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International audience; The management of equine strongyles has become problematic over the last decade because of an increased prevalence of drug-resistant isolates worldwide. Therapeutic options are therefore limited, leaving macrocyclic lactones as the most often effective drug class. However, their lipophilic properties result in a long-lasting elimination that could favour drug resistance selection. As a result, ivermectin treatment in lactating mares could promote suboptimal exposure of their foal parasites to ivermectin, thereby selecting for more resistant worms. To test for this putative transfer, we selected two groups of six foal-mare pairs, one group of mares receiving ivermectin and the other being left untreated. We compared faecal egg count trajectories in foals from the two groups and quantified plasma ivermectin concentrations in ivermectin treated mares and their foals during seven days. Our results showed limited but sustained plasmatic exposure of foals associated with non-significant faecal egg count reduction (P = 0.69). This suggests that ivermectin treatment in lactating mares results in suboptimal exposure to the drug in their foal.

International audience; In horses, it is well established that nutrients and the palatability of feed material (odor and taste) play an important role in diet selection. For example, high-fiber feed taste is not well accepted by horses. Consequently, manufacturers have begun to supplement horse feed with flavors to mask feed bitterness, to overcome feed neophobia and to encourage water drinking. However, only few studies have been per -formed to evaluate the acceptance and preference of flavors in horses. The aim of this study was to evaluate the acceptance and preference of flavors supplemented on top of concentrate offered to ponies. Thirty-three female Welsh ponies aged between four to 13 years were enrolled in the experiment. Ponies were offered 4 flavored concentrates and one control with no flavor. The flavored concentrates were anise, caramel, raspberry and apple. The inclusion rate of the flavors was 300 g/t on an as-is basis. During the adaptation period (one week), the ponies were gently guided to each bucket containing the flavored con-centrate (200 g) during 10 sec/bucket for olfaction only. During the test period, ponies were allowed to freely choose flavored concentrates for 2 minutes. The flavors and the position of the buckets in front of the ponies were randomized. Each period was video-recorded and number of chews were counted during test period. The concentrate intake, eating time, and animal behavior were recorded during the test pe-riod. The apple concentrate was consumed the most at 116 g/2-min offering, whereas the raspberry and control concentrates were consumed the least, at 85.31 and 90.80 g/2-min offering, respectively. Apple flavor was preferred over caramel, raspberry and anise as indicated by higher consumption rate (g/sec) (chi-squared= 16.68, df = 4, P < 0.05). There was no effects on chews, smell or headshaking time per sec be-tween treatments. In conclusion, the ponies accepted a wide range of flavors with a preference for apple over raspberry flavored concentrate.