Husband has a new horse, no idea of medical history. Has been a total pasture puff for past severalyears (13 years old, he thinks). doing a fecal before doing any worming.
horse is going to a local trainer for two weeks on Sunday.
he is getting West nile, flu, etc., but not sure about strangles. Trainer has no outbreak in his barn nor has he ever.
I am thinking no on strangles but open to feedback!!!
Would anyone else do strangles?
We always do Strangles, use the killed vaccines, have never had a bad reaction with it. You MUST give two doses x time apart, the first time horse gets started with Strangles vaccines. Yearly after. Husband and I see other equines, we sometimes haul horses to other places, might bring something home with us, so best to be vaccinated. We do our own shots, each kind is one week apart. Only give one kind at a time, just being careful so we don’t overload the body. Seen too many horses react badly, when given more than one vaccine at a time on the same day.
I have seen the nasal Strangles fail, happened to the Vet’s wife! It was terrible, they lost one older horse during the outbreak, had about 20 horses on the place. Quarantined for a long time as Strangles worked it’s way thru all the equines. So I have no faith in nasal vaccines, wouldn’t bother doing them.
If he is going to a busy barn with other horses in and out? Your choice. It is much more common in younger horses and older ones typically had a mild case early in life and have built up immunity on their own, owners of older horses usually skip it. I dropped it when mine was around 15 after hashing it out with the BO who required certain vaccines due to importing, sales horses and a busy show road string.
Discussed this with a vet recently, he said he doesn’t recommend it for older horses, though some barns require it. Did you check with the facility you are going to if they need any proof of vaccines?
Nay. The vaccine is not very effective, and horses who do get strangles after getting the vaccine may get a worse case of the disease.
Yay! Personal experience! A horse at my barn went off for training came back and a week later found out that the training barn was in the midst of a Strangles out break. Horse that had just came back had it. Luckly the owners of that horse took hin home to be cared for and none of the other horses at our farm contracted it but the barn was scrubbed top to baottom and it was a lot of hassel. Please just do it. Its not to terribly expensive!
Absolutely yes ! I have gotten every year for a while now and it was worth every penny - it def worked.
Horse was shipped into my old barn and not QT’d. Another horse in the barn got full blown strangles. None of the barn help realized the horse was sick, and he ended up choking and getting aspiration pneumonia on top of it.
Well, trainer did not ask about vaccines. When contacted, agreed that good idea but did apparently mention any requirements (?)
Said they did not have any strangles outbreak and had never had one, but still…
It’s not a big busy training barn but horses do come in and out (no boarding).It’s just one guy
My trainer and vet do not recommend them for horses over 11 so my Arab mare (15) does not get it. My 5 yo QH mare does.
I would be worried about vaccinating a horse for strangles without knowing its history. If the horse had strangles in the past few years, then vaccinating it could put it at risk.
I only vaccinate horses for strangles if I know their history.
Thank you so much for the great insight! We do not know the horse’s history (when I saw a pic of his feet, I thought “sketchy history” but that’s only because the guy apparentlay did nothing with him.
As it turned out, no strangles vax (yay). Given no known history in particular. Some didscussion I gues about the west nile (went ahead and gave eventhough end of season)
I just really appreciate the feedback. Hard to keep up on what is recommended. And it’s annoying because this new vet apparently just told my husband “it’s all wahtever you think” That’s great but he is a beginniner. He has no idea about appropriate vaccines. That’s what the vet is for! So I said no to strangles.
Interesting, here in VT we do vaccinate for rabies. In MT apparently not (i didnot have my horses done either when they were there).
We do it for our “traveling” horses but not for the “homebodies.” The risk of exposure in public varies but is much more than zero. So I see it as “cheap insurance” and most folks around here do, also. Yes, I know, 50,000,000 Frenchmen CAN be wrong but so far it’s worked. 
Given that the disease is highly contagious and a royal pain in the butt to deal with I’ll accept the cost of the vaccine (and the fact that it doesn’t cover every strain of the disease).
As with all things, YMMV. 
G.
He… watch it… why bring the French in this?? lol
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