Southeastern Area Horse Health Issues:

Horse-Cents, LLC is not a veterinary medical clinic, nor do we provide veterinary advice.  The opinions offered herein are based on consultations with industry experts and should be confirmed with your own DVM.  All product brand names are Registered ® and/or Trade Marked ™ to their respective owners.

 Worming:

The Southeastern US has its fair share of worms.  We have the warm temperatures and high humidity to grow just about every kind of internal parasite that horses can get.

From what the experts tell us, horses will get parasites... period.  So, the only thing to do is adopt and implement an intelligent battle plan to keep them under control.  It is generally agreed that all horses in contact with other horses should be wormed every 2 months during the spring, summer and fall.  Some expects say that you can go to 3 months over the winter.

No single over the counter wormer controls every type and stage of parasite (although some are close).  The prevailing advice is to rotate the drug classifications (not simply the brand names) of the wormers you use.  This has several advantages: it helps prevent parasites from developing a resistance to a single drug, and it provides a wide spectrum of anti-parasitic agents.

Rotation between Ivermectin, Quest (Moxidectin), and SafeGuard (Fenbendazole) should be effective against everything in our area.  Make certain to use Ivermectin in the spring and late fall for best protection against bots.

For really good tutorials on parasite control and the different drugs available, we refer you to Farnam's "Deworming Details" [Click here].   Note: Country Supply frequently has the lowest prices on wormers that we've found!. 

Vaccinations:

Based on advice from the Georgia Horse Council (Winter 2000 News Letter) and discussions with area DVMs, the consensus for routine vaccinations required for local horses are:

Rabies: 1x year

Tetanus: 1x year

Encephalitis (Sleeping Sickness, Eastern / Western / Venezuelan, 3-Way): 1x year

Strep Equi (Strangles, Barn Fever): 1x year (early fall) or 2x year (early fall and early spring)

Rhinopneumonnitis (Rhino, Equine Herpesvirus EHV-1 and EHV-4): 2x year minimum

Influenza (Flu, A1, A2, KY91, KY93, KY98, Eurasian): 2x year minimum

Note: this does not include vaccinations for Potomac Fever (not a local problem) and/or foaling mares, newborns, etc.

In the State of Georgia, individual horse owners may purchase and administer vaccines for their own animals (except Rabies).  If you have the knowledge to give intramuscular (IM) injections, you can save yourself a lot of money.  If you don't know how, ask your vet or trainer to teach you... it isn't hard and can be done without hurting your horse.  You should know how to give injections in the event that your horse ever needs antibiotics (typically IM injections once or twice a day).

You still need a Vet to administer the annual Rabies vaccine, so you should schedule that to coincide with the annual Coggins blood test (see below).

Available Vaccines:

Valley Vet Supply and Dr. Jeffers Equine are two mail-order sources for a broad spectrum of equine vaccines and medicines.  They also post good information on the types and frequencies of vaccinations recommended.  Click here for the vaccination data web pages: [Valley Vet]  [Dr. Jeffers].

Several of the available broad-spectrum vaccines available are:

Prestige V + VEE:  [Intervet] 3-Way encephalitis, tetanus, flu, and rhino (1ml IM annually)

Prestige II w/KY93:  [Intervet] Rhino and flu (1ml IM annually)

Triple E-FT+EHV:  [Ft Dodge] 3-Way encephalitis, tetanus, flu, and rhino (2ml IM annually)

FluVac EHV-4/1 Plus:  [Ft Dodge] Rhino and flu (1ml IM annually)

StrepGuard:  [Intervet] Strep-equi.  (2 doses 3~4 weeks apart initially, 1 dose booster in 6 months, 1 dose annually thereafter - unless known exposure)

Blood Tests:

Equine Infectious Anemia Test (Coggins): 1x year

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