What's Your Worm Risk?
Visit www.whatsyourwormrisk.com to assess your horse’s risk of worm infection. Take the assessment to start your journey to better worm control for your horse.
What's Your Worm Risk?
Use whatsyourwormrisk.com to assess your horse’s risk of worm infection and to inform your management, testing and worming planning.
Guidelines advise that all horses should be risk assessed to inform worm control planning. Factors to consider in risk assessments include your horse’s age and, where relevant, the age of any horses it grazes with. Management is a key component of a risk assessment, including paddock hygiene, whether new horses are introduced and if effective quarantine measures are used. Recent test results also provide key pointers that can affect level of risk. To support owners in accounting for these factors, a free online risk calculator, whatsyourwormrisk.com, is now available that categorises horses as low, moderate, or high risk. This tool uses horse-specific data to assess the level of infection risk to an individual and provides outputs that inform management, testing and treatment approaches. The tool is a valuable resource for owners to use with their prescriber when discussing worm control.
Welcome to EquiSal!
EquiSal Tapeworm is a patented saliva test that detects horse tapeworm infections. Developed and marketed by Austin Davis Biologics, it is the only saliva-based test for equine worm testing globally.
EquiSal Tapeworm tests can be purchased through veterinary practices or authorised Suitably Qualified Person (SQP) retailers. The test is user-friendly as horse owners collect saliva using the EquiSal absorbent swab and send it back to Austin Davis Biologics' laboratory in a preservative tube within a prepaid envelope. At the laboratory, scientists analyse the sample using the company's proprietary testing method. The results are then emailed to the owner's veterinary surgeon or SQP, who will interpret them and advise if anthelmintic treatment (worming) is necessary for the horse or horses tested. EquiSal Tapeworm test kits are also available direct to the public on the Shop page.
Wormer resistance is an emerging issue in equine tapeworm. Not all horses require worming; saliva testing identifies horses that require treatment. Only a third of horses test positive so less treatments are given which helps protect the effectiveness of the wormers we have.
To learn more about worm control, watch this video on YouTube. Professor Matthews joined Dr. Katie Williams and Katie Reeve from Dengie Horse Feeds to discuss the challenge of rising wormer resistance and ways to promote better horse gut health.
