I gave my horses their fall EWT +Flu shots yesterday afternoon. I gave the shots in the neck in the groove where the neck joins the shoulder. Today, my mate seems a little off on the side where I gave the shot. Not really lame, just sort of stiff and a little ouchy. Could it be the shot? There’s no swelling or heat at the injection site. I cleaned her feet and didn’t see anything. Legs look OK. She’s eating and drinking just fine. None of the other horses are having any problems.
The little groove where the neck joins the shoulder is awfully low to be injecting. Why there?
http://erskinedvm.com/Resources/IM%20Injection.pdf
Soreness after vaccines isn’t terribly uncommon, however, and if they don’t have a fever and aren’t so sore that they’re unwilling to reach down to eat or drink, I wouldn’t worry about it.
That’s where my vet gives them, so that’s what I’ve been doing. This is the first time I’ve had a problem but next time I’ll give them where your diagram showed.
I wouldn’t be at all worried about some soreness after shots. Very common in all animals. I’ve seen horses that couldn’t stretch their neck down to eat, or had cantaloupe sized swelling around the injection site (which are both not fun but they happen). My cats have also occasionally had issues. I agree that is an extremely odd place to give a needle. I usually give my horse the day off after she gets her shots and I don’t brush her neck or hind end where she got the injection. If she’s lame for more than a day or two though, could be an actual reaction to the injection not just soreness from having something stuck in her neck.
I’ve had a couple that have needed banamine before vaccinations (per vets orders) because they would get stiff necks.
Pretty common, guessing your flu shot had rhino in it too? And Rhino often causes reactions (seems the R shots are more common for these issues - Rhino and Rabies). For a horse that gets sore, I second cayuse’s recommendation - give them some banamine. Also - when giving two shots, I give one on each side of the neck, so if there is a reaction, I know which shot caused it. Generally, I use the rule “R shots on the Right, other shots on the Left”.
A little bit of soreness doesn’t warrant banamine, IMO, and I believe there’s some evidence that treating with an anti-inflammitory can reduce the immune response and therefore the effectiveness of the vaccine. As long as they’re moving around and eating and drinking willingly, it’s likely best to just give it a day or two to resolve.
For horses that get really sore, changing brands is often a solution. I have one horse that gets so sore she won’t eat or drink with Fort Dodge or Merial combo products, but has ZERO issues with the Vetera stuff.
Simkie, good to know about the immune response. I did not know that. One pony in question reacted even after switching brands and was always uncomfortable. Could not get his head down to graze. He seemed to react to every vaccination and we had to split them up.
I have heard sometimes it is not the vaccine itself but the carrier. Is that true?
Also, he was better if he got the vaccs in the rear. IIRC.
I believe that is true about the carrier, but admittedly haven’t done a whole lot of investigation 
You might try the Vetera stuff for your touchy horse. I have to order it (I buy it here) as no one locally carries it. Sometimes they just continue to react, and you do what you gotta do with pretreating with banamine. Maybe going in the pectoral muscle or the hamstring would be better for your pony?
Thanks Simkie, we don’t have that particular pony anymore as he went to that “great pasture in the sky” but I DO have another reactive one and I will look into the Vetera for him.
With the old guy we did finally do the injections in his rear end and that helped, at least he could eat. It got to the point I hated vaccination time with him. I don’t suppose he liked it much either, though!
