Ok, I had it backwards - it lowers the response to the PFH part
Immunogenicity of Potomac horse fever vaccine when simultaneously co‐administered with rabies vaccine in a multivalent vaccine or as two monovalent vaccines at separate sites - PMC (nih.gov)
And since the response to the PHF is sketchy at best, I sure wouldn’t do anything to lower it even further.
Wow! That’s silly then they administer them together.
Next question. Waiting until summer would give us a gap from a vaccination record perspective. Would that be an issue with any spring shows/clinics? Not a deal breaker by any means but something to keep in mind. From a risk perspective I don’t see a major concern with the seasonality of PHF.
PHF is not spread from horse to horse.
Do any shows you attend require it?
If you are worried, why not give it now and then again next year to change when you are giving it?
I’ll have to look as I’m not sure, there were a couple WE clinics/schooling shows last spring in my area but I don’t see anything yet for 2023. I can reach out to the org and ask. I’d rather split them up as much as possible and if I am going to get off the “routine” schedule, might as well do it now.
I would hope no show venue is requiring PHF.
And yes, it’s ridiculous that there is a paired PHF/rabies vaccine still out there 
Good deal, I have been so far removed from showing for so long I am totally unfamiliar with what is required.
I just talked to my vet tech friend and she said she does PHF for hers in the spring too 
She did say they do see it year round here, with a case in the winter once, but obviously less in non-peak months. We did spring shots right at the end of March this year, so maybe I will bump those up a few weeks and shoot for end of April for PHF. We may have a couple warm up type weeks in March/April, but still usually pretty cold and sometimes we still have snow in the forecast.
@JB Any insight on this? When I called to request the PHF be pushed later next spring and have the rabies as a standalone this fall, they said that are happy to do that, however, as a standalone vaccine the rabies tends to elicit more of a reaction than the combo shot.
Options as I see are:
I’ve never heard of standalone rabies being a bigger problem than combined rabies. I’d ask what they think is the reason for that. I don’t know if the adjuvant for rabies-only is somehow different/more than for a combo?
This is all fascinating. We do PHF twice a year for the horses that go south and spring only for the horses that stay north.
Our shows (dressage) only request proof of Flu/Rhino within 6 months, and a negative Coggins.
Im glad you havent! I have heard this a couple times over the years, but all word of mouth and nothing evidence based…that I have seen yet. I am going to see if I can find anything more definitive online when I get a chunk of free time.
@Ghazzu and @RAyers have either of you heard/experienced that “as a standalone vaccine the rabies tends to elicit more of a reaction than the combo shot.”?
Not heard it, but I have never used a combination vaccine for rabies.
I’ve always used IMRAB.
It is also worth lookin at the producer of any given vaccine which causes a marked reaction. Sometimes changing brands is helpful.
Thank you! Were going to keep tabs on that from here on out.
I have a horse that had such a severe vaccine reaction that the only vaccine she gets now is rabies, alone, with quite a bit of pre-medication. (Whole horse broke out in hives, then laminitis.)
My vet (practice) did quite a bit of research on figuring out that we could do this. I can promise you that if giving rabies alone was more likely to cause a response we would not be doing it that way.
That is great to hear! Im feeling a bit better going into fall shots with this approach.
I want to clarify something.
There were lots of things tried/discussed between horrible vaccine reaction and ending up at just rabies with pre-treatment.
This horse had never had a vaccine reaction in her whole life.
She is my poster child for feeling that all vaccines should be given by a vet.
We are 24 hours post flu/rhino intranasal and doing well!
Thursday - 7AM - full dose of banamine
Thursday - 1PM - flu/rhino intranasal
Thursday - 8:30PM - 100.0 temp
Thursday - 9PM - half dose bamamine
Friday - 7AM 99.6 temp
Friday - 12:30PM 99.8 temp
Fingers crossed this isn’t something that bothers him. I discussed with the vet yesterday just doing rabies and leaving Potomac for before summer and he totally agreed and reiterated everything said here about it. So we have rabies in another two weeks. Hopefully that will be as uneventful.
Were is the collective stance on the strangles vaccination? That is one he isn’t on a schedule for. The vet said he tends to not push it for lower risk horses that don’t travel much. We are starting to venture out a little more and that will likely continue here and there. I know a couple people I consider pretty knowledgeable that also don’t do strangles even though their horses do travel frequently due to the risks of the vaccine itself.
I have a friend who is a vet tech, and she said that she’s seen a vaccine cause enough of a reaction that the horse needed intervention. Provided it was given by a vet, it’s not uncommon for the vaccine producer to cover a good chunk of any vet bills related to it too.
I’m in the camp of your vet and your friends, and my vet is as well. Unless you’re travels involve longer stays at bigger venues, IMHO it’s not worth vaccinating.
Excellent. I am going to hold off then. As a kid, I think strangles was the scariest thing I knew could happen to a horse…now I know too much
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