Treat Your Horse As You Treat Yourself
Have you ever wondered why you
vaccinate your horse yearly and not yourself? Have you ever questioned
why it would appear your horse's immune system is so weak and your
is so strong? When you go to a shopping mall or to a party do you
feel unsafe because of all the people you will come in contact with
who might be carrying a contagious disease? Yet, many veterinarians
will tell you it is simply not safe to take your horse to a horse
show and risk exposing your horse to the other horses, and therefore,
your horse should be vaccinated. Yet you are at the same horse show
without your annual booster, even though you are at risk just as
much as your horse is at risk. Why have you not taken the same injectable
precaution? Could it be that these yearly vaccinations for our horses
are unneccesary? In fact, your horse has probably been repeatedly
vaccinated for the same diseases over and over for which he has
already developed immunity. So, why are we being told to vaccinate
our horses yearly, and could this procedure of over-vaccinating
our horses actually be causing more harm than good?
We believe that Headshaking
Syndrome in most cases is the result of over-vaccinating. We have
seen repeatedly that horses whose head shaking symptoms have been
removed using Capstar, and are then re-vaccinated, head shaking
symptoms immediately return. It is a well-known fact that an ill
horse should not be vaccinated as their immune system is already
being challenged. Yet, horses with Headshaking Syndrome continue
to be vaccinated annually. Could this be why horses with Headshaking
Syndrome only worsen year after year, and why most veternarians
consider Headshaking Syndrome incurable? They are reintroducing
the cause of Headshaking Syndrome year after year, only causing
the symptoms to increase in intensity.
We know of no scientific studies
of horses that support why we are told to vaccinate our horses yearly.
Instead, pharmaceutical companies who produce and profit from the
sale of vaccines, educate our veterinarians, who then educate the
public consumer that yearly vaccinations are recommended and a safe
practice for our horses. We doubt that anyone really knows exactly
how long a vaccine is effective in horses. Blood titers will give
us a measure of the antibodies in the blood stream, but blood titers
only measures one part of the complex immune system. A horse with
a well functioning immune system may still be immune even if he
has a low or zero titer for a specific disease. We know of no one
that knows knows what number equals immunity. Yet, we vaccinate
yearly just to be safe. This yearly vaccination practice is like
over-watering your plant. It is unnecessary and eventually becomes
harmful. Horse owners vaccinate their horses yearly with very good
intentions, but unknowingly may be causing more harm than good.
Not all humans, horses, dogs, or cats can handle the current vaccination
recommendations.
The immune system is not an
inexhaustible resource. It can be broken and worn down. It is true
that the immune system is made stronger each time it fights off
a natural disease. In nature, we are hit with a disease; the body
fights the disease and recovers, and as a result the immune system
is made much stronger. But today our horses are being injected with
many man-made artificial diseases, several at once, directly into
the muscles of our horses . We expect the immune system to respond
to each disease and have the correct immune response, which is to
build antibodies and fight off the diseases. But what happens if
the immune system does not respond correctly? What if the immune
system is overwhelmed by this huge attack at the cellular level
year after year? If the immune system is not able to have the correct
immune response, this man-made disease stays in the body.
Your horse now has to deal with
a chronic man-made disease. Then you vaccinate again, and again.
Your horse’s immune system is crippled and he is now susceptible
to other diseases that he was at one time able to fight off. Such
as autoimmune diseases, Headshaking Syndrome, skin disorders, allergies,
and asthma, just to name a few. All of these conditions are on the
rise. These are problems of a chemically manipulated immune system.
Our horses are not healthier as a result of the practice of over-vaccinating.
Instead our horses are developing chronic conditions and immune
systems that over react to the slightest sensitivity.
We are not saying that horses
should never be vaccinated. We are saying horses should not be over-vaccinated.
The Tetanus vaccine is known to be good for 12 years in humans.
This is probably the same for horses. There are other countries
like Australia and New Zealand who vaccinate for Tetanus every 5
years. Even this practice is probably still over-vaccinating. There
has never been a case of rabies reported in a horse that had been
vaccinated twice. It is thought that two vaccinations yields lifetime
immunity. One vaccine may be sufficient immunity for the life of
your horse. Remember, you too have been vaccinated, but you have
not continued to be vaccinated year after year.
There is a lot of debate over
this issue of over-vaccinating among veterinarians. They do not
agree among themselves on what is the correct protocol of how often
to vaccinate. There are some veterinarian organizations that are
now recommending that dogs be vaccinated every 3 years and not past
the age of 10. This is definitely an improvement upon the yearly
vaccination schedule imposed on dogs. We need to see movement in
the same direction for our horses. If a vaccine actually gives lifetime
immunity then to repeat every 3 years is still over-vaccinating,
and can be harmful instead of helpful to our beloved pets.
A good rule of thumb:
Treat your horse as you would treat yourself.
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