Rosa (Wesley Chapel, Fl) on 11/11/2013
Replied By Mama To Many (Tennessee, Usa) on 11/11/2013
We have tried many natural wormers for our dairy goats in the last 8 years, some of which I have seen with directions for horses. Here are some things we have used.
Molly's Herbals - she also sells a wormer for horses. (I have a friend who uses this very faithfully on her goats and her goats' fecal counts come back clear.)
Here is a recipe for an herbal wormer that has been used for farm animals, including horses. There is a caution at the end of the page about using Black Walnut for horses.
http://www.bulkherbstore.com/articles/debbie-osbornes-animal-worming-recipe
Joel Salatin uses Basic H soap (an organic product) in the drinking water of his cows. We recently tried it on our goats. We found directions online.
There is also a product we recently tried called Garlic Barrier. They have dosing recommendations for sheep and goats, but it might work for horses, too.
For years we used the Molly's Herbals and it seemed to work for us. This year, however, we had a terrible time with worms and lost a number of goats. Apparently, the weather pattern was just right for worms and lots of experienced farmers (which we are not) lost goats. We had gotten lax in our worming. Then we tried everything including chemical wormers, but we still lost some goats. I think with natural wormers, you have to be diligent to keep up prevention as it isn't so effective once the animals have worms. Pature rotation is also really important, at least for goats.
I will be watching to see if anyone has more ideas.
~Mama to Many~
(Mpls., Mn) on 11/12/2013Theresa
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In addition to the excellent recipe provided by MTM,
these are additional resources to consider:
http://www.naturalhorsenetwork.com/wormers.html
The main ingredient in most natural wormers - be it equine or canine or what have you - is food grade diatomaceous earth. DE is a mechanicide and works by abrading and eroding away the parasite; this will take time, and repeated dosing to be effective, ie its not like chemical wormers where one good dose does the trick.
One source offered this info for dosing:
Horses........... 30 to 90g (approx. 1 to 3 oz) per/head/day
Ponies......... 15 to 30g (approx. 1/2 to 1 oz) per/head/day
First 15 days than reduce by 50% for regular use
One helpful tip: Adding a bit of raw honey or molasses enhances the flavor for finicky horses. This will also allow the powdered product to stick and adhere to the grains and will prevent settling to the bottom of feeding bowls.
In addition to DE many products also included a probiotic. The probiotic is not a wormer, however it will contribute to a healthier gut, whicn in turn aids the immune system and healthy immune systems are less attractive to parasites than a compromised one.