Horses Inside Out Conference 2026
23 February 2026
Scientific Poster and an Award!
Horses Inside Out Conference, hosted by Gillian Higgins, 21st and 22nd February at Loughborough University, was a new one for us. At this year’s 2026 event, focussing on Soundness and Symmetry, we found a fantastic forum for the sharing of new ideas, discussions and ethos of evidence based and practical ways to improve horse health. We loved the friendly vibe and the questioning minds of the delegates we spoke to; these are our definitely our sort of people!
We took the Westgate trade stand and enjoyed two days of answering queries and chatting about parasite control to delegates. To our surprise and delight we were also recognised with a British Equestrian Trade Association Best Tradestand Award.
The judges commented that “[Westgate Labs] had a light, bright well-lit stand. Engaging learning tools - with a selection of worms encased inside plastic resin for easy identification. Everyone will now know their pinworms from their roundworms! The team on hand provided detailed information and highlighted their equine worm testing message!” We’re so glad to hear they loved the worms!
Alongside our trade stand we also had a Scientific Poster accepted to display. This is a visual summary of research findings, typically presented at a conference to facilitate discussion. The aim is to highlight key results, to communicate complex data in an engaging way.
Given wide ranging concern over a re-emergence of large redworm in the UK, we wanted to use research to develop a risk-based framework for integrating large strongyle larval culturing into targeted based parasite control programmes for horses. Our poster, entitled ‘Large Redworm, the comeback we could all be missing’ presents a literature review we have undertaken and our findings on this subject.
By incorporating larval culture into a targeted parasite control programme, we can lower the risk of large redworm more effectively than worming at regular intervals, without an increase in the rate of resistance developing. Our research found that all horses in the UK would benefit from an annual screening test for large redworm, and that this is likely to be appropriate at any time of year.
View the poster and supporting handout and references here:
To support the work we have undertaken on large redworm risk, we also produced a short film that was shown at the conference. Could your horse be infected with large redworm and how would you go about testing? Watch now to find out: