Strongyle Egg Counts and Race Performance

High strongyle egg counts in Standardbred trotters didn’t have a negative association with racing performance.
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Regardless of the method of choice, most equestrians have deworming down to a science. For years, horse owners have been told to control the amount of worms in their horses’ bodies to keep them feeling and performing their best. But what effect do worms really have on equine performance? A team of researchers recently found that high strongyle egg counts in a population of Standardbred trotters didn’t have as much of an association with racing performance as once thought.

"Subclinical parasitic infections are often assumed, by horse owners as well as veterinarians, to affect horses in various ways," explained Martin K. Nielsen, DVM, PhD, assistant professor in equine parasitology at the University of Kentucky’s M.H. Gluck Equine Research Center. "Retarded growth and ill-thrift can be observed in young horses with heavy parasite burdens, but no observational studies have systematically investigated this in the field setting.

"Similarly, it appears to be widely assumed that parasites can cause poor performance in competition horses, but this is not supported by any published study," he continued. "In the equine racing in industry in particular, there is a tradition for frequent prophylactic anthelmintic treatments as a part of a general health care plan."

In their study Nielsen and colleagues employed 213 Standardbred trotters, ranging in age from two to six years, at six different Danish tracks. The horses (mares, stallions, and geldings) were cared for by 21 different licensed trainers and had been in training for at least three months. All of the participating trainers dewormed their horses three to four times annually, but none of the study horses had received anthelmintic treatment in at least 12 weeks prior to fecal samples being collected from their stalls. The team also reviewed all study horses’ race records

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Erica Larson, former news editor for The Horse, holds a degree in journalism with an external specialty in equine science from Michigan State University in East Lansing. A Massachusetts native, she grew up in the saddle and has dabbled in a variety of disciplines including foxhunting, saddle seat, and mounted games. Currently, Erica competes in eventing with her OTTB, Dorado.

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