Spring Horse Health Check

receive yearly vaccines for rabies EasternWestern equine encephalitis EEEWEE West Nile virus WNV and tetanus. Equine veterinarians call these core vaccines meaning they are the most important.
A lot of other vaccines are available for your horse too. Knowing which ones your horse needs isnt hard if you talk to your veterinarian during your spring horse health check. She will recommend vaccines based on your horses age health where he lives travel plans and level of exposure to other horses.
Some common noncore vaccines include strangles equine influenza flu equine herpesvirus rhinopneumonitis or rhino and Potomac Horse Fever. Sometimes a boarding stable will require your horse to be vaccinated against these diseases.
Once your horse is on a spring vaccination schedule its convenient to keep him on it yearlythat way you can be sure hes not left unprotected.
Healthy Horse Nutrition
Its neat to watch the pastures at the barn turn from frozen mud soup and brown trampled grass to a lush bright green carpet right before your eyes but your horse is much more excited for this change.
Green grass is the best food for your horse its what his body was made to eat. In fact the more a horse is out on pasture instead of in a stall the healthier he is.
Howeverand this is a huge howeverthis can also be too much of a good thing. Spring is the time of year to watch your horses weight and grass consumption. New lush spring grass is full of nutrients but also contains sugars. If your horse eats large amounts of these sugars when hes not used to them then he could colic or develop laminitis.
Grass laminitis also called founder is a very painful hoof condition that sometimes causes irreversible damage.
Spring means grazing on nice green grassbut be careful there may be dangers to your horse! Photo by Abis Photosshutterstock
When spring grass starts to grow monitor your horses consumption very closely so that you can limit him if your veterinarian recommends. When you do a spring horse health check pay close attention to your horses weight so you notice even the slightest change moving forward. You can limit his grass consumption by only allowing him on the pasture for a few hours at a time to start or you can fit him with a grazing muzzle to restrict his intake.
Week after week slowly increase his access. This is especially important for horses that are easy keepers or who have conditions like equine metabolic syndrome or Cushings disease or who have had laminitis in the past. If youre unsure how atrisk your horse is for laminitis be sure to ask your veterinarian.
With worms vaccines and nutrition under control you and your horse should be well off to start all your spring season plans after his spring health check.