A first worming conversation for foals is really a planning session, and it goes better when you arrive with information rather than questions alone. Your vet will shape the actual programme — products, doses and timings are theirs to set — but the decisions they make depend on your grazing, your mare's history, and how the yard is run day to day.
What to have ready before you ask anything
Bring the mare's worming history for the past year if you have it: what was used, when, and any faecal worm egg count results. Know how many horses graze the foal's field, how often droppings are picked up, whether fields are rested or cross-grazed with sheep or cattle, and whether new horses arrive on the yard regularly. If the mare was bought in foal or her history is unknown, say so plainly — an honest gap changes the vet's risk assessment more than a tidy guess does.
The mare's side of the plan
Ask how the mare's own worming should be timed around foaling, and whether her egg counts should be checked before any treatment rather than treating on the calendar. Mares can pass certain parasites to the foal through their milk in the early weeks, so the mare's status is effectively the foal's first line of defence, and the conversation should cover what she is monitored for, not only what she is given. Also ask what quarantine and testing should look like for any mare or youngster joining the group later, because one untreated arrival can reset the whole field's burden.
The foal's first grazing season
Foals meet worms as soon as they graze and mouth the ground, and some parasites affect foals differently from adults, so ask which ones your vet is most concerned about at each age, and what monitoring — egg counts, growth checks, condition scoring — they want in place between treatments. Ask, too, what signs should trigger a call between visits: a foal that stops thriving, develops a pot belly or a rough coat, scours, or loses condition while its dam stays well is a foal the vet will want to hear about promptly rather than at the next scheduled check.
Pasture management is half the conversation
Products are the smaller half of worm control. Ask how much of the burden your own setup can carry: poo-picking frequency, harrowing only in hot, dry spells that kill larvae, resting fields, and not overstocking youngstock paddocks. If several owners share the grazing, the vet's advice will only work if everyone follows the same egg-count and treatment approach, so ask what a shared protocol should look like. Agree at the end who is recording what — dates, products used, count results — so next season's conversation starts from a record rather than a memory.
Keeping the mare's and foal's worming dates, egg-count results and the agreed pasture routine in their KinsLe Pet Passport records means the whole worming history is in one packet, ready for the next vet visit.