-------------- Original message from Clayton Family <[email protected]>: -------------- > Could you give more info on this? What the doses are for the horses > when dealing with this parasite? And any more details? **** Long term experimenting with a variety of EPM horses has indicated that two cups, twice a day, is a good dosing rate -- although several of our list members use a quart, twice a day. The key to the success of this regimen is long-term use -- as in years, not months or weeks. It became evident to those of us with EPM horses that they tend to relapse in Spring when the weather gets warm, and tend to improve in the late Fall with the advent of cooler temps. This does follow the life-cycle of strongyle worms in horses -- so we speculate that some form of the parasite encysts itself during Winter months, and then becomes active with warmer weather -- just as the strongyle does. So we think that maintaining treatment through two or three full seasonal cycles has a better chance of eradicating all of the parasites. Of course, this is just speculation on our part. No one understands the disease, and it cannot be reproduced in a lab setting in order to study it. But we find that we have better success with long-term CS use than the people who opt for short-term drug use. I think that the drugs would be more successful if they were used long-term as well, but people simply can't afford it -- they run $600.00 to $1,100.00 per month. And I also wonder about the side effects of long-term drug use. Any rate -- we simply add our CS to an absorbent equine feed product (pellets, rolled oats, etc.) and feed it. The horses don't seem to object to the taste, and they do go through a downturn just like they do on EPM drugs. If you need any additional information, just let me know. MA
