Your experiences on the equine flu vaccine - good and bad please.

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gloster_image

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I'm writing an article for equestrian life magazine about the equine flu vaccine and was wondering if people on here have had good results from it and also those whose horses have had reactions to it. My own horse nearly died following a reaction to it.
Any stories pm me
 
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Never ever had any issues. Both having flu and combined flu and tet.

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ditto that, both my two horses have been totally fine when jabbed..
also not come accross any horses that reacted when i was a groom. i have heard of horses that have reacted to vaccinations though.
 
I chap I had absessed with his first ever one which was done in his rump , after that he was OK with all the others swelled up a bit and a bit stiff but fine after a few days.
New lad was fine with his first jab, he's just had the 1st booster and the injection site is swollen and his neck it stiff. It's 3 days post jab and he's improving all the time.

All the other horses I've had have been absolutly fine with them.

Thing is if it's fine 99.9% of the time that's still 1 in a thousand horses that will get a reaction.
 
My horse was rather off-colour for the first few days following her initial vacc. She came up with a hard lump on her neck (which my vet denies is anything to do with it
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) which she still has. She was fine with ll subsequent jabs (*touch wood* as her next one is due in Feb!)
 
Mine don't have 'flu jabs, just tetanus...they don't have any contact with other horses.

Haing said that, my youngster is hopefully going to start going to shows, so they will need to be vaccinated. Are reactions common? I've heard of small reactions around the injection site and symptoms such as increased temperatures and lethargy for a day or so after but have never known a 'near-fatal' incident!!
 
I had one come up with very swollen glands, snotty nose and raised temperature for around four days after the vaccine, but that was nearly 15 years ago now and have never come across any problems since.
 
Combination of flu vac and wormer given too close together brought my horse down with a virus and he was ill for months on and off. Dont know if the virus was already in his system but it was def the vacc+wormer that made him fall over with it.

I still vacc but never close to worming date...
 
Never had a problem with my mare, nor any I have handled for the vet. Although the last visit I said to the vet 'Same procedure as normal, just don't get him too sweaty' to which my vet told me that they had changed brand/supplier and had had more than normal come up with a stiff neck the day or so afterwards.
 
The first couple of years I had my boy, he had the flu and tet combined jab on advice from the vet. The third year he had flu only and was very ill with it and had to be on box rest for a couple of weeks. He doesn't come into contact with strange horses any more so I just have his tet jab done every other year.
 
All mine have been done every year since i got them and 2 of them have been done since they were 2 years old (both are 18 now).
Ive only had one react to it and that was just a lump on his chest, the next year he had it in his bottom and he didnt react at all.
 
Five years ago my wonderful competition pony came up in a huge lump on her neck on the site of the flu jab - also had a huge asthmatic attack. Eventually the lump was operated on, but she was never the same, could hardly trot without wheezing - then developed Cushings and died last October - probably having strokes - in the US they are connecting cases of Cushings with the flu vac - but who knows? I am now totally neurotic about flu jabs with my new pony.
 
Have never come accross problem. Have no choice re having it done for horses competing.

Will be interesting to see the results of your study into this.
 
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