April Dubbed Vaccination Education Month by Equine Guelph

Jackie Bellamy-Zions, Equine Guelph

Just one horse with an infectious disease diagnosis can close a stable or event facility.  Vaccination is the best way to lower risk of loss of use, high treatment costs and unnecessary suffering for the horse.  Tailoring your annual immunization plan to each equid in your care is the best way to practice prevention from spreading disease.  With spring vaccination season here, the Vaccination Equi-Planner (TheHorsePortal.ca/VaccinationTool) is Equine Guelph’s free healthcare tool available to horse owners as part of Vaccination Education Month.  It is designed to explain the risk factors and then provide a print-out personalized to your horse’s vaccination needs – to get the conversation started with your vet.

“We are very pleased to announce April as our Vaccination Education Month,” says Gayle Ecker, director of Equine Guelph.  “We thank Merck Animal Health, who has been an important partner of Equine Guelph programs for ten years now, supporting the continued development of this interactive online tool and other important educational initiatives.”

How well do you understand the vaccines currently available and what are the discussions you should have with your vet? 

Six questions are asked in Equine Guelph’s Vaccination Equi-Planner to help horse owners start conversations with their vet. Every farm has different risk factors including: age, use, sex, exposure to outside horses and geography. Whether you are the proud owner of a young foal, competition horse, hobbyhorse or broodmare, the Vaccination Equi-Planner (TheHorsePortal.ca/VaccinationTool) points out considerations for each and discusses core and risk-based (optional) vaccines your vet may recommend.

Vaccination Equi-Planner tool links:  https://thehorseportal.ca/VaccinationTool