Some worms will have a natural resistance to the worming treatments that we administer to our horses: this means they will survive those treatments. When those worms survive and multiply, the next generation of worms will have even more natural resistance than the previous generation, and so on and so on. It is important to minimise the use of the worming treatments we have so that we don’t encourage any more resistance to develop in the equine worm populations.
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If we continue to use worming products in a blanket manner i.e. just treating all horses regularly (whether they have high worm burdens or not) then eventually our worming treatments will become ineffective as the worms will be completely resistant to them. This could mean that there will be no effective treatment for horses suffering from the symptoms of high worm burdens, which will have a significant detrimental impact on equine welfare1.
Experts are all agreed that the traditional approach of worming at pre-determined intervals is mis-guided, and has contributed to widespread resistance in equine worm populations. By leaving some horses untreated, there is a population of susceptible worms “in refugia” that have not been exposed to wormers and remain sensitive to treatment, thus diluting and keeping in check resistant worms.
Following the SMART worming advice to create a bespoke de-worming program for your horse(s) will help to keep resistance in equine worms under control, as well as being cheaper, reducing environmental contamination and being more targeted for your horse(s)1.
