This may seem like a stupid question, sorry if this obvious. I have my first pregnant mare (I actually leased her for the pregnancy). She got pregnant in July. I am wondering if I worm her normally at this point… and throughout the rest of the pregnancy? I feel like I have been waiting for this foal forever and have had a lot of ups and downs just to get this far. I want to do everything as perfectly as possible for the mare and the foal. Again sorry if this is a totally silly question. Thanks!
Normal worming schedule. Make sure you hit her with ivermectrin the day before she foals or as soon as she foals ( preferrably before she even gets up) .
Thanks Bayhawk!
Ideally she would have been dewormed before bred, as well as vaccinated, so for the first 60-90 days you don’t do anything chemical-like to her. But, now that that’s over, yes, deworm her like you would any other horse, using FECs and time of year as your guide.
As bayhawk said, deworm her with ivermectin the day she foals, within 12 hours or so. This is to kill intestinal threadworms that could be passed to the foal in the milk and which is a leading cause of foal scours.
Also, you may already know, but just to be sure, do NOT use Quest (moxidectin) dewormer in pregnant mares. The other drug classes are okay to use during pregnancy.
Agree the day of foaling ivermectin deworming is important.
[QUOTE=JB;6025025]
deworm her with ivermectin the day she foals, within 12 hours or so. This is to kill intestinal threadworms that could be passed to the foal in the milk and which is a leading cause of foal scours.[/QUOTE]
Actually, although it is important to deworm the day of foaling - after foaling being preferable - and although it does reduce the incidence of “foal heat” scours and kill threadworms (strongyloides westeri in particular the larvae of which are passed to the foal in the mare’s milk), and although a heavy infestation of threadworms may cause scouring, to quote Lyons et. al. in “Equine Reproduction, second edition” (McKinnon, Squires, Vaala and Varner, eds, 2011): “There is no proof of this; in fact, all indications are that this perception is untrue.”.
Having said that, there is no definitive identification as to what does cause “foal heat scours”! 
For the longest time, as the name suggests, it was thought to be as a result of hormonal changes in the milk brought about by the first post-partum estrus. Then someone noticed that orphan foals that were not nursing but were being fed milk replacer also may have “foal heat scours”! This latter observation of course also rules out the possibility of the issue being caused by threadworms passed on from the mare.
Certainly giving Ivermectin to the mare immediately post-foaling does reduce the incidence of those scours that appear in the foal around 9 days post-foaling - and indeed in many cases (but not all!!) eliminates them completely - but just why is consequently unknown.
Don’t use organophosphates! Although there is no horse dewormer that is now sold in the US that is an organophosphate, there were in the past; there may be elsewhere in the world; and some cattle dewormers are, so be forewarned! Incidentally, there are some feed-through fly controls that are organophosphate-based and they are contraindicated for pregnant mares as well.
OK my “slack” time is over… my timer just went off for my semen freeze, so I now have to take the straws out of the freezing unit and put them into the storage tank!
Hope the above helps or proves of interest.
Regards to all,
Tend to agree if a foal is going to scour treatment doesn;t change anything, some scour some don’t.
Question. Are the worms not already present in the foal whilst in utero, hence why some advice worming pre foaling? I ask as thought I had read that foals have been born with heavy parasite burden and that by worming the mare pre foaling the chemicals will pass from mare to foal pro rata and treat the foal at the same time?
[QUOTE=knowthatifly;6025518]
Also, you may already know, but just to be sure, do NOT use Quest (moxidectin) dewormer in pregnant mares. The other drug classes are okay to use during pregnancy.
Agree the day of foaling ivermectin deworming is important.[/QUOTE]
Yes, you can use moxidectin in the pregnant mare
From the label
“Reproductive safety studies demonstrate a wide margin of safety when the product is used in the treatment of estrual and pregnant mares and breeding stallions.”
I would debate the “wide margin of safety”, since it’s not nearly as wide as ivermectin, but still, properly dosed, it’s safe for the pregnant mare
Thanks everyone, this has been a great thread, I did not realize how important the worming was right at foaling! Glad to know I am not adding risk to the baby with the extra chemicals.
Just to clarify - you can use Quest (moxidectin) in a pregnant mare, but NOT QUEST PLUS which contains moxidectin and praziquantel.
I have had multiple reproductive vets state that it is safe to give the mare Quest Plus once she has foaled out, so if you’re concerned about tapes and other things resistant to Ivermectin, give the ivermectin while she is pregnant, and the Quest Plus within 12 hours after foaling out. I have followed this routine successfully for many years now.
Praziquantel is certainly safe for pregnant mares. From the Equimax label:
“SAFETY: EQUIMAX Paste may be used in horses 4 weeks of age and older. Stallions and breeding, pregnant or lactating mares may be treated without adverse effects on fertility.”
The QP label does say the use of QP specifically hasn’t been tested on pregnant mares, but there’s no reason to think you can’t use it. But, to be on the safer side you can use Equimax
And thanks Jos, for that information. I’ve been giving Ivermectin post foaling since I read about it in Karen Hayes’ book, and it never seemed like it did much good in my foals…
I’m still out there with my bucket of soapy water & zinc oxide…
[QUOTE=JB;6025025]
This is to kill intestinal threadworms that could be passed to the foal in the milk…[/QUOTE]
Sooooo… does this mean that those of us that taste test the milk to see how close the mare might be to foaling are giving ourselves intestinal threadworms with this process? :eek: :eek: :eek:
Um, taste testing might not be the best practice - better to use the test strips instead, methinks (my opinion).
Threadworms quite nicely like the human body. But they are a different species: Strongyloides stercoralis can infect both humans, dogs and cats, and travel quite readily between us. Equines tend to have Strongyloides westeri.
You would not know if you’re infected with a threadworm infection until the infection got heavy enough. The migrating threadworms head for exit via the anus and you’d start developing an itchy butt. At first you’d think you might be having a hemorrhoid problem, until you discover the hemorrhoid cream wasn’t working, thus necessitating a trip to the MD and the need to have stool ova and parasites testing done.
Another very important reason to employ good hygiene. Plenty o’ plenty soap and water after using “the facilties”, before handling/prepping/cooking food, before eating, always after handling pets and horses, switch out hand/face towels frequently and often, and keep your hands away from your face and especially your eyes at all times, even if you have a mega itch!
FWIW, tapeworms also happily exist interspecies and these can do some mighty damage to the body. This is the ugly-bugly you’re most likely to pick up from the animals we live with. Although there are certain other parasites we can pick up should our skin come into direct contact with contaminated feces. It’s really gross and you just don’t want to hear all about it. Employ good hygiene, keep your feet covered, cook your food properly, drink water from reputable sources when travelling (always drink bottled water from a sterile STRAW, do not drink directly even from the bottle!) and you should be just fine.
I feel like I need to go deworm myself now LOL
Mare pregnant
I have a mare that I bought a few days ago she is pregnant the people that had her last told me that she hasn’t been wormed in along time I need to know can I worm her with her being pregnant she looks like she will be due in a few months can I worm her with as long as it has been
Start with a FEC by your vet to see what you’re dealing with before you do something too strong, or inappropriate.
