Deworming

We here at Hayes Equine have been receiving several calls about a deworming schedule. Here is what we recommend:

January and February is the time to worm for bots because it has been more than one month since the freeze that killed the adult bot flies. Use an ivermectin wormer such as Zimectrin or Equimax to rid your horse of bots at this time.

There is a larval worm hatch for adult worms in April and May. The worm larvae in the intestinal wall molt to adult worms that will live in the large intestine and lay eggs, contaminating the pastures. Worm again April 15-May 15 to kill the adult and larval worms using a moxidectin product like Quest or Quest Plus.

The strongyle larvae that are ingested in the spring grass complete the life cycle in six months so there is another larval molt to adult worms in October. We recommend a fecal to see if your horse has worms. If the spring worming was
effective, no worming is needed in the fall. If the fecal is positive, worm in October with a pyrantel product such as Srongid or Exodus.

Young horses 1-2 years of age should be wormed also in the summer using Panacur or Safe-Guard. Foals should first be wormed at 3 months of age with Panacur at the foal dose and then wormed every 3 months after until one year of age with either Panacur or Ivermectin (depending on fecal results).

It is always a good idea on any new horse to perform a fecal exam to determine what worms they are infested with and how many. This allows for an effective dewormer to be chosen.