Country diary: A saliva test for George the pony, and a rethink on worm control | Kate Blincoe

2026-03-16 - 06:12

Caistor St Edmund, Norfolk: Dung beetles are paralysed by excessive wormer use, and overscrupulous poo-picking is bad for their habitats I slide a medical spatula into George the Connemara pony’s mouth, carefully finding the interdental gap in his teeth after his incisors. He begins licking and chewing, working out if it is edible. My job is to hold it in place for at least 30 seconds to get a good sample of his saliva on the absorbent swab, which will be analysed to see if his antibodies indicate a burden of tapeworms. Back a decade or two, deworming horses was a routine three-monthly job in the horse-care calendar. But resistance to wormers has increased and there is growing understanding of the impact on the environment. Deworming should be targeted so that horses are only wormed if needed. Continue reading...