Worming Policy 

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We do not have a routine worming regime. There are a number of reasons for this. Most importantly we are not a normal livery yard. Our grass is not over grazed by horses on different regimes. We insist that all horses arrive with a low to zero worm count to start with. When the horses move to each field the sward is long, stalky and full of wild flowers and plants because it has been left fallow for a period of several months and sometimes up to a year. This completely breaks the worm cycle. In 20 years we have never seen anything other than a low to zero worm count. We do not, therefore, administer drugs that are not required. Many people believe in regular worming as a prophylactic but we prefer to monitor the horses very carefully. If we see evidence of a worm burden in manure or in a routine test then we will worm appropriately. Any wormer has to be specific because we need to confine the horse for 24 - 48 hours afterwards as we have to collect the manure containing the drug and dispose of it appropriately. We do not want the manure on our land as it would affect beneficial invertebrate life such as earth worms. Nor could we include it in our normal muck area as this is used in our organic garden. Such a period of confinement can cause disruption and stress to the herd so we try to avoid this unless it is absolutely necessary. Additionally, because the herd is completely free to access shelter at all times they invariably seek it out during the day in bot season. Horses are extremely sensitive to this particular pest and if they are not allowed access to shelter they can become quite distressed when trying to avoid them. Bot flies never seem to follow the horses into the barn so we haven’t seen a bot egg on one of our horses for years.