Books with Spirit – Joyfulness between horses and people

First of all, why should we want to do such a thing?

·        As an alternative therapist, I am constantly working to reverse the damage that the harsh worming chemicals do to animal’s systems, on one occasion, fighting for the animal’s life and that was directly caused by a chemical wormer. 

·        I see many, many animals who have high worm burdens who have been chemically wormed regularly, some on very expensive veterinary preparations.  So they don’t always work as well as we would like them to.

·        Chemical wormers kill the “critters” in the soil that are essential for the health and robustness of pasture/plant life.  i.e. from tiny insects to worms, to dung beetles, to microbes.  This is MUCH more important than I ever realised.

 

 

So what are the options if we want to use less or no chemicals at all?

·        You can reduce the amount of times per year that you chemically worm your horse.  It is then essential that you use alternative methods of worming in between, preferably monthly.

·        You can lock your horse up somewhere for about six days while the chemical wormer passes through their system, collect the horse poop regularly and dispose of it at the rubbish tip.  For goodness sake, do not leave that stuff in your paddock, do not use that manure on your garden and do not spread it over your paddocks with harrows.  It is horrifyingly toxic to the earth.

·        You can eliminate chemical wormers from your program completely.  This means that you have to be committed to worming your horses with alternative methods preferably monthly. I have had times where I have not been so reliable and then I was less than happy with the results.

 

So how can we worm our horses without chemicals? 

 

I am a big fan of rotating methods.  Here’s some of the methods that I use.  Anybody who knows any other methods, or wants to add any other information at all, feel free to add to this in the comments section.  I am happy to alter this article with more information.

 

·        Worming whether by chemical or alternative methods is best done around the full moon.  At this time, the worms detach from the walls of the organs and lining of the intestine to breed and lay eggs, so they are vulnerable at that time.  I usually use whatever method I am using for 5 days and now that I know about the power of the full moon, that’s when I do my worming program.

·        Fresh garlic or garlic in a jar (the supermarket home brands are more likely to have no sugar in them) I use approximately one very heaped teaspoon in each feed for about five days out of the month, around a full moon (two days before, the day of the full moon and two days after).  It’s important NOT  to be feeding garlic all the time, I had a client case where the worms got used to the garlic like they do to everything else and the horse got infested.  Some horses might eat higher dosages of garlic than that.  Most of my horses only have small hard feeds and that amount makes for a very garlicky feed!

·        Heavy doses of seaweed meal in each feed for the five days around the full moon.  I use approximately ½ cup seaweed in each feed if I am adding it to the feed.  It is ESSENTIAL to only feed seaweed in a horse’s feed if they are prepared to just lick/eat heaps of seaweed by itself, out of a bucket.  A better way of feeding seaweed is to have lots of seaweed available, in a feeder, for them to have as much or as little as they like, in a sheltered area.  Just as an example, at the end of this last summer and into autumn, my herd of nine horses ate 120 kilos of seaweed meal in about 8 weeks.  They pig out on it so much sometimes, that I worry that the horses at the bottom of the pecking order might not be getting enough, that’s why I sometimes add it to the feed.  It is possible to overdose seaweed, but I have never heard of a horse overdosing when they eat as much or as little as they like.

·        Herbal worming preparations.  There’s an English one called Vermex that my New Zealand friends are happy with.  Herbs that act as wormers are wormwood (not for pregnant mares), apple cider vinegar, milk thistle, diatomaceous earth, thyme, black sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, parsley seeds,  brambles, and many others.  In Australia, Victoria Ferguson has a liquid worming preparation that she has trialled and backed up by worm faecal testing.  Copy this web address, but fix the space in www,  for Victoria’s excellent article on worming. w  ww.herbalhorse.com/articles-pub/articles-index/can-of-worms   I see also in Australia, that some of Meadowsweet’s herbs have worming properties and have emailed them asking for their recommended worming mixture.)

·        Here is a pin worm strategy, amongst an overall worming program.  If you notice your horse rubbing their tail, garlic works well on pin worms.  The pin worm eggs gather on and around the horse’s anus, so washing that area thoroughly and frequently, will reduce their contamination. Don’t forget to do that washing away from where any horse may graze or they will just get the worms in their mouth by eating the grass!

·        If you are in doubt about changing over to chemical free, do your own worm count and see for yourself how your horses are going.  Products to do that are available over the internet.  In at least one product that I discovered over the internet, the worm test kit came free with a herbal wormer.

·        Some people are particular about picking up their manure to avoid a worm burden and that is absolutely useful.  In yards and small paddocks, it would be an essential part of a worming program.  On my farm, with 20 acres and 7 horses that run as a herd and my focus on a healthy mixed species pasture I decided that I would rather fertilise the paddocks with the manure, for healthy pasture growth and I choose to harrow my manure in from time to time (not too often though, it damages the grass).  Harrowing in the heat is the best time to kill any worms in the manure, although I have heard arguments for and against harrowing just before a big frost for the same effect.

·        There are many, many homeopathic preparations that will dump worms from a horse’s system.  You need to choose the right one for your horse according to all kinds of other factors too numerous to mention here.  An animal homeopath or kinesiologist specialising in horses can help you.

·        You can prevent bot eggs from hatching by spraying them with a neem oil mixture (I arbitrarily use about ½ cap full of neem oil to 500 ml of water).  I find that a much more useful way of coping with a whole herd of horses than trying (and failing too often) to stay on top of the problem scraping them off with a bot knife!

·        Scraping bot eggs off, whenever they appear, with a bot knife is a valid choice in bot control.  But make sure that you do the scraping outside the paddock or somewhere where no horse can graze because otherwise they will just eat the grass where the bot eggs have fallen and still get contaminated any way!

·        Access to dandelion in their field or paddock (they will dig up the roots) or adding some organic dandelion tea to your horses feed may help with the detoxification if you suspect a large worm burden.  The decaying bodies of the worms can give off ammonia and make the horse quite ill.

·        I have been researching diluted neem oil as a wormer.  It is looking quite effective at this stage.  I’ll share dosages etc when I have finished checking it out.  You can do your own research on this one too.  Don’t forget to share any results in the comments section here.

·        And, most importantly of all, a pasture that is rich in a variety of species that are often poisoned as weeds in modern farming, can be your best friend for a healthy, relatively worm free horse. 

If you’re into checking things out, have a look at the way bio-dynamic farming takes into account the entire eco-system of the farm/ paddock/garden. 

I was astounded at the way the variety of plant species, the types of those species (including things that we consider as weeds in modern farming), the microbes, the critters (my slang for tiny creatures) who work for a healthy soil, the wild visiting animals and the people and the grazing animals all work together to create this amazing inter-locking web of support for each other’s healthy life. 

I don’t know why I was so surprised, it’s logical – but I originally came from a chemical farming background that wanted to get rid of everything that didn’t directly contribute to earning a dollar. 

I didn’t realise that it was much, much more effective and better for the wallet even in the short term, to follow nature’s balance.  Hmmm enough of that soapbox for the moment …!

 

For those of you who are not familiar with this website and the most important part of my work, take a moment to click here and have a look at the three books on this website (at the time of this article there are three books, anyway!)   ”Zen Connection with Horses” and the earlier book “Bobby’s Diaries – straight from the horse’s mouth to you” may just give you what you’ve been looking for from your horse.  They loved Bobby’s Diaries, but Zen Connection with Horses is getting rave reviews from world class horsemen and women.