How often should I deworm?

I have four horses that live together in the same dirt pen. They are 11, 9, 5, and 2. They spend most of their time in a dirt enclosure and are occassionally let out to graze. We don't take them anywhere outside of our property and its immediate vacinity. They have no contact with any other horses. The 9 y/o is a very easy keeper, the 11 and 2 y/o are hard keepers, and the 5 y/o is somewhere in between. I am currently deworming every other month. Is this often enough? I read somewhere that horses kept on dirt should be dewormed more often.

Where I board my horse the owner takes a sample of poop from each paddock and has the vets office do a fecal egg count where they can tell how many egg and the type of parasite, if there are any. Then worms the horses based off of the results. Every other month sounds like a lot to me. At the old farm I boarded at the horses were wormed every 6 months. I would ask your vet though because I think there are different factors that affect how often your horse should be wormed, and they might have a better idea.

I also worm every other month alternating wormers starting in early spring & ending in late fall. All 6 of my kids are a very nice weight & have maintained their weight w/o an issue. This is the recommendation of my vet & it has worked here.

I used to blindly deworm 4 times per year, with a vet-administered stomach-tubing in the fall. Now I take samples from every horse.

Our herd is comprised of ages 2 to 20, mares and geldings, all generally hardy easy keepers. Of 10 horses, 3 needed to be dewormed according to the barn limit of 50 eggs per gram. This count is still quite acceptable to some barns. The great thing is we caught a new worm in a new boarder before introducing him to the herd. We don't need to do another count til the fall, at which time we will have the vet administer again.

We did not operate this way last year and a horse brought a super worm impervious to Ivermectin. That was a mess. Every new horse will be tested and dewormed according to the type of parasite present. No more unnecessary toxins. I've come to believe that horses are individual in their biological response to all environmental issues and try not to treat them with blanket policies.

I do fecal exam (you don't even have to go with the vet, but instead send all poops directly to the lab - that's what I usually do, cost me $7.50/horse (+ shipping $5 for all together)). If nothing is found I still deworm 2-3 times/year, because for some worms (like tape-worms) they don't really "exam", so you have to do the prevention.

what lab do you send them to? Could you send me the address or web site? Sounds like a great plan that I would like to follow thank you

Sure. I use duPont Center in VA for several years already. Here is the form (with address and fee):

http://www.vetmed.vt.edu/emc/clinica...gCountForm.pdf

I usually put "apples" together with dry ice pack, and send as a priority mail. Center calls me several days later with results.

Would I have to send a sample from each of them or just one? Because wouldn't it make sense that if one has it the others probably do too? How often do you send it to the lab?

Just pulled out the most important reason that I choose to fecal test. I don't like to stress a system with unnecessary toxins if I don't have to. Genetics, age and present health all play factors in individual parasite loads. Incubation periods for issues don't always give us the most current perspective of our horses' health, either.