By vet Hannah Marrow
Preventative health care for your horse includes keeping up to date with vaccinations, appropriate worming treatments and routine dentistry. These should all help to keep your horse fit and healthy, and can be cheaper in the long run.
It is recommended that horses are vaccinated against equine influenza (flu) and tetanus. Flu causes coughing and pyrexia in horses, but can lead to secondary infections which can be dangerous.
Tetanus is caused by a clostridial bacteria - horses develop infection through wounds, particularly deep and infected wounds or foot abscesses. The condition can be fatal if left untreated as it results in spasms and paralysis of all muscles of the body. However, tetanus is completely preventable through vaccination.
Horses need a primary course of 3 vaccines to first develop immunity to both these diseases. Once the primary course has been completed, they require a booster vaccination every 12 months (or 6 months depending on the competitions attended). Unfortunately, if the booster vaccine is late, even if only by a day, the primary course has to be repeated if the horse is going to any shows/competitions.
A horse has to be vaccinated every year to retain immunity against flu. Having been vaccinated every year in the past is not enough to ensure they are protected!
Other vaccinations are available. It is recommended that all broodmares are vaccinated for equine herpes virus 1 and 4 to prevent against viral abortion. Herpes is a ubiquitous infection in the equine population, causing often mild respiratory signs in youngstock, but also abortion and neurological disease in some cases. Each broodmare should be vaccinated at months 5, 7 and 9 of pregnancy, and keeping separate from youngstock can also help.
Although routine worming was common in the past, it is far from ideal as it promotes the development of resistant worms. Widespread resistance against the available wormers will lead to an increase in worm-related disease in the future, so preventing the development of resistance is of vital importance. For this reason, we recommend faecal worm egg counts are performed throughout the grazing period. If the faecal egg count is above the threshold, a wormer can be given to treat the burden. Otherwise, no treatment is necessary.
To help reduce the worm burden of your horse and pastures, it is recommended that you regularly poo pick your fields, as this disrupts the worm life cycle reducing infection.
A ‘winter’ wormer is commonly given after 3-5 days of hard frost (usually in December/January). This is designed to treat encysted red worm which can result in severe diarrhoea if untreated. It also treats tapeworm infections which have been associated with some types of colic.
To reduce resistance to the products used for winter worming, it is advisable to test for both red worm and tapeworm. Tapeworm testing can be done on a blood sample or saliva sample, and red worm can be tested for on blood.
It is recommended that all horses receive dental examinations every 12 months. Poor teeth can result in weight loss, pain and colic (for example impactions). The dental examinations can be performed by a veterinary surgeon or qualified equine dental technician. Routine dentistry helps to detect changes in the teeth and soft tissues of the mouth, before they cause significant pain and discomfort. For instance, sharp points can be removed before they hurt the inside of your horse’s mouth and cause more problems. If significant dental abnormalities are noted on examination, you may be advised to have dental examinations every 6 months, or more frequently.