Primed for Battle?

Share
Favorite
Close

No account yet? Register

ADVERTISEMENT

There’s something a bit mystical about vaccination. We inject an antigenic material from a tiny plastic cylinder into our horses’ necks and it triggers reactions at the cellular level that prepare their immune systems to fight bugs. So when they encounter another horse that’s shedding virus or bacteria and that horse coughs, sneezes, or smears snot on a common surface, our vaccinated horses are less likely to get sick. Or, if they do become infected, the clinical signs won’t be as severe as they would be if they hadn’t been vaccinated.

TheHorse.com/Kevin Thompson and Brian Turner

I’ve observed that scheduling vaccinations is like clockwork for most of our readersÑit’s simply what we do, especially if we haul to places where groups of horses congregate or if we live in places with mosquitoes or other disease vectors (the latter applying to pretty much all of us)

Create a free account with TheHorse.com to view this content.

TheHorse.com is home to thousands of free articles about horse health care. In order to access some of our exclusive free content, you must be signed into TheHorse.com.

Start your free account today!

Already have an account?
and continue reading.

Share

Written by:

Stephanie L. Church, Editorial Director, grew up riding and caring for her family’s horses in Central Virginia and received a B.A. in journalism and equestrian studies from Averett University. She joined The Horse in 1999 and has led the editorial team since 2010. A 4-H and Pony Club graduate, she enjoys dressage, eventing, and trail riding with her former graded-stakes-winning Thoroughbred gelding, It Happened Again (“Happy”). Stephanie and Happy are based in Lexington, Kentucky.

Related Articles

Stay on top of the most recent Horse Health news with

FREE weekly newsletters from TheHorse.com

Sponsored Content

Weekly Poll

sponsored by:

Where do you primarily feed your horse?
276 votes · 276 answers

Readers’ Most Popular

Sign In

Don’t have an account? Register for a FREE account here.

Need to update your account?

You need to be logged in to fill out this form

Create a free account with TheHorse.com!