News Straight from the horse's mouth

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Emerging Bot Fly Larvae

Spotted in Horse Dung

👀 We’ve had quite a few sightings of bot larvae this week in horse’s droppings. It’s just the time of year for them as the little reddish armadillo type larvae that have overwintered in the horses’s stomach are ready to hatch.

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Free Grassland management webinar

Free Grassland management webinar

The British Society of Animal Science, along with the British Grasslands Association are running a free webinar to help to manage grassland in a way that stores carbon and reduces net greenhouse gas emissions. The session will concentrate on the science behind and the potential of soil, pasture and on-farm woodland to increase Carbon storage potential and improve efficiency (reduce emissions) with Prof Michael Lee, BSAS Global

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Summer Parasite Control 2020

For Horses

🌻🐴 Summer Parasite Control ✅ worm egg count every 8-12 weeks ⚠️ If you tapeworm tested or gave Equest Pramox in the winter it's time to do an EquiSal Tapeworm test. ✅ look out for bots, pinworm and ticks Every season brings its problems and even though we look forward to the long light days, summer is no exception. So while the battle to control flies is a visible daily trial at this time of year it’s important to remember about other parasites too that might affect the health of our horses.

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Equilibrium Competition

in partnership with Westgate Labs

🌻COMPETITION🌻 Win an Equilibrium Field Relief Mask, a Net Relief Riding Mask and Skin Soother! To help make Summer a breeze, we've joined forces with our friends at Equilibrium Products to offer one lucky follower the chance to win a prize bundle of fantastic Fly Protection Products for their horse.

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Westgate Labs comes of age

Interview in Over The Counter Magazine

As Westgate Labs turns 21 this year we talk to Over The Counter Magazine about our tiny beginnings, what inspires us and how we've been able to give back as a business to the things that matter.

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Posting Samples Over May Bank Holiday

And how to find a Priority Post Box

Friday 8th is a bank holiday which means we're closed on this day, in lieu of this, the lab will be testing on Saturday 9th May. Read our guide on how this affects postal deliveries and what you can do to circumnavigate these to the best of your ability to help get samples here in time to test.

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Free interactive training course for horse owners

An Introduction to Parasite Control

We've produced a free interactive training course to help owners learn more about equine parasites and ways to protect their horses from worm damage. The module, entitled ‘An Introduction to Parasite Control’ went live today, 30th April 2020, and features fun facts, quizzes and videos to explain about the perils of wormer resistance and how to use worm egg counts and other testing methods to help keep them healthy.

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Service Update 24th April

How you can help us

Spring is always one of the busiest times here at the lab, challenging at the best of times without a global pandemic to work through! As usual our fantastic team here are pulling out the stops to manage all the testing, packing, followups and admin whilst also complying with social distancing and additional cleaning and disinfecting routines. Please be reassured that all samples are being tested on the day that we receive them - there are no laboratory delays but the post is taking longer. Expect it to take up to six days from posting a worm egg count and up to two weeks for EquiSal to get results back. What happens if we don't receive your sample?

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Lice infestation in horses

Djinn's Itch

Squeamish things come with the territory in our line of work but usually of the wriggling variety rather than crawling beasties. But when one of our youngsters, a fell pony filly belonging to our office manager Sarah, was observed persistently rubbing her mane it was time to investigate. Sure enough an unwelcome surprise awaited… the geek in us couldn’t wait to get a look at them under the microscope. The other half, well we just wanted a good itch!