Vaccinations are an essential part of wellness. Fortunately horses have not been seen to carry bird flu yet.  Yes bird flu has been diagnosed in o urarea if you are wondering.  Whilst the world determines whether to vaccinate chickens with a highly effective vaccine, we are blessed to have safe and effective products that help prevent disease in our horse populations.

Vaccines are tools to help prevent life threatening disease and prevent outbreaks from occurring. Vaccines work through stimulating an immune response to an altered antigen of the disease. This allows the body to recognize the disease when exposed to and fight off the infection more efficiently and with a stronger response. We break vaccinations into CORE and Risk based vaccines.  Core vaccines are those that all horses should be vaccinated for due to relative risk and geographic presence of the disease(s).  Alternatively, risk based vaccinations are those that depending on your horses relative risk level may not need vaccination against.   

The diseases that pose the most significant threat that we vaccinate for include:

Core Vaccinations:

• Eastern Equine Encephalitis: EEE is a mosquito born viral disease that can cause severe neurologic effects. This disease is spread to horses through mosquito bites.
• West Nile Virus: WNV is a mosquito born viral disease that is transmitted to horses and humans by birds and mosquitoes. This disease also can cause severe neurologic symptoms. This disease is not transmitted from horse to horse or horse to human.
• Tetanus: Tetanus is caused by a ubiquitous soil bacteria everywhere in the horse's environement. Most commonly this bacteria is spread through puncture wounds, trauma, post foaling umbilical contaminations, or even surgical contamination. Tetanus can lead to muscle stiffness, spastic paralysis, and in unvaccinated horses death.
• Rabies: Rabies is a FATAL neurologic disease that can occur in all mammals. Rabies is present in all states except Hawaii. We confirmed a case in the roaring fork valley 5 years ago in a mule who had been bit by a bobcat some weeks before showing clinical signs.   Common other reservoirs include bats, racoons, skunks, and foxes. This disease is spread from wild animals to horses often through bites to the face.

Risk Based vaccinations:

• Equine Herpes Virus: This is a highly contagious viral disease that is spread from horse to horse. There are many subtypes but EHV1 and EHV4 carry the most significant health risk. EHV1 causes respiratory illness and can cause potentially fatal neurologic disease.
• Equine Influenza: This is a highly contagious viral disease that can cause coughing, sneezing, nasal discharge, and fever. This disease can be rapidly spread in areas of dense horse populations and travel.
• Strangles: An intranasal vaccination that helps protect against a upper respiratory bacterial infection in younger horse populations and those at risk at large show barns.

Added bbenefit vaccination Gaurantee:

Vaccine Gaurantee if your horse's vaccines are administered by a veterinarian

Summary:

Core vaccinations recommended to all horses include Eastern and Western Equine Encephalitis, West Nile Virus, Tetanus, and Rabies. Strangles, Equine Herpes Virus and Equine Influenza are recommended depending on the individual horse and their degree of risk.

Deworming needs:

The other essential part of wellness in horses is deworming. As horses spend most of their day grazing outside, they have a degree of parasitic burden in their digestive tract. This burden becomes a problem when the parasitic load is too high. Common clinical signs that may be associated with a high parasite burden include; colic, diarrhea, thriftiness, weight loss/hard keeper, poor performance, gastric ulcers, rough hair coat, etc.

Equine trichostrongylus on fecal egg count

Traditionally, horses were dewormed 3-4 times yearly on a regular schedule. With valid concerns  about drug resistance to dewormers this has changed to deworming based on your horse's specific needs; taking a more personalized approach to deworming. Yearly fecal egg counts done between April and September yield the best information about your horse's needs.  If done 90 days after your horse's last deworming, they allow us to properly schedule. Parasitic burden in pastures is highly dependent on geographic location, density and age of animals and seasonal rainfall. Give us a call to get started with a  tailored deworming program for your herd.

Wellness is vitally important to keep your horse happy and healthy and to prevent disease.