High worm counts

[BobbySox71]

I’m moving yards this weekend and on Monday had worm count (which was coming up anyway) and strangles test.
As expected the strangles blood test was negative but I was horrified his worm count came back at 1950. In the 8 years I’ve owned him it was never higher than 500. Nothing else has changed, the only sign was a bit of a pot belly and he’s a good doer aged 14
Doubled dosed today as recommended by my vet and kept in for 48 hours.
Has the unusual weather this summer been the cause?

There's a lot of resistance to all horse wormers.

What has been your worming schedule at your current yard?

The best approach is to do worm egg counts every other month - or prob every month as you've got a very high result & then treat according to the result rather than blanket worming schedules which just add to the resistance problem.

Make sure you are giving enough of the wormer - with wormers it's better to overdose than underdose. Check your horses weight too. Some products only treat up to 600kg & many sports horse types/warmbloods are well over that.

Follow your vets advice as a result that high can cause problems like colic after treatment.

Doing a worm count 2 weeks after treatment will show you whether resistance is a factor.

Very dry conditions actually reduce worm burden on ground as the larvae can't survive, (however the lack of grass & horses grazing very close to the ground on grazing that's over grazed & not poo picked will cause a big increase in worm burden.

My horse is a 600kg ISH so the full syringe double dose is on my vets advice.
She also advised doing another worm count in 2 weeks time.
Thankfully 🙏 he’s fine this morning though a bit grumpy as he’s being kept in for 48 hours 😤

Most Vets have been bought up in bulk by multinational investments companies so be wary. They are increasingly looking for more ways to increase profits over animal welfare. Your vet may be right but trust your instincts also. You could try a second test elsewhere.

My vet is still independent thankfully, other practices in the area have been bought up

Wow that is high. I’ve just had a worm count done for the first time and it was 25 so very very good. Our yard is fairly lax with one pramox when it turns cold but usually leave it late and then for the first time I did an ivermectin dose late February due to noticing some repeat seasonal symptoms. Had pony coming up 4 years. Previous to getting the pony I doubt he’d ever been wormed. His field mates were around the 100 mark but didn’t get the ivermectin dose. We do poo pick daily and I wonder if that, along with probably under use of wormer compared to others has helped