Feeding tips Friday

I thought this week we would touch on worming. Obviously it isn’t directly related to feeding however a worm infestation can cause changes in your horses appearance that no amount of feeding will be able to change. It will also allow your horse to be as healthy as possible. I personally do not like to over worm. I believe that worming too often leads to such a high resistance in worms that it becomes so much harder to get control of them. I generally worm at the change of season and if they start to show any signs of worms in between then they will get done again. Knowing the signs of when a horse has worms is a great piece of knowledge to acquire. There are quite a few different types of worms that horses can get and the signs your horse shows for each will be different. But here is a list of the most common signs of your horse having worms. *weight loss *dull coat/fuzzy coat *rubbing the tails *rubbing their necks *Colic *diarrhea or constipation *poor growth in foals *respiratory problems If you are still unsure then you can get a faecal egg count done by your equine veterinary. This involves analysing your horse’s poo and counting the amount of worm eggs in it and therefore determine if your horse needs to be wormed or not.