mare's neck sore a week after vaccines????

Miniature Horse Talk Forums

Help Support Miniature Horse Talk Forums:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

barnbum

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 9, 2008
Messages
2,481
Reaction score
27
Location
Finger Lakes, New York
My horses were all vaccinated last Tuesday--today is Monday. There's a new 5-way, plus they had West-Nile and rabies. I've been watching for signs of soreness, and noticed one mare was off. I watched her closely and all is well. This morning the other mare started pawing at her "grain", so I put the food in a feed dish and held it up and she ate it all. Obviously her neck is too sore to lower. She did eat most of her hay from last night. It's been a week since she had shots!! She has two small knots on both sides of her neck. I raised a pile of hay in the corner of a run-in, but she keeps pawing it down. She's content enough--when I came in she was mutual grooming. I'll give the vet's office a call later, but has anyone else found this happening--a week after the shots?
 
I've had that problem before. Put a Hot compress right on the knot. I have a heat pack that

you heat in the microwave then put it into a cloth sleeve with velcrow on it. That works great. I just heat it up, & put it on the neck & it stays there for about 15 min. But hot compress towel will do the same thing.

It should only take 2 or 3 times.
default_yes.gif
Good luck cjmm
 
Think of it like you had a neck sore. Those knots hurt Ill bet. So what would you do if you had a sore neck? Id want something hot/cool, Id want rest, mabe a massage?
default_biggrin.png


Your mare would prolly want the same to.
default_smile.png
 
This is why Im so adamant that they not get shots in the neck. If their butt gets sore they can still eat and drink. When we have had reactions they had us give some banamine but for sure do what your vet says when you call. They had us also hose the area. Hope she feels better!!
 
I have had them give shots in the hip, Kay--but the last rhino Chloe had she couldn't walk! The vet really wants to give them in the neck.

I try to keep them moving after shots too. But guess that doesn't always work either.

I massaged her this morning...I'll give some compresses as soon as I get home. My daughter is home so will make sure she gets something to eat every few hours.

Thanks everyone!
 
Hi Barnbum,

I have found that a couple days of banamine after their shots really makes a difference to my horses (1/2 the recommended daily dose, twice a day, for 2 or 3 days, per my vet) .

My mare would get so sore, with big knots in her neck, that she couldn't stretch her neck down to the floor to eat. I had to put her feed up on a box. Shots in the butt were no better - big knots, very sore... The knots would last a week or more, too. Hot/cold packs helped some, but with banamine they haven't been sore at all, and no knots. This year I just gave it for two days, and they were fine.

Oh, almost forgot: I don't give them the Flu/Rhino, since we don't go to shows much. That shot seems to be the worst, and if I had to give it, I'd do it separately, a couple weeks before a show or whatever.

Hope this helps!

Lori
 
Thanks Lori! The reaction to the rhino during pregnancies was so bad, I only gave at 5 months last time. I've never had sore horses from annual vaccines. I'll give her Banamine when I get home until she's better. My daughter is hand feeding her every few hours while I'm at work.
default_wub.png
 
That is the reason I give them in the butt as well. I have never heard of doing them in the hip.

IF it were me personally, I would give my own shots. Its not that hard and you save a lot of money as well.
 
I should not have posted about the neck vs the butt. I do apologize. Its just that a few years back I had an entire herd have reactions so I had 11 horses that could not drink or eat and from then on I never gave neck shots again. Just my own personal thing
default_smile.png


Sending her more good thoughts!!
 
Well, it can be really worrisome, whether in the butt or the neck, IMHO! And I have heard of minis who were lame after the shots, which pretty much doubles the anxiety...

The first time we tried to do shots in the butt, on my then-15-year-old mare, I wasn't sure what to expect. The vet seemed to know what he was doing, so I just shrugged (mentally) and held Crissy's halter. Well, he stuck that needle in and she turned and kicked him square in the chest. He went flying over backwards, muttered a swear word or two, and then got up and brushed himself off. I was mortified, of course, and really glad he wasn't hurt, but could barely keep from busting out laughing - this vet was a big guy, and my horse is barely 32" tall... He was a bit more cautious after that, and I realized that I had to a) do more training, and b) be the advocate for both horse AND vet.

The moral of the above story is, I guess: It's not always that easy to follow good advice...

Hope all those sore horsies feel better soon! (Green grass helps, if you can get it!)
 
I should not have posted about the neck vs the butt.
Oh I think it's important to have it discussed, Kay. It is a troubling decision. And I feel comforted to know what could happen at either end!! This is very important for those with their first mini--and first shot experience.

After my mares couldn't eat from sore necks I insisted all shots go in their back half, but after a rhino (which are the harshest shot of all per my vet) Chloe could barely walk to the barn after being out all day. That was harder to deal with than the sore neck. So sad.... The vet I trust the most was here last week and I ran it by him again and he said all shots should go in the neck. So that's what he did. I thought we were safe until this morning. I've never heard of it coming a week later. NOW, I'll be giving Banamine. See--I keep learning steps.... a few more years and I'll be really good at knowing how to work it all out.
default_rolleyes.gif
 
I use vaccines with Havlogen and haven't had reactions. I also

don't give them in the neck either. I think a week of soreness is

a really long time. Hope she feels better soon.
 
