Because these Icelandic horses spend much of their time on pasture, owner Carrie Lyons Brandt must be sure to monitor and manage their internal parasite burdens. | Photo: Courtesy Shaila Sigsgaard

Consider your property’s equine traffic, geographic location, and parasite control goals to create an effective program

The hardy Icelandic horses housed at Swallowland Farm, in Shelbyville, Ky., live as natural a lifestyle as possible. Owner and trainer Carrie Lyons Brandt ensures her 30 charges live in groups, consume a forage-based diet, are allowed to grow winter coats, and spend most of their time turned out. Although her herd is fairly low-maintenance, Brandt knows there’s one area of their care she must pay close attention to and manage carefully: parasite control. Brandt’s Icelandics are primarily pastured and are exposed to high numbers of parasitic worms that exist naturally in soil and on grasses, waiting to be consumed, so she has worked with her veterinarian to customize a parasite control program for her farm.

With internal parasites developing increasing resistance to anthelmintic (dewormer) drugs, horse owners can no longer deworm willy-nilly and assume their animals are protected. Conscientious farm owners and managers like Brandt now consider their property’s equine traffic, geographic location, and parasite control goals to create a program that works for them.

We teamed up with Martin Nielsen, DVM, PhD, Dipl. EVPC, ACVM, co-author of The Handbook of Equine Parasite Control, chair of the AAEP Parasite Control Subcommittee, and an equine parasitologist at the University of Kentucky’s Gluck Equine Research Center, in Lexington; and Claudia True, DVM, from Woodside Equine Clinic, in Ashland, Va., who helped The Virginia-Maryland Regional College of Veterinary Medicine develop its parasite control protocols, to guide you in doing just that