Fecal Egg Count Testing

Smarter deworming, stronger horses, healthier pastures. We test the manure of every horse on our farm — and we offer the same service to horse owners across Abruzzo and beyond.

🔬 Why We Look At Manure

At L'altalena, every horse is a partner in our regenerative system — and every horse deserves care that is precise, evidence-based, and gentle on the land. That is why we no longer reach for dewormer tubes on a calendar schedule. Instead, we look first.

By examining a small sample of fresh manure under the microscope, we can count the number of parasite eggs per gram (EPG) that a horse is shedding. This tells us — accurately, individually, and without guesswork — which horses actually need treatment, which parasites they carry, and which ones are doing perfectly fine without any drugs at all.

⚠️ The Growing Problem of Dewormer Resistance

For decades, horse owners around the world dewormed their horses every few months, regardless of whether the animal needed it. That well-intentioned habit has created a serious problem: anthelmintic resistance. Many of the wormers that worked perfectly twenty years ago no longer kill the parasites they were designed for.

The science is now clear: blanket deworming is outdated and harmful. It accelerates resistance, exposes horses to unnecessary chemicals, and pours pharmaceutical residue into the very soil we are trying to bring back to life. Selective, test-based deworming is the modern standard — endorsed by veterinary parasitologists worldwide.

"You can't manage what you don't measure. Every dewormer given without a test is a guess — and every guess accelerates resistance."

🌱 Why It Matters For The Land

This is where mest­on­der­zoek fits into the bigger picture of regenerative farming. Dewormer residues — especially ivermectin and moxidectin — are excreted in the manure and can kill dung beetles, earthworms and the entire soil micro-ecosystem that we rely on to recycle nutrients and build living pasture.

By testing first and treating only the horses that truly need it, we drastically reduce the amount of chemical entering our pastures. Healthier dung beetles mean healthier dung breakdown, which means healthier grass, healthier horses, healthier soil — and a real, measurable contribution to biodiversity.

🐴 What We Test For

A standard FEC (fecal egg count) using the McMaster method identifies and quantifies the most clinically relevant equine parasites:

🐎 Trusted By Our Own Herd First

We don't recommend anything to other horse owners that we haven't tested first on the horses we love. Every horse at L'altalena — and every horse at our partner project Sorelle Horses — goes through this exact same protocol, twice a year, year after year. The results speak for themselves: healthier horses, fewer wormers, livelier pastures, and a soil that gets richer every season.