Worming your Miniature Horse
Are there "Miniature Worms" too? NO, that is why worms are so dangerous to minis!
My second advice is to have fecals done on your horse about 2 weeks after worming to see if your program is effective.
Painted Sun Miniature Horses is sharing with you what we do to maintain the health of our horses. We advise you to consult your veterinarian before making any changes in your horse's diet or health regimen. The information found on our website is not to supersede the advise of your veterinarian.
Coughing, rolling and colic, grinding the teeth, snotty nose, blood protein low, even mouth sores are signs of worm infestation. Worm damage in a mini is much more severe than their effect on big horses because the worms are not "miniatures"; they are the same size as those in the gut of a big horse.
Worming foals is extremely necessary, it is a fact that worm larvae can pass through the mares' milk directly to the foal. It is also thought that migrating worms are sometimes the cause of foal scours. This belief motivates many to give an after foal worming (after the mare passes her first poop). Worming your mare with Ivermectrin within 12 hours after foaling also prevents the foal from developing threadworms. We use Ivermectrin for the mare for this after foaling worming and do it within 12 hours. Thus, Ivermectrin is part of our foaling kit.
Foals usually are going to eat some of mom's poop and are going to ingest a big meal of worms if mom is not dewormed. I deworm my foals starting at one month of age and continue monthly until they are 12 months old then go to the every other month rotation as I do with my mature horses. When you worm the foals themselves, we use use Panacur (Safeguard)(= Fenbendazole) instead. Panacur is one of the mildest wormers out there and is safe for young foals.3
Since my horses are all pastured together, it is critical to deworm frequently due to our relative small acreage. If your horses are living in large, lush pastures, then frequency of deworming is probably decreased. Fecal testing with your vet are also very reasonable.
We rotate which type of Wormer we use and worm every other month. We rotate between the 3 major classes of wormers: Ivermectrin, Fenbendazole, and Pyrantel Pamoate.
I keep reading of horses that are developing a resistance to Praziquantel.
The amount of wormer is calculated based on the weight of your mini. We would all love to have scales to measure the weight of our mini, but they are hard to come by, so horse folks have come up with formulas to estimate weight. The "weight tapes" for equine are also useless when used with Miniature horses.
The weight formulas that work on big horses are not accurate for minis. The staff at Kentucky Equine Research came up with some formulas after testing and weighing many miniature horses. You will need to measure the girth and length (from the point of the shoulder to the point of the buttock=big muscle to the side of the tail) of your mini and then plug in the numbers to this formula:
body weight (pounds) = (9.36 X heart girth in inches) + (5.01 X length in
inches) - 348.53
| Body weight (kg) = | (3.7 x girth, cm) + (2 x length, cm) - 348.5 |
| 2.2 |
 |
How do you measure heart girths? To measure a horse's heart girth, measure from the base of the withers down to a couple of inches behind the horse's front legs, under the belly, then up the opposite side to where you started. Notice this will cause your tape measure to run at an angle as shown. |
Painted Sun Miniature Horses is sharing with you what we do to maintain the health of our horses. This is not intended to direct you on how to care for your horse. The intent of this is only to share what we do. We advise you to consult your veterinarian before making any changes in your horse's health care. The information found on our website is not to supersede the advise of your veterinarian. Painted Sun Miniature Horses cannot be held liable for the care of your horse(s).
