With vaccines rolling out to combat the pandemic, we are getting asked what about vaccinating horses? The answer is yes they need to be vaccinated, but not for Coronavirus. Horses contract diseases just like us. Horse owners vaccinate their horses against diseases. However, the diseases horses are susceptible to are different from the ones humans can contract. For more details, continue reading. Also, if you are looking for a horse property for sale in Colorado, contact Colorado Horse Property today and speak with one of our horse-person realtors.
Vaccinating Horses
There are a number of vaccines for horses. Some of these include tetanus, rabies, eastern and western equine encephalomyelitis, and West Nile virus. Vets recommend these for all horses. Some horses do experience adverse affects to vaccines, but these are very rare. Also, the American Veterinary Medical Association says core horse vaccines are extremely important. They protect horses from diseases that are endemic to a region. Not sure which regional diseases your horses are susceptible to? Ask your vet. Colorado has a large horse population. Therefore, the state has a lot of great horse clinicians.
Horses contract diseases that aren’t regional as well. Therefore, there are some vaccines that your horses only need in specific cases. Vets administer these vaccines for horses that need them. The need for each of the risk-based vaccines varies from horse to horse. Therefore, vets tailor vaccination programs for each horse. These vaccines include the equine herpesvirus, equine influenza, Potomac horse fever, strangles, botulism, anthrax, rotavirus, and equine viral arteritis.
Determining exactly which vaccines a horse needs can be confusing.