In all honestly I’m a mildly paranoid horse owner, likely because of the unending stream of horror stories about equine diseases, injuries, and ailments I’m exposed to working at a horse health magazine and website. While I’m resigned to the fact that my 16-year-old Thoroughbred can’t live in a bubble to be safe from everything, I do rely on vaccinations to help protect him from some potentially deadly ailments he could face.

This spring, Dorado was vaccinated against Eastern and Western equine encephalitis, West Nile virus, tetanus, rabies, influenza, rhinopneumonitis, and botulism. He’ll get a flu/rhino booster this fall.

Each spring and fall my veterinarian and I discuss which vaccines Dorado should have, but in most recent years past he’s been inoculated for Eastern and Western equine encephalitis (EEE and WEE), West Nile virus (WNV), tetanus, rabies, influenza, rhinopneumonitis, and botulism. We generally choose not to vaccinate him strangles and he does not receive a Potomac horse fever vaccine because he’s had the disease in the past