WORMING:
...or not?
I used to worm every 13 weeks regardless (like everyone did), whether my boys needed it or not, because this was the way it was always done. I hated doing it too, because it was a bit stressful to do (those syringes should be fatter and shorter so they can fit better in your hand) But in the last 4 years, I have done wormcounts with Westgate Laboratories:
I poo-pick twice a day. I have a full-time job in London, so I figured doing it more often and taking only a few minutes each time was the best way for me. Little did I consider this was actually a brilliant way of keeping the worms at bay! Because since I now have a window into the gut health of both my boys, where worms are concerned, I haven’t needed to worm them at all in that time.
Poo-picking gives you time to spend with your horse, when there's no agenda to perform from either side. Just you and your horse, time to scratch his itchy bits or just have a cuddle.
Both Tom & Henry have, at different times, had a less than 50 egg count in their sample (which naturally I’m mortified about), now this means very, very low, and as these have happened in Autumn each time, I have taken the opportunity to worm them both (always do them at the same time, just in case), to cover tapeworm too. Tapeworm eggs rarely show up in a worm count, this needs to be done by your vet via a blood test. Not surprisingly I decided this was just as costly and stressful as worming them…so that’s what I do.
I collect small amounts of their droppings; I actually hover about after dinner to catch them fresh from each horse, put them into the little boxes provided in the pack Westgate send me. And post it straightaway (it has to be fresh).
Within 2/3 days an email with the results comes in. Voila!
And if you need your results translated, you can call the helpline for advice: it really couldn’t be simpler.
www.westgatelabs.co.uk
Go onto their website, and see if can suit you too.
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