

PARASITES AND PARASITIC DISEASES OF HORSES 25 



centimeters of distilled water once a week. Ferrous sulphate may 

 be given in a dose of 2 drams daily mixed with the grain feed. For 

 best results, these drugs should be given over a period of 6 weeks to 2 

 months. 



Prevention. — Preventive measures designed to control strongyles 

 consist (1) in rotation of pastures, so far as possible, avoiding low 

 and wet pastures, and (2) sanitation of stables to prevent larvae from 

 developing to the infective stage and from contaminating the feed 

 and water. This is accomplished by daily removal of manure from 

 stables, supplying the feed in boxes and racks well raised above the 

 floor, and supplying clean water. The disposal of stable manure is an 

 important preventive measure, as is shown elsewhere in this circular. 

 Little can be accomplished in the way of pasture sanitation except on 

 farms where thoroughbred or other valuable horses are raised. On 

 these farms the removal of manure deposits from pastures may be 

 practiced, as this procedure will remove almost all the parasite mate- 

 rial before it can develop and spread. Such a procedure is necessarily 

 troublesome and expensive and can be undertaken only by breeders to 

 whom the question of expense 

 is of secondary importance. 

 The average breeder will have 

 to resort to simpler and less 

 radical measures, such as 

 avoiding the overstocking of FlGURE 18 ._ Small strongyles of the h0 r Se 

 pastures, frequent rotation of 



pastures, and special attention to foals. Where overstocking and the 

 use of wet pastures are unavoidable, and rotation is impossible, 

 reliance must be placed on treatment as often as necessary for control. 



Horse breeders, and even the general farmer, should pay consid- 

 erable attention to the sanitation of paddocks in which the newly 

 born foals are kept. The foals should be kept there for several 

 weeks before they are put on pasture. Removal of manure from 

 the paddocks, at least once a week, will cut down the supply of eggs 

 and larvse to which the foals would otherwise be exposed. This pre- 

 caution will help to tide the foals over the most critical period of 

 their lives. 



Young animals require special care much the same as children. 

 Above everything else, a wholesome food supply and clean surround- 

 ings are the best safeguards against disease. Special precautions to 

 prevent foals from becoming parasitized are essential parts of sound 

 management in horse-breeding establishments and on the average 

 farm. 



THE SMALL STEONGYLES 



In addition to the blood strongyles or palisade worms, horses are 

 commonly infested with numerous closely related species of stron- 

 gyles, which are much smaller in most cases than blood strongyles, 

 though some are almost as large. (Fig. 18.) These worms occur 

 in the colon and cecum and some of them produce visible injuries. 

 One species, Triodontophorus tenuicollis, produces rather severe 

 ulcers in the wall of the colon (Fig. 19), probably by means of the 

 sharp teeth in their mouth cups. Some of the smaller horse stron- 

 gyles, the many species known as cylicostomes, species of Trichonema 



51909°— 34 4 



