[Rodeio]

Getting ready to do spring shots. I am curious what other people do. I split EWT and Rhino/Flu a week apart. Looking at the vet records from a mare I bought last year she had the 5 way EWT, Rhino and Flu. That would be less expensive than splitting out but how much is too much at one time? My vet comes to do the IN strangles for me about a week after I do the ones above.

[deltawave]

For everyone but the Shetland (who once had a mild colic after a whole bunch of shots) I give them all at once, spring being a larger "load" than fall shots. Never had a problem in 25+ years other than the pony, and she was just purchased, full of lice and worms, pregnant and not in great shape. In hindsight it was kind of thoughtless of me to hammer her all at once like that, but I wanted to get her vaccinated before winter for her sake and the foal's.

[Patty Stiller]

This is a timely discussion. I just moved my horses into a new barn this week and they require yearly vaccines. I am not a fan of too much vaccination ,human or animal. So I will vaccinate for the worst offenders (sleeping sickness, tetanus west Nile) . I won't vaccinate them for flue or rhino unless I have a preggers mare.
So anyway the vets plan is to for five way and west Nile all the same day. I will not hit my horses bodies with that much all at once.
My mare is just now starting to get over some severe chronic back pain and if she has an inflammatory response and gets body sore from to much vaccine at once she may be right back where she was when I bought her last year. So I am asking the vet to fore go the flu rhino all together, and split up the rest into Tetanus, Eee Wee this week, and the West Nile in a couple weeks, and give them some IV nsaids at the same time.

[tBHj]

Usually everything 1-2 weeks appart (I vaccinate my horse myself). She had EEE/WEE/WNV/Tetanus in November because she was moved to a new barn and they required it so this year for 'spring shots' she only got Calvenza.

Next spring she will get EEE/WEE/Tetanus then in 1-2 weeks WNV and then in 1-2 weeks Calvenza.

I don't feel like doing everything at once would be good for them. I've heard of horses dying from it.

[Simbalism]

I do quite a few different things with my horse so want to be safe. I vaccinate for flu, encephlo, rhino, strangles, PHF, WNV, tetanus, rabies. The rhino/flu/encephlo/tetanus is a combo. This year I gave the rabies a couple of weeks earlier than the others as the vaccine was getting ready to expire. The other shots were given the same time in several different sites. My routine is to vaccinate, ride lightly, bute the day of and the next day. I have been giving the vaccines myself for years and have never had an issue.

[Painted Horse]

I gave the 5 way and waited two weeks and gave the West Nile in a different location

[mhtokay]

I've been told that it's the carrier... what's the word.. antigen? something like that.. is where you get the bad reactions. So the combos cut down on that. I've also been told that bute can cut the efficacy of the vaccine, but I never asked my vet. maybe that was just the strangles shot, which almost always used to give them sore necks.

I generally split them up, since I can. Rabies, 5 or 6 way combo and PHF.

[Loves to ride]

EWT, rabies, rhino/flu, WNV all at once.

[Zu Zu]

I split the shots up into two sessions ~ have only had one problem ONCE with my old show mare but it was enough to change my ways and schedule two sessions.

[ChocoMare]

3 way for my Clyde-X BUT no more combos for my Percheron....toooo sensitive. Got a 3-way in August and was laminitic in the A.M. For her, it's just Rabies and Tetanus, a week apart.

[walkon]

I don't give vaccinations anymore.

After an EWT vaccine almost killed one of my horses and caused
problems in the other 2 18 months ago, and they are still not well
yet, I have decided to take my chances. I can see that vaccines can do more harm than good. Have seen it with my dogs as well.

A good immune system is the best defense.

[Ghazzu]

I split them up as much as possible.

Hate the "7-way" type stuff, because it's too damn hard to isolate the problem, if there is one.

Plus, a lot of horses don't need everything that's in the multivalent vaccines.

