Make sure your horse doesn’t read your email…

Worm medications are way down the list of things that most horseowners want to think about. You’d rather be daydreaming about what color blanket you’d buy if you could afford it, or which of the new browbands would look best on your horse.

Before you know it, a couple of months have gone by and you can’t remember which wormer you used on which horse the last time. Or maybe you don’t even remember when the last time was!

We all make jokes about how forgetful we are (just ask me where my keys and glasses are) and often speculate how nice it would be to have a Jeeves who would follow us around, picking up the things we put down, and reminding us about that saddle-fitting clinic this weekend or that the farrier is coming this afternoon.

I have it all on my cell phone, of course, but I left it at home this morning. Or at least I think I did.

Now you can cross worming off your list of Things Not To Forget. Pfizer Animal Health has just launched a clever email service that will send you reminders not only of WHEN to worm but WHAT to use.

The site is configured into two parts: one for people who prefer “regular” paste wormers and another for those who prefer “continuous” (daily feed-through) treatments.

The new website www.rotationiskey.com is a funny name for a valuable service. You just fill in the form and Pfizer will automatically send you the reminders. And then it’s up to you.

The word “rotation” refers to the different types of wormers you need to use to cover all the different parasites that threaten your horse. Different types of wormers are appropriate at different times of years or in different frequencies or for different ages or uses of horses, so you can have help figuring out which one to use, and when.

I liked the fact that the web site had an option for a single horse or multiple horses.

Pfizer also launched a new informational web site, www.equimaxhorse.com, which is a go-to resource for information about parasite prevention in horses, and the risks of tapeworms in particular. Pfizer’s Equimax paste wormer is a broad spectrum Ivermectin-type wormer that covers a broad spectrum of parasite risks, including tapeworms and bots. It can be used safely on breeding farms, and the web site has specific details about the de-worming needs of foals, mares, and stallions.

Now, if they could just send me a reminder every morning to put my cell phone in the car…