I recognize certain vaccines can only be done by vet (rabies), others you can purchase and do yourself. Any thoughts, when are you penny wise and pound foolish as they say, and when are you just being reasonably thrifty?(For example to give strangles first time will require three shots/vet visits?) (edited to add, and maybe you want to be able to space out the different types of vaccination without running up a big bill?)
Thoughts appreciated.
My vet gives ALL my vaccinations, . It helps develop a relationship with a vet so when you need one in an emergency, s/he will come…
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I was giving my own. They have never recommended rabies around here but I now let the vet give them all. I only have one horse. Like Lorilu, I need to have relationship with the vet and know that they know me and will come or be available if I need them.
Susan
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I am lucky to be 8 miles from my equine clinic so a farm call is only $30. But if you live so far from your vet’s place that a farm call is a large expense’ consider asking if the vet will dispense the vaccines to you to administer yourself.
My vets typically let their college student or even high school tagalongs give the injections anyway.
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Vaccine reactions and breakthrough infections are eligible for vet care cost reimbursement if the vaccines are administered by a vet. So I have the vet administer all of mine.
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A voice of dissent… if I didn’t give my own vaccines, it would significantly increase what I need to budget for annual preventative vet care. My vet is pretty affordable, but even still, the cost savings is significant. I have been giving my own vaccines for over 20 years at this point.
The only two I don’t do myself are rabies and IN strangles. I used to do rabies myself but now live in a state where that is illegal. I don’t even vaccinate using IN strangles anymore, but when I did, I had the vet do it because not only was it not available through my usual vendors, it’s also trickier and riskier than an IM injection.
There are also rare occasions when you need vet documentation for vaccines. For example, when I had breeding stock, I often needed vet documentation of a recent EHV vaccine, so the vet would give that. I also believe you may need vet documentation for passports maybe?
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Man, I agree. I guess if my horses tolerated all their vaccines at once, maybe it would be reasonable to have the vet do them, but they don’t.
Call fee is over a hundred bucks and the rabies alone is, geez, something like $80/head? I’m all for maintaining a relationship, and happy to see her at least once a year, but neither one of us wants the time sink of multiple visits for vaccines.
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I give everything but rabies and have done so for years. I have the vet come do coggins and rabies. They don’t seem to mind at all, and we still have an “established relationship”.
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Nope. Will not do vaccines on my own. Good equine vets are becoming scarce. I pay my vet to administer the vaccines and feel much more comfortable knowing if there are any complications she is right there. They have to make a living too
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Exactly so. I’m not going to waste their very precious time with stuff I can do myself.
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Having a vax reactive horse, I will always have there vet do it.
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How are breakthrough infections eligible for vet care cost reimbursement? I’ve never heard that. One of mine had Potomac Horse Fever 3 months after vaccination, and there was no mention by my vet of a cost reimbursement - only that the vaccine did not cover all strains.
If you show under USEF, you need to have proof of certain vaccinations, and I think only vet-administered vaccines count for that.
I have always had a vet administer all the vaccines.
If you have major medical it usually only covers reactions or problems if administered by a vet.
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I’m certainly not judging anyone’s choice. I feel in general, vets should be administering vaccines for most owners. But I appreciate that I am able to do my own for a few reasons.
The only reason I quoted you is because my horses make darn sure my vet can make a living through other creative means. 
Last year, it took me over a month to get an appointment with my overworked vet for rabies and coggins because she is so swamped and knew it was something she could push back. She is constantly requesting, politely, on social media that clients plan accordingly for vaccinations and realize they need to have flexibility with those appointments because she is so busy. She can’t accommodate last minute vaccination requests.
When I need my vet for critical problems, she is 100% there for me, and I value that greatly. Her chief problem these days isn’t income, but workload, as several of our equine vets in the area have retired. So I guess my whole point of this post is saying me giving my own vaccines isn’t necessarily a slap in the face to her; it saves her some precious little time.
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I have the vet (same one for 30+ years) do all vaccinations and Coggins in the Spring before competition season. At that time he also does a general health check (generally tells me mine are fine) and answers any questions I have. I take in fecal samples the week or so before so if necessary, he worms too --silly you say? I have one fellow (my favorite horse) who will NOT allow himself to be wormed --if he smells it, or sees it, or thinks he does, he starts rearing and continues until the syringe is put out of sight. Sigh. Over the years we’ve tricked him a few times: a young woman assistant came with the vet and I pretended to show her how good my old guy was putting on the bridle --as he opened his mouth for the bit, she whipped the wormer out of her pocket and dosed him! The look on his face! “You can’t do that! You are not the vet!” -but we were never able to fool him like that again. So now he gets injectable Ivermectin --not ideal --but keeps him clean.
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Yes I can see your point. I think it’s also very dependent on your vet’s workload, availability, and practice scope. Years ago our area’s sole ambulatory vet made it crystal clear that he felt it was unfair (I’m not sure that’s the right word but it’s the only one I can think of right now) for clients to call him at 2 AM on Christmas Eve with a sick horse and never schedule routine vaccinations. Basically, he made it known that the scheduled appointments were his bread and butter. About a decade later, he retired and sold his entire practice to a new young vet. I have used her ever since. And continued the practice of scheduling my vaccinations through the practice. Keep in mind we do have two specialty clinics that do not do ambulatory service within an hour of my large semi rural area. So in my circumstance it is helpful (supportive?) to utilize her for routine things I could do on my own.
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Nope. You can buy and administer your own vaccines, just have to provide a receipt and date of administration.
Edited to add: you have to show the batch numbers as well. Sorry, not enough coffee yet!
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My vet gives the rabies vaccine and I give the 4-way. I get the 4-way from the vet, so I know it was transported and handled correctly. The reason I separate the vaccines is because one of my horses had a laminitis episode 8 years ago and I don’t want to stress his system with multiple vaccines at once.
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I appreciate all the feedback.
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I second this.
And I will add that my horse had never had a reaction in their life and then they did have a severe reaction (not just a stiff neck, we are talking hives and laminitis). I was very thankful the vet was there and able to quickly address the situation.
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