Prevalence and distribution of the horse louse, Werneckiella equi equi, on hides collected at a horse abattoir in south-west England.

higher in the winter months, when the horse’s thicker coat makes an ideal microclimate for the louse. Reports from the USA (Jones and DiPietro 1996) and Canada (Wright 1999) state that infestations of domestic horses with lice are rare; this could be due to management practices, such as combing and clipping, or because of the use of broad-spectrum ectoparasiticides. However, lice are apparently a problem in the Falkland Islands (Pointing 2003). In the UK, 14 per cent of pony club members who responded to a postal questionnaire reported seeing lice on their ponies (Biggin and others 1999), and the prevalence was perceived to be highest in November and December. In order to obtain up-to-date information on the prevalence of equine lice in the UK, the hides of 223 privately owned horses and ponies and of 35 semi-feral Dartmoor ponies were examined at a licensed horse abattoir from October 2002 to February 2003. The history of the privately owned horses and ponies was unknown, since most had been brought to the abattoir by horse dealers; however, all except young foals had been broken. The Dartmoor ponies had been rounded up off the moors at the end of September as part of management practices to control their numbers, and were not broken. Hides, minus the head, were examined visually immediately following their removal, by making partings of the hair 10 cm in length all over the hide, and the presence or absence of lice was recorded. From these visual inspections of the Prevalence and distribution of the horse louse, Werneckiella equi equi, on hides collected at a horse abattoir in south-west England