Horse worms are a huge risk for your equines. Parasites can attack your horse any time of the year regardless of the weather or atmosphere. Sadly, there is hardly anything you can do to prevent horse worms. All that is in your control in the treatment.
Luckily, there are plenty of horse wormer options out there. We have put together a list of the 5 best horse wormers that will work for all seasons. Read till the end to also find out the horse worming schedule so that you can treat the parasites in the most effective way.
Quick Picks
Among all the great horse wormers on our list, here are the top two that particularly stand out.
Best Overall
The best horse wormer in all aspects is Panacur Equine Paste. It treats the majority of the common horse worms. What’s even better is that it suits all horses, even pregnant mares! The safe formula, however, doesn’t compromise on effectiveness. You’ll see results within days!
Best Wormer for Summer
Farnam Ivercare Paste – Apple Flavored is the best horse wormer for summer. It is ideal for use in May and June to treat all sorts of common horse worms. Moreover, this apple-flavored product offers good taste at an affordable price.
Best Horse Wormers: Reviewed
If used at the right time in the right way, these wormers will treat all sorts of parasites bothering your horse! Here’s our list of the best horse wormers.
1. Panacur Equine Paste
The Panacur Equine Paste is a budget-friendly, yet high-quality product. This is a great horse wormer for spring. The Benzimadoles in this paste should be put to use in March and April to treat strongyles, roundworms, pinworms, ascarids, threadworms, and encysted cyathostomes.
It has an apple-cinnamon flavor that most horses love. This formula is FDA-approved for horses of all ages and sizes. This is the safest horse wormer that can be used for foals, underweight horses, and pregnant mares. But, at the same time, the formula is strong enough to show results in days.
One downside of this horse wormer is that it is ineffective against tapeworms.
2. Farnam Ivercare Paste – Apple Flavored
The formula of Farnam Ivercare Paste – Apple Flavored is suitable to treat worms with just one dose. This apple-flavored ivermectin paste is a top favorite. It comes with a syringe for additional ease when feeding it to your horse.
The syringe provides a dosage suitable for a 250-pound horse. You can offer multiple doses to your horse depending on its age and weight. This formula is suitable for horses up to 1500lbs.
Even though this dewormer works well against a lot of worms, it is designed to target one specific parasite. While that is a great thing in case you haven’t identified the worm affecting your horse, it also means that the treatment is more generic. The only downside this poses is the possibility of a delay in results.
3. Merial Zimecterin Gold
The 7.35-gram tube of Zimecterin Gold is a mix of 1.55% ivermectin and 7.75% praziquantel. It is suitable for big horses that weigh up to 1250 pounds. But, it is also safe for horses as young as 2 months old.
This mixture is a great treatment for high shedding parasites. It is a great horse wormer for fall. Other than that, it is also safe to use on horse skin to treat dermatitis.
Since the formula is flavorless, your horse may not like it. You also don’t get a syringe to make feeding the right dosage any easier.
4. Bimeda Equimax Paste
Bimeda Equimax paste offers a mixture of 1.87% ivermectin and 14.03% praziquantel in this Equimax paste.
Your horses will love this paste for its apple flavor. Moreover, the syringe that comes along with the package allows you to feed your horse the right dosage very easily. Its effective formula quickly works to kill common parasites that horses swallow.
The 6.24-gram tube is enough for your horse to get back on the health track. This formula can be used for horses that weigh up to 1320 pounds but at the same time, is also safe for adolescent horses.
You may have an issue with the high price of this product. But, if it suits your budget, the product is highly effective and safe.
5. Durvet Ivermectin Paste
This Durvet Ivermectin paste is available in 0.21-ounce packaging. The product has 1.87% ivermectin so it will work efficiently in spring as well as fall. It is a safe product for all breeds and ages of horses, even for adolescent horses.
The apple flavor makes it easier for you to feed it to your horse. Users claim that the product showed results in less than 2 days. Other than worms and bot, this paste is also a good treatment for skin conditions like dermatitis and summer sores.
Some people may have an issue with the price of this product as it is priced slightly higher than other similar products in the market.
6. Quest Plus Gel
The Quest Plus formula comes in a gel form and is available in a 0.5oz syringe packaging. The manufacturer recommends using this horse wormer in the late grazing season. In other words, it is a horse wormer for fall that you can schedule according to the weather of your area. The active ingredients in this wormer are moxidectin and praziquantel. It is safe for any horse aged above 6 months.
It is a pretty effective formula that curbs the production of worm eggs for up to 84 days. This horse wormer is a great remedy against tapeworms, pinworms, stomach worms, roundworms, large strongyles, and encysted small strongyle and larva bots. The gel formula is easy to give orally.
One downside that may bother your horse is the lack of added flavor in this gel. It will be hard to give this wormer to a taste-conscious animal.
7. Anthelcide Equine Paste
This product is an oxibendazole based paste, which is a broad-spectrum benzimidazole anthelmintic. It comes in a syringe packing. The 24g product is enough for an animal that weighs up to 1200lbs. However, if you’re aiming to control threadworms, this amount is enough for an 800lb horse.
The syringe makes this paste very easy to feed to a horse. Its formula is highly efficient against the most common horse worms such as large roundworms, large strongyles, small strongyles, and other internal parasites.
Anthelcide is useless if you’re looking for something to treat tapeworms or bots. Another issue with this product is the absence of flavor.
