Intenstinal parasites love horses, and it’s not hard to see why. Horses have 82 feet (25m) of intestines inside their abdominal cavity, providing a lot of room for worms to feed.
Worms can drain your horse of the vital nutrients it needs to stay healthy. They can also cause serious damage to your horse’s internal organs. Horses infested with worms are thing, have dull coats, and lack energy. If the parasites are not controlled, they can cause colic and ultimately death.
The worms that commonly plague horses include bots, pinworms, roundworms, and strongyles. These parasites find their way into the horse usually through the mouth, reproduce, and contaminate the environment, where they infect other horses.
The good news is that controlling worms is easy! Affordable, over-the-counter deworming products are available at your local tack and feed stores. Your veterinarian can recommend a deworming regimen that will require you to give the horse dewormer two or more times per year. Also consider rotating dewormers so that parasites affecting your horse don’t become resistant to a particular ingredient.
Michael