It's just past spring equinox, and time for the ponies' quarterly round of Dynamite Herbal Tonic. I was reflecting today on my first experience with worming and how it led me to Herbal Tonic.
When I bought my first pony, she came from a horse dealer, and it was recommended to me to immediately worm her. I bought an ivermectin wormer and read the label before administering it the first time. I immediately saw two causes for concern. First, the ingredients were toxic to aquatic species, and my barn yard sat on the banks of a creek that was home to brook trout and frogs (at the least.) To protect these creek residents, I realized that I would have to move my new pony's manure to a location far removed from the creek to prevent the worming chemicals from entering the creek during the next rainstorm.
The second cause for concern was that the ingredients were toxic to canines. This posed an even greater challenge. I don't know about you, but my dogs love pony manure and are very difficult to keep out of it. Over the next few days I made a concerted effort to beat the dogs to the barn yard and get the manure cleaned up before they did it themselves. Then when I moved it away from the creek, I had to bury it to keep the dogs out of it. I quickly came to the conclusion that there had to be a better way.
Dynamite's Herbal Tonic is a powdered mixture of vermifugal herbs. It can be administered twice daily for seven days or once daily for 28 days. I've always used the seven day regimen. Herbal Tonic came with its own challenge, though. How was I to get the ponies to eat a powder? It was obvious to me that the product had been developed with equines in mind that regularly were fed grain into which it could be mixed. My ponies were lucky to get a few tablespoons of vitamin pellets in their buckets each day. The first time I used Herbal Tonic, we had a bumper crop of apples from the orchard, so I grated apples and mixed the powder into them. The flavor must take some getting used to, as the ponies were slow about the first serving but have gobbled up their herbs ever since. Apples are no longer plentiful in my life, so I've turned to grated carrots, which work wonderfully.
The
key to any worming program is whether it actually removes worms. While I
generally judge my ponies' health by their appearance and manner, the only
reliable test of a worming program is a fecal count. I've run a count once, a
few years after beginning to use Herbal Tonic, and the test came back clean. I
also use Herbal Tonic for my dog. While she regularly cleans up any carrots that
the ponies miss, her Herbal Tonic is embedded inside cheese balls.
Since my ponies are regularly pastured along water courses and there are domestic as well as wild canines about, Herbal Tonic gives me peace of mind in all departments.
At left is a photograph of the ponies at fall pasture after consuming their carrots with Herbal Tonic.
This page last updated: 22 January 2008
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