THE veterinary profession is calling on competition and livery yard owners and managers to share information about their approach to worming to help tackle dewormer resistance and safeguard equine health in the future.
They are being asked to complete a survey as part of the second phase of Project WORMS, which is an ongoing collaboration between members of the veterinary world and stands for Working to Overcome Resistance and Make for a Sustainable future.
Project WORMS was set up due to a real concern that the horse world could be left without effective de-wormers in the future, putting horses at an increased risk of parasite damage-related illnesses such as severe diarrhoea, weight loss and colic, which are currently preventable.
All grazing horses are affected by worms and controlling them is vital to maintain the health of these horses. However, the deworming drugs (anthelmintics) that we have relied on for many years are becoming less and less effective due to increasing levels of resistance among the worms.
In its first phase, Project WORMS asked horse owners and stud managers to share feedback about their deworming practices to help identify improvements that could be made and enable veterinary surgeons to understand how they can best target their advice. One of the key findings of the study was that 42% of the 4,229 horse owners that responded keep their horses on a yard which is managed by someone else and for the majority (40%) of these horses, it is the yard manager who makes decisions about worming.
The latest survey is aimed at owners and managers of yards with two or more liveries and the data captured will be used to help support livery and competition yard owners to make better decisions on their properties, to try and prevent serious disease, and even death, due to wormer resistance in the future.
Project WORMS is the result of a collaboration between VetPartners’ Equine Clinical Board, CVS Group, IVC Evidensia and Equine Reproductive Services, and is supported by the British Equestrian Veterinary Association (BEVA). Ethical approval has been obtained from the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS).
Julia Shrubb, chair of VetPartners’ Equine Clinical Board, said surveying horse owners and studs revealed important information and has highlighted the need to find out more from yard managers.
Julia said: “We need to take action because resistance has been demonstrated in all the deworming drugs that are currently available to us and there are no new products being developed to replace them.
“The results of the first Project WORMS survey were encouraging because they showed that resistance has become more widely understood and more owners are switched on to testing. However, some liveries may be continuing to over-use dewormers due to rules set out by their yard.
“Livery yard owners have to make difficult decisions when considering a whole yard approach to parasite control and we want to understand their decision making more, so we can better support them.
“It’s really important that yard owners make sure their deworming approach includes risk assessing and testing. If many continue as they are, we are not only risking the health and welfare of horses in the future, but the viability of livery businesses if the land cannot safely be grazed by horses.”
Dr Tim Mair, an equine medicine specialist, added: “More information is now needed about how yard managers are controlling worms and using deworming drugs on their yards. A responsible approach to the use of dewormers is crucial to maximise animal welfare and ensure we have effective products available in the future. We understand that controlling parasites in groups or herds of horses is complicated, but we hope that by finding out more about how it’s approached we’ll be able to identify where improvements can be made, which will benefit livery yards as well as horses and their owners.”
To complete the survey, which takes around 15-20 minutes, visit: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/wormslivery
Surveys are anonymous, but anyone taking part can leave their details to be entered into a prize draw with the chance to win £100 of Love2Shop vouchers.