Rossdales provides you with two options, our Standard Worm Control package and an Enhanced Worm Control package, to make worming your horse as convenient and cost effective as possible, and to give you peace of mind.
Both the Standard and Enhanced Worm Control packages aim to prevent unnecessary treatments by using faecal worm egg counts (WECs) to regularly monitor for worms throughout the grazing season. In winter, an Equest Pramox wormer is provided with the Standard Worm Control package. This is suitable for the elimination of all the worm types and stages, providing effective treatment for small redworm (larvicidal), tapeworm, roundworm and bots.
The Enhanced Worm Control package includes the WECs, but replaces the Equest Pramox wormer with a blood sample*, which is taken during the late autumn/early winter to test for small redworm and tapeworm at our laboratory (ELISA testing).
This package provides testing, analysis and feedback. Based on your horse’s blood test results, it may not be necessary to use a wormer at all, thus reducing the potential for anthelmintic resistance.
If a particular type of worm is identified by the laboratory tests, your vet will recommend the most appropriate treatment to target the specific worm type found and risk levels.
*Visit fee for taking blood is not included.
What is included in each package?
| Standard Worm Control Package | Enhanced Worm Control Package | |
|---|---|---|
| Information sheet and full set of instructions | ✓ | ✓ |
| 4 x vouchers for faecal worm egg counts (WEC) at our laboratory (for use March to November) | ✓ | ✓ |
| 4 x bags for collection of faecal samples | ✓ | ✓ |
| 1 x wormer (Equest Pramox) for effective treatment of small redworm (larvicidal), tapeworm, roundworm and bots, once during the winter period (December to February) | ✓
| X
|
| 1 x weigh tape | ✓ | ✓ |
| Personalised interpretation of the WEC results and advice about pasture management and deworming treatments, where appropriate | ✓
| ✓
|
| Small redworm ELISA test at our laboratory (November/December) | X | ✓ |
| Tapeworm ELISA test at our laboratory (November/December) | X | ✓ |
| Blood sample (excludes visit fee) | X | ✓ |
| Cost including VAT (2026 prices) | £82 | £140 |
The package cost for the Standard Worm Control Package represents a significant saving on these services and products than if they were paid for separately. It does not include the cost of any wormers that may be recommended based on an elevated worm egg count during the grazing season, or the cost of any blood or saliva tests for tapeworms.
The cost for the Enhanced Worm Control Package includes everything in the Standard Worm Control Package, but replaces the wormer with a blood sample, a small redworm ELISA test and a tapeworm ELISA test. When purchasing this package, please make a note to contact us in November/December to arrange for one of our team to visit to take the blood sample at a mutually convenient time. The visit fee is not included.
For more information and recommended worming advice, download our Worming Flyer. To purchase one of our Annual Worming packages, call us on 01638 663150, or contact a member of our ambulatory team of vets.
Submitting Faecal Samples
A suitable faecal sample would be about four faecal balls of fresh dung taken from several different places in the pile and collected into a glove or freezer bag and secured carefully. The sample should be clearly labelled with the horse’s name and the owner’s name, and the date collected.
Try to exclude as much air as possible and submit the sample the same day either by giving it to one of our visiting vets, bringing it to our offices at Newmarket, or sending the sample direct to our laboratory* in Newmarket. All methods of submission should include a Faecal Worm Egg Count voucher.
If there is likely to be a delay in getting the sample to us, the sample should be chilled (not frozen) and it is preferable not to send samples to the laboratory on a Friday as they won’t be processed until the following week. It is also important that the horses are sampled separately rather than pooling samples. This way we can identify which horses are the high worm burden horses.
Please note that the Worming Package price does not include the cost of posting the sample to our laboratory.
Field Management
A critical part of worm control is dung removal from paddocks. Ideally this should be done every day, but at least twice weekly is acceptable so that the larvae that hatch from the eggs in the faeces do not get the opportunity to contaminate the pasture. Keeping grazing groups the same, as far as possible, will also minimise fluctuations in WEC results.
Which wormer to use?
Treatment in winter can be combined with worming for small redworms and all other roundworms, including pinworms, bots and all three types of tapeworm by giving Equest Pramox (moxidectin and praziquantel combined). If horses have been blood tested for tapeworms and encysted small redworms and have returned a negative result, this may not be necessary. Discuss this with your vet on an individual basis for each horse.
*If you are sending a sample direct to our laboratory, the address is Rossdales Laboratories, High Street, Newmarket CB8 8JS. Don’t forget to send in a Worm Egg Count voucher and to include your name and the horse’s name.