Vaccinations
Regular vaccination of horses, ponies and donkeys is an important part of their primary care to prevent some serious and potentially life-threatening diseases.
Equine Influenza
This is a highly contagious viral disease of the upper and lower respiratory tracts. Whilst equine flu is now endemic within the horse population, the many virus strains continually mutate and therefore epidemics or outbreaks of disease can be seen. Vaccine companies regularly update the vaccine to protect your horse against the strains that are currently circulating in this country.
Equine influenza can be spread rapidly through a group of horses either via direct contact with an infected horse or indirectly via virus particles in the environment. It is therefore important to isolate any horse you suspect of having flu.
Vaccination against Equine Influenza
Vaccinating against flu is highly recommended and is, in fact, mandatory if your horse is going on to any racecourses. The Jockey Club, international equestrian federation (FEI), competition bodies (such as BS,BD,BE etc.) and many show societies, Riding Clubs and Pony Clubs produce vaccination protocols to follow for equine influenza. These all vary and it is therefore important that you check the requirements for your particular society/body. Different vaccination companies also have different vaccination protocols so it can get very confusing to work out when each vaccination is required.
The most common equine influenza vaccination protocol (from January 2024) is:
- Initial primary vaccination course which involves two injections no less than 21 days and not more than 60 days apart.
- A first booster is then required at not less than 120 days and not more than 180 days after the second injection of the primary course.
- Subsequent boosters are then required at intervals of not more than 365 days apart, although following the equine influenza outbreak in 2019, many regulatory bodies and competition centres require that horses have 6 monthly boosters, to reduce the risk of transmission at large events.
It is your responsibility to ensure that your horse’s vaccinations are kept up-to-date and that they meet the requirements of the relevant regulatory body/authority.
Tetanus
Tetanus is caused by the bacterium Clostridium Tetanii which is an anaerobic organism (does not need oxygen). It survives in the environment (soil and droppings) for long periods of time. Tetanus is not contagious, meaning it cannot be spread horse to horse.
It penetrates the body via wounds. Puncture wounds and foot penetrating wounds carry the highest risk, but tetanus could also be acquired by gastric ulcers if the horse eats droppings or highly contaminated soil.
The toxin affects the nervous system attacking the nerves that control the muscles of the body.
Vaccination against tetanus
The prevention of tetanus is easy, keeping your horses covered and vaccinated with tetanus toxoid. The protocol of vaccination consists on a primary course of two injections four to six weeks apart from each other.
After the primary course, the horse needs a booster vaccination within one year, then every other year for full protection
Equine Herpes Virus
Equine Herpes Virus (EHV) is a highly contagious airborne disease. It can be spread via direct horse to horse contact (for example horses touching noses) and aerosol droplets over short distances (up to 5 metres) by coughing and snorting which can result in rapid spread through a group of horses. It can also be spread indirectly by shared equipment such as tack, feed bowls and people via their hands and clothing.
There are five main strains of EHV, but strains EHV-1 and EHV-4 are the most common and occur in horses world-wide.
EHV-1 can cause respiratory disease, abortion and neurological disease. EHV-4 can cause low-grade respiratory disease and occasionally abortion.
Vaccination against EHV
A vaccination is available and in the UK it is mostly used in pregnant mares to help prevent abortion. There is also a vaccination licensed to help reduce respiratory disease, and either of these vaccinations could potentially be used to limit EHV, although none of them are licensed for this use. Ultimately, like with any vaccination programme, the more horses that are vaccinated, the less disease there will be and so there is an argument for increasing vaccination against EHV beyond the broodmare population.
The mainstay of prevention, and minimising spread of the disease in an outbreak situation is to implement excellent biosecurity practises which are aimed at stopping contact between infected or potentially infected horses, and those who have not been exposed.
Other vaccinations
In some cases, we may recommend vaccinating against other diseases such as EVA and Rotavirus. We are happy to advise when these might be required.