About wormers - why not natural?
A metabolic stress that leaves its mark
I started just like anybody: a chemical (de)wormer, just as it was written on the pack. I knew the strict minimum and had some kind of notions about resistance to the chemicals and using the right molecule depending on the worms... small things like that.
But when I started to really go into barefoot, it opened my eyes on a certain number of things, especially about wormers.
You need to know that if horizontal lines appear on your horse's feet (shod or not!) it's always bad news. There can be so many causes to this phenomenon. On a healthy bare hoof, it's most likely an "internal" cause, which can range from a nutritional unbalance to laminitis - diet too rich in sugar, mineral deficiencies, toxins... All of the above can cause those infamous stress lines. You can see an example of it on the picture above: Willow's feet on the 5th of May 2016, about 2 months after a chemical wormer.
I then learned this: about a months after each wormer, a horizontal line will invariably appear on your horse's hooves. It is then important to realise than when you worm your horse, you give him, deliberately, a toxin that will stress his metabolism to the point where it leaves a scar on his hooves.
Makes you think, doesn't it?
A "natural" solution?
Taking care of the problem isn't so easy, especially if you want to do it properly. I have decided a while ago to try "natural" solutions, but there a certain number of conditions to fulfil before making the experiment:
Your horse must be in good health, which is especially true for both his digestive and immune systems
He is mature (if you want to do it on foals, you really need to know what you are doing and watch the worm load very closely, so as a general rule I would advise to do it only on horses ages 3yo and older)
He is up to date for his wormers - his faecal egg count is already under 200epg*
You are able to do regular faecal egg counts (every 2-3 months minimum)
Remember that environment is the most important factor. Indeed, if there is a problem in the first place, it's because the horse isn't in its natural environment. Horses naturally don't eat around their (or other animals') faeces, thus preventing themselves from being infected. However, the restricted space of the domestic horse, as big as the field may be, is THE reason for which we have a problem with parasitism.
Ideally, horses should live in a field where faeces are picked up daily or every two days top. All the horses in the same field should follow the same "natural" worming program and have a constant egg count around 200epg*.
But then it's not because you're not in this environment that it can't work! It simply means that you need to stay opened to chemical wormers when it's really necessary (my advice: when your FEC (= faecal egg count) comes back higher than 600epg*).
The losing trio for the environment when horses are most at risk of getting infested:
Too much grazing pressure (too many horses on the pasture) + no rotation (horses stay on that pasture all year round, or for months and months in a row) + no poo picking
You miss one of them and still have a good pasture management. But you have two elements that are not respected, your pasture management is too poor for natural worming.
Your worming program can then be divided into two "sub-programs": prevention and treatment.
Preventive program
Prevention is giving every chances to the horse to control his parasitism himself. There are two axis to this: making sure your horse has a strong immune system, and produce a digestive environment that is uncomfortable for worms, so that they don't want to "stay" (and start a family!).
Worms are parasites that the horse's immune system is able to eliminate. A strong immune system allows to naturally control the worm load. That's why it's advised to always leave a bit of worms in your horse and to avoid worming when the FEC is lower than 200epg*. This allows continuing to stimulate the horse's immune system against the parasites. If the horse gets sick (unrelated to worms), it is advised to do a FEC, to check that parasites didn't take advantage of the weakened immune system to proliferate. Effective plants to stimulate the immune system are echinacea (see the picture of the flower above), rosehip and dandelion.
You can then use plants that promote a good digestive environment that will prevent the installation of the parasites (and help their excretion): a good and balance diet is essential, to which you can add herbs such as thyme, oregano and mints, as well as seeds such as pumpkin seeds (see the picture on the left), fennel seeds (see picture on the right) and aniseeds. THE king of all natural wormers is garlic,
which is effective against all types of parasites, even external; but it has to be handled with care. A prolonged use can lead to problems such a blood thinning and anaemia. Cures are better than continued use. Personally, I give 20g/d (in a syringe) for the first 7 days of each months from April to Septembre (included), which corresponds to about 42 days in the entire years en 840g/year (when it is usually advised to do cures of a kilo in 2 months... so no risks with this dosage!).
Worming program
During this period of prevention, we keep an eye on the environment (if possible) and of FEC's (DO NOT start worming naturally without regular FEC's; all horses react differently and some horses are more affected than others).
And then comes the time when your FEC is positive. In this case, you have 3 options:
epg<200: leave it like that, keep an eye on your horse and keep doing your prevention program
200<epg<600: give a natural wormer
epg>600: give a chemical wormer adapted to the worms present
I haven't had the occasion to try the second option just yet - my FEC's have always come back negative (for now!). I therefore do not know which natural wormer I would turn to; I have heard a lot of good about essential oils, but I haven't decided just yet. It will be the occasion for a new article!
*a faecal egg count, abbreviated FEC, is done in a vet lab. It allows you to know the number of worm eggs present in your horse's poo. The result will be expressed in "epg": the number of eggs per gram of faeces. For more information on FEC's, click here, where you will get to know how a FEC is done.
