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ABOUT H-LAB
This
section of the newsletter will have introductions to the people at H-Lab, explanations of
what we do behind the scenes, and highlights about actual customers and their worm
control strategies.
This Month:
What Our Data Shows About 'Shedding'
With all
the focus on revamping worm control programs based on a particular horse's
parasite egg 'shedding' status, we decided to review our records to see how egg
shedding statistics might have changed in the years since Horseman's Laboratory
opened for business in 1992.
We selected
several years at random, looking at the percentages of low, medium, and high
shedders in those horses testing positive for strongyles, to see if there have
been fluctuations. Here are the results of our review.
When we analyzed our entire
archive of statistics, going all the way back to 1992, we found our overall
numbers to be very consistent with the individual years we looked at:
We realize
these results aren't truly random, and that this is a topic that still requires
extensive research to fully understand what is occurring in the equine parasite
environment. However, since we've tested horses from all over the U.S. and
Canada, it's interesting to note that our ratios have been this uniform for the
past 18 years.
Here's our chart showing what defines a low,
medium, and high-shedding horse, and whether that horse needs a minimal or a
more frequent deworming schedule (see below). We feel every horse should be
dewormed at least annually with appropriate dewormers, to ensure that
tapeworms, bots, and pinworms don't get out of hand.
For
guidelines on how to deworm each type of horse appropriately, please see our
June 2010 article titled Horses Shed More Than Just Hair.
Return to the July issue of Worm Control News
Visit the Horsemen's Laboratory Web site
Worm Control News is written and produced by KempEquine.com
Copyright 2010 Horsemen's
Laboratory. Please contact us at hlab@horsemenslab.com for reprint permission.
Linking to Worm Control News is acceptable, and we would appreciate notification of links so we can
acknowledge them in future issues.
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