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WHEN TO DEWORM YOUR HORSE
Every horse is unique. Work with your veterinarian to develop an Individualized Deworming™ program for your horse beginning with a fecal egg count (FEC) test.
Establish a Baseline Fecal Egg Count
An FEC test will determine your horse’s current parasite-shedding level.
FEC test results show the parasite eggs per gram. Less than 200 eggs per gram may indicate low risk. FEC results greater than 500 eggs per gram may indicate a horse is at a higher health risk from parasites and could be spreading parasites to other horses.
Know Your Horse’s Parasite Risk Factors
All horses have unique risk factors that affect their vulnerability to parasites. Evaluate these with the veterinarian on your team.
- FEC test results
- Age of horse
- Local climate
- Manure removal
- Pasture rotation
- Pasture population
- Type of pasture: lush, overgrown, dry lot, combination
- Feeding: individual, group, on or off the ground
- Use of horse: show/performance, recreational, companion
- Movement of horses on and off the farm
Individualize Your Horse’s Deworming
After assessing FEC shedding levels and your horse’s unique risk profile, you and your veterinarian will be able to design an Individualized Deworming program.
The American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP) recommends that all horses receive deworming treatments in the spring and fall, targeting key equine parasites of concern.1 For young horses, ages 3 and under, the AAEP guidelines recommend high-risk deworming treatment plans.1
SPRING DEWORMING — Spring is when encysted small strongyles (strongyles in the larval stage) typically emerge. QUEST® effectively treats and controls encysted small strongyles in a single dose. In a study, QUEST was also nearly twice as effective in reducing egg counts as a five-dose treatment of fenbendazole.2,*
FALL DEWORMING — Tapeworm treatment is recommended once a year, in the late fall or early winter after tapeworm transmission ends due to cold weather.1 QUEST® PLUS is the ideal deworming choice for late fall as it contains an additional active ingredient – praziquantel – that specifically targets tapeworms.
Depending on your horse’s parasite risk factors, these two treatments may be all that are needed.
Purchase QUEST and QUEST PLUS from your equine veterinarian or retailer. Prior to purchasing a dewormer, work with your veterinarian to complete a fecal egg count (FEC) test for your horse.
Do not use QUEST Gel or QUEST PLUS Gel in foals less than 6 months of age or in sick, debilitated and underweight horses. Do not use in other animal species, as severe adverse reactions, including fatalities in dogs, may result.
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