Most horse owners ask: What do I need to vaccinate my horse for? The short answer is, that every horse should be vaccinated against the top four highly infectious diseases – Tetanus, Strangles, Equine Herpes Virus, and Hendra Virus. These diseases, which are incredibly expensive to treat, can be avoided entirely with low-cost vaccination.
What do I need to vaccinate my horse for?
Required vaccines for horses
Routine vaccination should begin from three months of age to protect your horse against these debilitating and potentially deadly diseases. While vaccination comes with a price, the cost is immensely higher when an unvaccinated horse requires veterinary care.
These diseases are preventable with vaccination and every horse on your property should be vaccinated against these diseases. To learn more about when to vaccinate, click here.
Preventing Disease
However, vaccination is only part of your horse’s preventative health care. You should also have a biosecurity plan in place to prevent the spread of disease when new horses enter your property.
Any new horse may put your horses at risk if they’re not up to date with vaccinations and worming. All new horses should undergo strict quarantine, so they can be screened for disease and parasites before they’re allowed to interact with other horses for a minimum of 14 days. A quarantine area should be at least 5m away from any other horses.
Depending on where you live, you may also need to consider safe biosecurity practices to protect your horses from Hendra Virus. In addition to vaccination, there are several steps you can take to reduce the risk of transmission, including:
- Remove horses and/or trees from paddocks where flying foxes may roost.
- Ensure feed and water bins are protected from flying foxes overhead.
- Provide horses with man-made shelters and other shade trees that don’t attract bats.
