A study by Elkanah H. Grogan, BS, and Sue McDonnell, PhD, Certified Applied Animal Behaviorist, of the University of Pennsylvania’s Equine Behavior Laboratory, looked at how difficult it was to give intranasal vaccines using two different applicators (the two currently used in the equine vaccination market at the time of the study).

The study was published in the May 15 issue of the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association (JAVMA).

The researchers used 28 light horse mares, three pony geldings, two light horse stallions, and three pony stallions that all had a history of compliance with veterinary procedures.

Conclusions were that, “Although some compliance problems were seen with ponies, neither problems with compliance with simulated intranasal vaccination nor adverse effects on subsequent physical examination were identified in any of the horses. Further study is needed to understand factors involved in practitioner reports of aversion developing in association with intranasal vaccination