Natural Horse Wormers
Natural Wormers for Horses
What They Are
They are herbal/homeopathic horse wormers which can be used as alternatives to the many chemical wormers that are otherwise offered.
The Challenges of Using a Natural Horse Wormer
Very simply - there is so much fear about worms and horses. We are lead to believe that if they are not on a proper worming programme, they can become infested with worms and so become seriously ill.
So, if you choose to use natural horse wormers, how do you know if they are working before it is too late?
A fair reason to be cautious.
So it is very tempting to just "do the chemical route" and end all that worry.
This area of natural horsecare is often the most challenging for horse owners but with research, care and monitoring natural wormers can be used.
Disadvantages of Chemical Wormers
If you follow what the manufacturers recommend for your horses wormimg programme, they are getting a tremendous amount of chemical wormers every year.
The list of side effects from chemical wormers is easily available if you search the internet. Here I will summarise some of the many side effects;-
Possible Side Effects
- Swollen neck and glands
- Colic
- Allergic reactions
- Laminitis
- Various gut problems and disturbances
- Skin Reactions
- Tongue hanging out horse drooling
- Disturbances in the hoof walls
- Internal damage
- Damage to the horses immune system
The above list is by no means complete. But in essence if you give chemical drugs on a regular basis over time you will be damaging the liver and the horses immune system. The knock on effects will vary from one horse to another.
Eventually your horses own immune system will be compromised and their health in time is very likely to break down.
A number of qualified barefoot trimmers have noticed changes in the outer wall of barefoot horses hooves from the administration of just one months supply of a horse wormer to horses.
Very simply, you cannot pump in any drug, year in, year out, without it having a knock on effect.
Our Thoughts on Natural Horse Wormers
We had to explore alternatives. (I am not afraid of using homoeopathic remedies and herbs as a trained Naturopath and Osteopath this is what I have been doing and prescribing for years.)
So we explored and tried herbal wormers.
Alternative Horse Wormers
One of the herbal natural horse wormers that you can buy is called Multi Worm
It is manufactured by Science with Nature.
Multi-Worm - A Natural Horse Wormer
It is a liquid wormer/vermifuge and is made up of herbal and botanical extracts.
How Multi-Worm Works
What the company says is, "that it works by creating an environment in the stomach which is totally alien to adult endo-parasites causing them to be rapidly expelled.
It is not a harsh or harmful purgative and is safe to use on pregnant mares, foals, as well as older horses.
Multi-Worm does not kill eggs or larvae, which is why this product must be used and taken on a monthly basis.
In addition it is recommended by the Veteran Horse Society."
Dosage and How to Give It
- It must be used on a monthly basis.
- If you do it at the beginning of every month this makes it very easy to remember. (It needs to be added to a bit of feed.)
- It needs to be shaken before adding it to a feed. This activates the remedy and is very important that it is done, otherwise it is likely not to work. (which we have experienced.)
Additional Information on Multi-Worm
With new horses entering the yard they need to be on it for 10 weeks before doing any egg tests if you wish to do any testing. This is because normally after 3 months use, the worm's life cycle has taken place and no more eggs are laid.
Secondly when you bring any new horse into the yard if you are concerned you can give them a second dose fortnightly until you are happy that it is working for you and that the horse has adapted to the change in his worming programme.
Who Uses It
The company say that from their sales records, over 7,000 horses are kept on it and it "does not contravene the Rules of Racing."
Does Multi-Worm Fail
This natural wormer has been in use for over ten years.The manufacturers have had jsut 3 'failures' that could not be solved. Normally if there is a problem it is because of some other factor.
E.g. a new horse joins the group and infests the others, or a horses immune system is depleted and so their egg count increases.
The manufacturers don't pretend to know all the answers but in all other cases they have managed to solve any problems.
Our Experience
We have used this natural horse wormer now for over 6 years.
Apart from once when we did not shake the bottle and activate the remedy, (shaking homeopathic remedies activates the remedy, this is standard procedure in homeopathy.) This resulted in worms in one of our horses droppings. We immediately wormed him again and the worms cleared up straight away.
In all other cases it has been 100% successful.
During this time all our horses have remained in good health. However, to cover ourselves we have had all the horses worm counts tested and they have been fine.
Cost
The Cost - It is significantly cheaper than using the standard chemical wormers.
Availability
It can be delivered by post.
Crossgates Homeopathic Natural Horse Wormers
Crossgates do a bioenergeticsí horse wormer formula.
You administer the bomeopathic wormer once a day for a fortnight and then give Kelp Carb once a week for 4 weeks. Then you go back to using the the homeopathic wormer spray for a fortnight. These two combinations i.e. the wormer and the Kelp Carb come in small spray bottles which are easy to use and are small enough to keep in a coat pocket.
Personally I would find this a bit of a fiddle, but there are many peopele who use the Crossgates wormer very successfully.
Other Companies
There are many other companies on the market who manufacture herbal and homeopathic horse wormers for horses. Look into them and try them for yourselves.
They need to be palatable and easy to adminster.
How to Safeguard Yourselves
If you want to use natural horse wormers you can safeguard yourself by having their worm counts done from their droppings and if you still want to further tests you can get your vet to blood test your horse.
If you are wanting to try and go down this route, use the horse wormers as they are recommended and then do a worm count/test after using them for 3 months. If for any reason the results are not good, go back to the company and discuss it with them. They maybe able to help you.
If not, you can still try one of the companies recommended above.
If you are able to move over and use alternative natural horse wormers your horses health will certainly benefit. If for any reason it does not work, as long as you are testing him/her, you can always resort back to chemical horse wormers.
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