Horse Wormers Buying Guide
There’s more to the treatment of horse worms than just the purchase of a good deworming paste. This buying guide will explain the details you need to know in order to buy the right product for your needs.
Understanding the Horse Worming Schedule
Horse worms are a natural thing. They keep coming back every year as the worms have a life cycle of their own. The climate also plays its role in this cycle.
If you get familiar with the horse worming schedule, you can use relevant treatments for the best results.
For low shedder worms, the eggs per gram of manure (EPG) are less than 200. You should use ivermectin or moxidectin during spring. For fall time, continue using ivermectin or moxidectin but add praziquantel to the routine.
Moderate shedders with 200-500 EPG are treated in the same way as low shedders. However, the additional use of ivermectin in the summertime is mandatory.
High shedders have more than 500 EPG. For the deworming of these parasites, use ivermectin or moxidectin in spring. Go for ivermectin once again during early summers. Around September, use ivermectin with praziquantel. At the end of the fall season, go for moxidectin.
To make sure that this deworming schedule is working for your horse, conduct a fecal count once a year in early spring, before the start of the deworming process.
Right Wormers for Different Parasites
There are four main types of parasites that affect a horse.
The first of these four is Strongyles, also known as red worms or blood worms. There are three species of these parasites. One directly affects the cranial mesenteric artery whereas the other two feed on blood which causes anemia, weakness, and diarrhea. All common horse wormers can treat this parasite but the most effective ones are those with ivermectin, moxidectin, praziquantel, and fenbendazole.
The second type of parasite is Ascarids, more commonly known as roundworms. This parasite, after being swallowed, starts traveling from the intestines but gradually moves on to the liver, lungs, and lastly, to the pharynx, where it is swallowed again. Roundworms cause weight loss, lethargy, uneven hair growth, and stunted overall growth. Oxibendazol and pyrantel pamoate are the two drugs that can treat roundworms.
Next in line are Tapeworms. This parasite actually makes its way into the horse’s body through mites. Once the larva matures in the gut, it starts damaging the intestines, which leads to inflammation. The most effective horse wormer for tapeworms is moxidectin and praziquantel.
The last parasite type is Bots. Adult flies lay eggs on a horse’s coat. When the horse is grooming itself, the eggs are swallowed. The bots grow inside the horse’s stomach causing irritation and digestive problems. After 8 to 10 months, the parasite leaves the horse’s body through droppings. It finds a new home in the ground where it grows into an adult fly that repeats the cycle. Ivermectin paired with moxidectin helps treat this parasite.
Additional Precautions
Even the best horse wormers won’t be effective on their own. You have to make sure you are doing as much as possible to avoid parasites from entering the horse’s body. Keep your horse’s living space clean and disinfected. Use repellents to keep flies away so that there is a minimal chance of them laying bot eggs on your horse.
Additionally, keep your horse’s immune system strong. Follow the recommended deworming schedule so that you can tackle the parasites at the right time.
People Also Asked
You might still have some queries in mind. These FAQs will clarify all remaining doubts regarding horse wormers.
How often should a horse be wormed?
A horse should be wormed every 6 months. Most parasites are easily treated with two doses of ivermectin twice a year. However, for moderate or high shedding parasites, 3 to 4 treatments per year are mandatory.
Initially, horses were dewormed every 2 months, but that increased the immunity of the parasites.
Are all horse wormers the same?
There are different types of worms that affect horses. Each one affects the horse differently so the horse experiences different symptoms.
The similarity in all parasites is that they all enter the horse’s body in the same way. The egg or larva is swallowed either while grazing or grooming. Other than that, all horse worms are different from one another.
What are the signs that a horse has worms?
If a horse has worms, the symptoms will vary depending on what sort of parasite has attacked the horse. However, some general signs that indicate worms include lethargy, loss of appetite, weakness, cough, anemia, colic, stunted growth, and tail rubbing.
Other than these symptoms, if your horse is acting unlike itself, you should get a fecal count done to make sure whether it’s worms or not.
Can horses get worms from hay?
Horses cannot pick worm eggs or larva from hay. They only swallow worms from pastures or their coat. It isn’t impossible to find eggs in hay but the chances are very minimal. Larva tends to prefer pastures, so horses are most at risk of swallowing a parasite while grazing only.
How long do horse worms live in soil?
Worms leave a horse’s body through droppings. They then find a home in the soil where they live for three to five weeks. After that, the worming cycle restarts. The larva from the soil emerges as adults to lay eggs all over again.
Can worms make horses cough?
Different horse worms cause different symptoms but one of the most common signs of any type of horse worm is cough. The parasites usually start infecting the horse from the stomach but they all eventually move up to the lungs and throat. This causes respiratory diseases, all of which make the horse cough.
Should you ride a horse with a cough?
If your horse has a cough, you should neither ride it nor keep it with the rest of your horses. There is a chance that the cough may spread to other animals too. You can get infected yourself but the bigger risk is that you will carry the infection from one horse to the rest.
Other than the risk of infection, you should also avoid riding a sick horse to avoid stressing it out. Riding a sick horse will leave the animal tired which could worsen the sickness. Give the horse at least 2 days to rest and recover before you begin riding it again.
Conclusion
After reading through all of this information, you are well aware of the best horse wormers for fall, spring, and summer. You know which product will work the best for which parasites. On top of that, the worming schedule has made it easier for you to treat horse worms effectively.
So, without any further ado, go ahead and order from our list of the 5 best horse wormers to rid your horse of all the unnecessary irritability and sickness!