[onelanerode]

I do EEE/WEE/tetanus, wait two weeks, then do rabies and WNV at the same time. I haven't done rhino/flu for the last year and a half because my mare has been at a small, basically closed facility. I may have to re-evaluate that soon though, as she'll be moving to a bigger barn with much more traffic.

I will not use the 4-, 5-, 6- or 7-way vaccines. That's just a lot for the horse to deal with at one time. I also won't use any Fort Dodge vaccines.

[Dalemma]

I don't give vaccinations anymore.

After an EWT vaccine almost killed one of my horses and caused
problems in the other 2 18 months ago, and they are still not well
yet, I have decided to take my chances. I can see that vaccines can do more harm than good. Have seen it with my dogs as well.

A good immune system is the best defense.

Like some one else said on here is likely the antigen that caused the problem and not the vaccine itself.

I had one horse react to her shots.......but they changed the antigen and she has no more problems.

Dalemma

[pines4equines]

I split them up but what I do to save the call fee is the first visit, the vet comes to the farm. The second visit I trailer to her farm.

I do the spring shots of what my minimalist vet recommends. I don't do fall shots and in 30 years have never had a vet ask me to do them.

[deltawave]

A good immune system is the best defense.

And there's nothing like a vaccination to give the immune system half a chance--without it, even the best immune system in the world is playing catch-up when faced with a disease it hasn't seen before.

Crap happens, complications occur. Everyone knows someone who knows someone whose cousin's neighbor's friend died in a crash because they were wearing their seat belt. Doesn't mean we should all stop using them.

Like some one else said on here is likely the antigen that caused the problem and not the vaccine itself.

The active part of a vaccine IS the antigen. It's OK to not have the terminology down pat, but statements like this are a lot more credible if they're accurate.

[Dalemma]

And there's nothing like a vaccination to give the immune system half a chance--without it, even the best immune system in the world is playing catch-up when faced with a disease it hasn't seen before.

Crap happens, complications occur. Everyone knows someone who knows someone whose cousin's neighbor's friend died in a crash because they were wearing their seat belt. Doesn't mean we should all stop using them.



The active part of a vaccine IS the antigen. It's OK to not have the terminology down pat, but statements like this are a lot more credible if they're accurate.

Okay what would be the correct terminology then?

Dalemma

[ToTheNines]

I think the previous poster is referring to the "adjuvant" (hope I spelled it correctly), which is the carrier/preservative stuff that sometimes has mecury or other heavy metal in it.

Edited to add that I did some research, and adjuvants are various substances put in vaccinations to enhance their effect. They do seem to be controversial, but a lot of concern also surrounds the use of preservatives especially thimerosal which is mercury containing.

[walkon]

Deltawave "And there's nothing like a vaccination to give the immune system half a chance--without it, even the best immune system in the world is playing catch-up when faced with a disease it hasn't seen before.

Crap happens, complications occur. Everyone knows someone who knows someone whose cousin's neighbor's friend died in a crash because they were wearing their seat belt. Doesn't mean we should all stop using them."

I give a healthy immune system more credit than you do.

I have many experiences with the negative effect of vaccines.
In theory they sound great but in practice, from my point of
view, they are not so great.

If a vaccine renders a horse useless for it's intended purpose
then it surely was not all that beneficial was it?

[deltawave]

I give a healthy immune system more credit than you do.

Fair enough. I consider vaccinations as part of developing a healthy immune system. It's all in how you look at it.

Watch just one kid suffocate to death from a disease that is 99.9% preventable with a simple vaccination, you're unlikely to forget it. Most of the demographic on the COTH BB can be excused for dismissing the devastating effect that infectious diseases have had on our lives as little as 60 years ago.

I have many experiences with the negative effect of drugs and treatments I recommend every day. But gazillions more positive ones. Which is how I can justify recommending them, with a healthy respect for risk vs. benefit. The same goes for anything we do to ourselves/loved ones/animals. This is why there are safety and efficacy data numbering in the tens of thousands of individuals. So we can logically overcome our natural but irrational tendency to consider one or two experiences as a substitute for an entire universe of data.