shetland pony shots

Question
WE just got a 4 year old pony.We have no idea about when and what shots the pony needs.How and when to give him his shots or wormer.Please help.thank you very much.

Answer
Hi.
If you have never owned a horse or a pony before, there is alot more than just shots that you are going to need to know. Also, you need to establish a relationship with a vet now. You cannot and should not use my advice to replace or to try to do your veterinary care yourself. I strongly encourage you to get a text on horse care to learn more about the many things you can and will encounter as horse owners- there is much mroe than shots and giving dewormer.
I can suggest a book entitled Understanding Equine Preventive Medicine by the Eclipse Press and written by myself. you can find it under my name on amazon.com.

Shots are specific for the area of the country or the area in the world in which you live. I assume you live in the US but i get lost of email from other countries too. In the US the VERY MOST BASIC shots all horses need are tetanus toxoid, Rabies- yes rabies and no one can convince me that horses do not need this. Other than that it depends on where you live, how much the horse leaves your property, how often the horse is in contact with other horses, where you ship to if you show and other things. You need a vet locally to help you decide what else is important to give. Usually, it includes, for my practice, intranasal vaccination for influenza, Eastern and Western Equine Encephalitis, maybe a live vaccine for Rhinopneumonitis and thats it. The Rabies and tetanus are once a year and everything else is twice a year- BUT if yoru horse has never had vaccinations befoer you haved to go through an initial series for each vaccine that is usually a series of 2 or 3 shots in 2 to 4 week intervals, then yearly for rabies and tetanus afterwards, and every 6 months for everything else I mentioned. And thats just the shots. The dewormer is usually rotated using a different class of dewormer every 8 weeks and it must include deworming with a tapeworm killer once a year and ivermectin in the spring and in fhe fall. I also recommend a once a year larvicidal deworming using a double dose of fenbendazole. I STRONGLY recommend that you do not try to interpret allthis yourself and create your own vaccination and deworming protocols, you will make mistakes if you do. Thus, you need that relationship with an equine vet to help you sort these things out- not just somoene telling you what to do over the internet. Please think about my recommendations carefully and learn to be good horse owners and clients for your vet. good luck with your pony. Feel free to ask any other questions, but do use your regular vet as a resource.