Do you have to vaccinate your horse?

Hi!

Vaccination matters, both to protect your own horse from disease and to prevent it spreading to others.

What symptoms did the horse at your yard have? Some horses run a fever after a vaccination. That is usually nothing to worry about, but it is often recommended to keep things quiet afterwards.

If you want to compete, your horse must be vaccinated against equine influenza. See the link below. Horses are also vaccinated regularly against tetanus, a horribly painful and fatal disease for which there is no cure beyond the vaccine.

There are other vaccines to discuss with your vet, depending on whether your horse needs them:

💉 Botulism, a bacterium found in the soil that can end up in forage.

💉 Strangles, a new vaccine against a disease that is highly contagious, painful for horses, and causes major disruption, since horses and yards have to be kept in quarantine for long periods if one horse falls ill.

💉 EHV-1 and EHV-4, equine herpesvirus 1 and 4, which can cause respiratory symptoms and can make in-foal mares abort.

More information: https://ridsport.se/tavling/smittinfo/vaccinationer (this is the Swedish Equestrian Federation; UK riders should check their own governing body's competition vaccination rules).