Wow, that’s horrible! I don’t know how bad it is up here. The vaccine is once per year.
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Unfortunately, the things that can make him really sick or kill him aren’t off the farm 
I agree it would be worthwhile to explore how he can get the core vaccines. Rabies, tetanus, west nile, and the encephalitises all come to you. They’re not transmitted horse to horse, and isolating won’t prevent them. At the absolute very least, rabies is so important, since that one is transmittable to people, and there’s no getting better.
There are several things that can help him tolerate his vaccines. Has anything at all been tried?
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Which brands have been used? @FjordBCRF has been around the block a few times working to get her Fjord safely through vaccines so could give some insights.
It’s such a risk to not vaccinate for at least rabies and tetanus (and tetanus isn’t really a vaccine like the others, since it’s for a bacterial infection, and rarely causes issues). The encephalitis diseases would likely kill him too, but won’t impact human health.
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if you see random dead crows or blue jays it is Very likely West Nile is the problem
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I would seriously research a rabies vaccine he might tolerate. You shoulder significant liability if he is unvaccinated. Tetanus and West Nile may harm him but Rabies is highly infectious to humans. You, your family, your vet.
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Just went through a new approach this weekend.
@moonlitoaksranch - This was year 3 for me with a vaccine reactive horse. In Charlie’s case, he would get extremely high fevers, up into the low 105’s when the banamine would start to wear off.
I was very reluctant to split them due to him being reactive to everything, which was the case last year in the fall when we attempted. He reacted just as badly to rabies on it’s own as he did to the Vetera 6 way in the spring. Once that happened, my vet and I both were of the opinion it was not worth trying any more on their own.
Charlie has done fine with the flu/rhino intranasal on its own but that is probably the least of what I would worry about in your situation. I would be really reluctant to not vaccinate at all for everything others have mentioned. Rabies and Tetanus are not THAT rare for a horse to get, between my trainer and a friend who is a vet tech…they dont have good stories.
I DO recommend getting a history of what brands he’s had. We tried toe Zoeitis Core this past Thursday and it was a huge success. It covers rabies, tetanus, West Nile, and Eastern and Western equine encephalomyelitis. We did not pre-treat with any meds and while it isn’t ideal for many, I stayed the night at the barn and took his temp every 60-90 mins. He topped out between 1AM and 6AM with a low grade 102.1 fever and that was the worst of it…no medicine at all. And we only have to do the Core once a year. We are forgoing Potomac Horse Fever for the moment which is one some people give around here and some don’t because of its low efficacy.
The other thought would be pulling titers. There isn’t an established method to tell if a number gives an immunity or not for each disease, but some people do it and establish a low/medium/high way to gauge. I talked to my vet about it again this go around and he also said the down side is its very expensive for not having definite data ~$200/pull for each disease in my area. If I were in your shoes, I might consider that for the diseases that don’t have the horse vectors.
Good luck to you and Tony the Terror!! I know the stress this causes.
Here is Charlie’s thread. There is a pretty good linked document on the titers.
Edit to add - I got Charlie as a 3 year old in 2020.
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As others have said the really nasty stuff they can get without ever being exposed to another ill horse. WNV is a horrible death. It’s worth it to use trial and error to find a solution, especially when the equid is so young.
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There was a vet in an area I lived who gelded my mule. While we waited for the sedation to take affect we discussed vaccinations and she was actually telling her clients that once a horse has had several rounds they really don’t need to vaccinate.
Not all horses are vaccinated and live long, healthy lives. I wonder if he would react to Tetanus vaccine? I would be leery about letting that slide.
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Thank you.
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That’s true. We’ll see what she says this summer.
Understood, thank you.
Thank you! Another young one, too.
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This.
I think it’s reasonable to accept a certain degree of risk with an animal this sensitive. But Rabies could be fatal to not only the donkey but anyone/any animal that comes in contact with him. I’d try to find some way to safely vaccinate him for that, at least.
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When I was working in the vet field, we did not generally vaccine severe reactors such as anaphylaxis unless it was required by the state. If we did, we hospitalized and did preemptive medications to lower the reaction. I think this would be the route I’d go if I were going to chance vaccinations again.
Often changing manufacturers doesn’t matter and reactions frequently worsen with time. The donkey may have a higher likelihood of death getting the vaccine than contracting whatever the the donkey is being vaccinated for.
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Mum had a phone call once asking if she had given a horse she once owned a Tetnus vaccine. Mum replied that she could not remember actually giving him one, however all our horses are vaccinated yearly for it, so if he was here long enough he would have been given it maybe more than once.
The caller said that she had saved his life. He contracted Tetanus and nearly died from it. The vet said the only reason he survived, was because someone in his life time had given him a vaccine.
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Yes.
I have one whose vaccine reaction lead to laminitis.
We tried simply pre-treating and giving only one vaccine of a different brand and things went sideways still.
We do pre-treat and with much careful planning give a rabies vaccine. I do not know the brand but it is a different rabies vaccine than they typically give.
Everything else is not given for this horse.
Adding - this horse had been fully vaccinated for their whole life to that point and had never had a reaction at all. No idea why things changed.
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I think that’s why our vet said no more vaccines.
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Yes, I also have one that can’t be vaccinated, he has had 3-4 serious reactions, tried changes manufacturers and pre-treating, but each time he was worse. We just missed lami the last time around and he was sick for about 4 days.
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My reactor gets the rabies vaccine, as it is a public health risk, but his long-time veterinarian told me the horse doesn’t need to get it every year, so it’s given every other.
Another veterinarian I used for several years told me that, when he was a vet student, he went with others to a prison that had one of those programs for the inmates to train horses. One horse was difficult for its exam, and inmates mentioned that this behavior was atypical for that horse.
Later, he and the other vet students got the call that this horse had been diagnosed with rabies, which explained the change in personality, and they all had to receive rabies boosters. He told me that they had already had an initial vaccination, as a condition of being a vet student.
In my area, my dog’s small animal veterinarian told me that there recently have been foxes in a nearby small town with rabies. We have foxes at our place, along with raccoons, skunks, etc., so rabies is not a vaccine I want to completely forgo. When I was a child and young adult, hundreds of miles away, nobody vaccinated for it, no vet recommended doing so, but it’s a different story here.
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Did the prisoners contact rabies from the horse?
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