5/11/2023 0 Comments Photos of the horaeUsually a parasite of young horses they can be dangerous, especially in large quantities. Roundworm large, stringy, yellowish white worms that can be upwards of 30 cm long, these can look rather alarming when they do appear. They are red when they’ve been feeding on your horse’s blood but can also be white if they haven’t eaten in a while Redworm large and small strongyles appear as small, thin, spidery worms in the dung. If you see worms you will want to identify and treat them with the appropriate wormer. Even if your horse has worms this is rare because they are usually metabolised in the gut first but it’s definitely not unheard of. Occasionally you might see the parasites themselves in the droppings. Any eggs you see in horse poo will not be from intestinal worms. The eggs of redworm, roundworm and tapeworm, the ‘usual suspects’ of horse parasites, are microscopic and not visible to the naked eye. These are excreted in the dung and are what we look for in a worm egg count. Parasites that live in our horse’s guts can lay millions of eggs per day. Nevertheless we thought it would be useful to take a whistle stop tour of pony poo piles, cover some of the more unusual things to be found in them and whether they’re harmful or not. We’re very used to dealing with dung but if you’re the squeamish sort you might have to take a deep breath to delve into today’s discussion. Here in the lab at Westgate we get lots of pictures sent in to ID weird and wonderful looking things that end up in horse poo. See something unexpected in a dropping and it’s natural to worry about what it is, whether it could be a threat to your horse’s health and then just what the heck to do about it.
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