The best way to combat infectious diseases is to prepare and boost your horse's immune system with annual vaccinations. The vaccinations administered by your veterinarian will protect your animal from a whole host of problems including tetanus, influenza, rabies, strangles, encephalomyelitis, West Nile virus, and Potomac Horse Fever to name a few. Whole health programs are essential and should be discussed with your veterinarian to optimize not only vaccination schedules, but also deworming for your horses. In some studies, 80% of colic cases are associated with parasites, so it's important to have a good deworming program in place. Most farms deworm quarterly, however, farms with high stocking rates will have an increased parasite load on their pastures and may want to deworm more often. Assessment of how well a deworming program is working is important. Yearly targeted fecal flotation is useful to monitor parasite loads and dewormer efficacy.
For more information on recommended vaccinations and deworming schedules, see these articles used as references: University of Minnesota Extension and American Association of Equine Practitioners. Also, be sure to use your local veterinarian and county livestock extension agent as resources.
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