Free worm counts throughout February and March

By Rebecca Gibson

General news

05 February 2010 15:27

Equine worming manufacturer Eqvalan has pledged to continue offering free egg counts to horse owners in a bid to prevent resistance developing through over-worming.

This is a continuation of the company’s SMART campaign launched last year. “SMART worming is designed to encourage owners to Simply Monitor, Assess Risk and, if necessary, Treat with the most appropriate wormer, “Eqvalan product manager Claire Edmunds says.

Throughout the spring and autumn of 2009 free faecal sampling kits were handed out with every purchase of Eqvalan Duo, this will now continue during February and March of 2010. It’s hoped the campaign will make horse owners think about being more targeted in their approach to worming. "Recent research suggests that 80% of the UK’s equine worms are carried by just 20% of our horses,” Claire says. “

"It's quite a mindset change to get people to use worm counts, where sampled of your horse’s dung are examined to determine whether or not he needs worming, instead of strategic dosing, but I’m confident people will be using them more and more," Claire says. "We also know that worming can be confusing for horse owners, so the new SMART approach is designed to help horse owners manage their worming programmes more easily, whilst also ensuring that wormers are used in a way that may help prevent the development of resistance.”

As well as free worm egg count, horse owners will also be able to access a personalised on-line worming planner, and be able to sign up for text and email worming reminders.