Claire Shand from Westgate Helps Us Understand How to Manage Pasture Hygiene During a Wet Winter
If the start of 2026 has felt like one long downpour, many horse owners are not imagining it. Weeks of waterlogged paddocks, deep mud, and gateways that swallow wellies whole have made regular stable management a challenge. When the ground is saturated and a wheelbarrow won’t move, routine poo picking can become impossible.
With that often comes guilt. Good pasture hygiene is important for horse welfare, but sometimes the weather simply wins.
Claire Shand, Director of Marketing at Westgate Labs, explains that this situation is familiar to many horse owners: “Keeping horses means you live every inch of the weather. When the ground is saturated and you physically cannot get across it with a barrow, there’s nothing to do but accept the situation. Beating yourself up achieves nothing. The key is to focus on what you can control and have a sensible plan for when conditions improve.”
Give yourself permission
Horse owners who have not been able to poo pick regularly through the worst of the mud are not alone. Dragging barrows through deep mud risks personal injury, damage to what little sward remains, and unnecessary stress. Welfare includes that of the owner as well as the horse. Parasite control is important, but so is avoiding burnout.
Act strategically when conditions improve
As the ground dries, accumulated droppings should be removed as thoroughly as possible. Even a few focused sessions can significantly reduce contamination before parasite larvae migrate further onto grazing areas.
If harrowing is being considered to break up droppings, timing is critical. Harrowing spreads larvae across the pasture, so it should only be done during dry, warm conditions when fields can be rested afterward. Ideally, pasture should be rested for at least six months before grazing again. Without this rest period, harrowing may increase, rather than reduce, infection risk.
Where space allows, rotating grazing can give heavily contaminated areas a break. Even partial rotation — for example, fencing off heavily trafficked gateways — can help. Access to sheep or cattle for mixed grazing can further dilute equine-specific parasites.
For smaller setups where long-term resting of land is unrealistic, the focus shifts to monitoring.
Keep testing and assessing
After a winter where pasture hygiene has been compromised, regular worm egg counts become even more important. Testing at appropriate intervals, typically every 8–12 weeks, helps detect rising egg shedding before clinical signs appear.
A structured risk assessment should also be used, reviewing stocking density, age groups, and recent history. Evidence-based decisions are particularly valuable when management options are limited.
Moving forward, not backwards
A wet winter does not undo years of responsible parasite control. The key is responding appropriately: remove what you can when possible, rest and rotate pastures where practical, test regularly, and treat only when evidence supports it.
Most importantly, owners should look after both their horses and themselves. Sustainable parasite control is about balance, not perfection.
To find out more about Westgate and their range of services — including dedicated support for yard owners — visit their website at www.westgatelabs.co.uk