Equine Vaccinations

  Equine veterinarian Dr. Kevin Hankins discusses the importance of vaccinating horses. “We are lucky with horses because the vaccines for horses are extremely effective. They are up in that high 90% range which is unheard of in humans and a lot of other species. In a properly vaccinated horse, the chances of that horse having clinical West Nile virus are extremely rare. If they do contract West Nile, it is usually extremely light symptoms and they survived. The big number to look at is an unvaccinated horse is 34 more times likely to contract West Nile than a vaccinated horse. Then based on the statistics, not vaccinating your horse’s negligence. That is true for other diseases as well. Tetanus, rabies, Eastern equine encephalitis, the American Association of Equine Practitioners recommends that all horses in North America be vaccinated for five core diseases, West Nile, rabies, tetanus, Eastern equine encephalitis and western equine encephalitis.