worming in the winter

[Stacie]

With already worrying about whether the horses are going to get colicy from weather changes and watching how much they drink with an eagle eye, is worming a horse during cold weather just asking for trouble?

[KnKShowmom]

The past couple of winters, I have wormed with Quest in December so I don't need any other worming for 90 days and have avoided that issue.

[eqsiu]

Yes. I've never had issues with dewormers causing any illness or upset. But worms live in their toasty guts all year, so even in their stall they can reinfect themselves.

[JB]

No, it's not asking for trouble.

Unless you have regular snow cover that keeps horses mouths off the ground, it's just not cold enough to kill parasites. Summer heat/dryness is a much more effective killer, only needing to get to, iirc, 85* or so to kill.

You can take some precautions and do as KNK does - deworm as late in the Fall as possible, or early Winter (which technically begins 12/22) so that the coldest months of (typically) Jan and Feb aren't times when you'd need to.

Or, you can run a FEC and see if you need to - might not have a load worth treating.