestingly, horses can develop a certain amount of immunity to some worm species.


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## garlicbunny (Apr 30, 2009)

Thank you Jaydee and Elana. She constantly eats and really needs to lose weight. Do you think she eats constantly because of the worms? Is that maybe a symptom of worms? She turned 6 in April, it's pretty scary how they might be affecting her! Sure hope what we are doing now works..


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## jaydee (May 10, 2012)

Its surprising but if a horse has a plentiful supply of food they can stay fat and still have a heavy worm burden. They can cause a horse to have a depraved appetite when they will eat too much even their own poop but some horses are just plain greedy!!!
They can stay encysted for a few years and all the time will be causing irritation, ulcers and then possibly anemia. I knew a woman that had a lovely young horse euthanized because it was unrideable - and I mean it was really bad no exaggeration - no worms ever showed up in its fecal egg counts but the autopsy she had done to see if something was internally wrong showed that it was absolutely riddled with encysted worms that must have been causing it a lot of pain
I'm sorry if I'm being a bit scary about this but they are something to take seriously so I hope you can get on top of it


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## garlicbunny (Apr 30, 2009)

I FORGOT to let you all know that the last treatment worked! It is time for another though now so hope this one is negative as well..


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## garlicbunny (Apr 30, 2009)

ok know It is spring and the first fecal showed both my horses are loaded with stronglyes! I am pretty upset and not sure what to do. My vet wants me to dose with reg panacur 5 days, then Quest on the 6th day. That may help, but keeping them in the same field is going to keep them infested. 
All the others have not had fecals yet (BO is going to work on that), but one of the other horses came up negative. How can that be? It would seem that if one is infested that they all would be. I have to figure out what to do, am worried about them being encysted!​ In another field with another group of horses they are and have been negative, so my vet sounds right when she says the pasture is very contaminated and we do not have enough pasture to keep them off of it for a year like she suggested.​ Any suggestions like maybe different vet or anything advise at all except leaving the current barn, I love it there. Thanks to all....I am on a mission:?​


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## amigoboy (Feb 14, 2014)

Just because a horse comes up negative does not mean it does not have worm.
FEC´s only confirm that the horse has worms and how large of burden the female egg laying worms are. It say´s nothing of the male population or other parasites that do not show up on FEC tests.

Infestation comes from eating each others poo, eating where they have their toilet for there is nothing elsa too eat and horses that have not been wormed because they came up with a FEC-0. (all to often a count comes back 0 and 3 weeks later they have a count in the 1000´s).
Parasites have a very precarious life cycle outside the host, breaking the cycle will decrease heavy loads.
There should be a deworming program for all horses in the herd and new comers wormed before comming into the group.

You can not control other people and their horses, all you can do is try and stay on top of Worm Control in your own horse so they don´t get out of control and affekt your horses health, if that means worming a little more often than the others then you do it.
Talk to your vet about 3-way rotaional worming and how often.
Example:
Deworming Rotation Schedule and Worm Facts
I use their schedual as a quide line and worm 3 times a year with the Standard 1-year pack, for 2-horsers.
You may need to follow a 6-times a year program 1-horse, depends on your worm situation.
Remember!! under dosing is the biggest mistake horse owners make and that is the major cause of Resistance.
Good luck.


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## Foxhunter (Feb 5, 2012)

I am not a great believer in worm counts. It is a bit erratic with most. You pick up a small lump of droppings which might well be clear but, if there is not a heavy burden then the horse might still be wormy. 

Another thing is that some horses seem to be a magnet for strongyles, in a herd of twenty you might get two that are worm laden and the rest seem relatively clear. 

She needs a wormer that will kill the migrating worms which Panacure does not do.


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## jaydee (May 10, 2012)

As long as your horse is on contaminated pasture you will never get rid of the worms.
Horses don't need to need contaminated poo or have nothing else to eat but grass that's close to poo because the larvae that the horses ingest as they graze migrate all over the pasture
Constantly worming your horse with the same active ingredients increases the risk of resistance 
If you can't move then it might be wise to have everyone stable their horses for a quarantine period while their wormed aggressively and the field is limed and rested
When they go back on all poo should be removed at least once a day and the horses put on a correct wormer regime where they are all done at the same time


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## garlicbunny (Apr 30, 2009)

just got another fecal to vet, waiting for results and will let you know. I do not expect good news..


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