Marty--the new thing for me was she's been fine up to this morning. She's been eating all her hay, "grain" and grazing all week. I have been watching everyone closely. This morning was the first time she's been unable to get her head down to eat.
 
karla ive been pondering this all morning. It does seem very odd that she didnt react for week!! Watch for infection at the injection site. Sometimes no matter how much alcohol you rub them with some dirt gets it with the shot. I would also take her temp. If its infection they normally burst open
 
I'm sorry your mare is not feeling well and hope she is better soon.

I know this won't help now, but maybe down the road it could, but I had a mare that would get sore and develop a lump with fever in it about 1-2 days after the shot in the neck two years in a row. She was really good about the shot and didn't fight it or anything. She would be sore for nearly a week. I put warm compresses on her to help with the pain.

When I buy the annual vaccines from the vet or whoever, the needle that comes on it is usually 2" long. I decided the next year to go with the shortest needle that I could, which was a 1" X 20, and no more sore neck problems. It don't go near as deep. I have use them for about 5 years now and they work really well for me.
 
Thanks Shauna, I appreciate your suggestion. I wonder what the vet uses. They look pretty long to me.
default_unsure.png
I will definitely ask. That's sure one thing I wish I had more control over, but I just don't feel I want to give my own shots yet. The vet checks other stuff when he's here, so I'll keep letting them do it for now.

I'm happy to report Gypsy is eating on her own now!!
default_aktion033.gif
I called my daughter from school before I called the vet and she said she was eating fine. I took her temp and she's a cool 99. So--whatever that was, it seems to have passed. Happy sigh.
default_smile.png


I've received a few emails from others who have had the same experience--the week wait for the soreness to show. The only difference this year is a 5-way vs. a 4-way and I remember the vet saying they had a new WN shot. Wonder if that could make a difference.
 
I swear, I don't know what to make of the predictability of reaction to yearly vaccines anymore; I've had troubles in the past couple of years I've NEVER had in well over 30 years of giving all my own vaccinations....

Now, I give a 6 way multiple routinely, and have for MANY years; it includes the Venezuelan enceph, because I live where it has occasionally shown up, and when it does, the vaccine can become VERY hard to get, very quickly. Until the last couple of years, I'd had horses get sore/have swelling only a couple of times, but last year, three of my then-9 horses were sore and had some site swelling, in varying degrees, and this year, two have been sore and 'short striding (I give in the buttock ONLY, unless I have a really compelling reason to use the neck!)--and one of those was the worst I've EVER seen!

This 12 YO gelding was so SORE only hours after receiving his shot he didn't even want to eat his supper; so I gave about a 3/4 dose of banamine orally, AND a large-dose of ranitidine(he is prone to ulcers)that evening, and it really helped him. By the following evening he was again very lame and 'short striding' on that leg, but was willing to eat and drink, so no more banamine(I surely am not going to give multiple doses of banamine, esp. close together,AND to an already ulcer-prone horse, unless there is NO OTHER choice!) He remained sore but eating and drinking normally for another day or so, then on looking closely, I realized that the swelling had 'dropped down' to his gaskin, which was hot and tight. So--I hot packed him, then walked him for about 15 min. He is finally noticably improved, but I am thinking that next year, I will try giving ONLY a tetanus and EE-WE, *maybe* VE, shot, leaving out the rhino and flu, to EVERYONE, and then buy a couple of rhino/flus to give to any horse I might take anywhere to an ADT or ?? away from home. I have essentially a 'closed herd' now; all are 7 years or older,so my risk factors are minimal for the contagious diseases like flu and rhino.

Years ago, an old friend who was a large animal (cattle, but as many horses) vet of many years' experience, told me that unless you wanted to swab w/ alcohol for several minutes, there was really no point, so I have not swabbed an injection site since....just my own experience--and have had ONE site infection in all the years since-an abcess, from a rhino booster, so not at all sure it had anything at all to do w/ not using an alcohol swab first. I hasten to add that I believe that EVERYONE should ask and rely upon the advice and counsel of their OWN trusted vet, though!!

I do *suspect* the 'carrier agent in the vaccines--and did think Havlogen was 'better' than others, but---I had less problems w/ Ft. Dodge, which apparently no longer uses Havlogen, than I have recently using the brand that DOES use it....FWIW, this year for the first time, I went ahead and used the 1 1/2" X 20 ga. needles that routinely come with the individual doses of the vaccines, on all but two of mine. They actually were less 'squirmy' when I placed the needle, then gave the shot, than usual--and the ONE I used a 1"X 21 ga. needle to give in the buttock-my smallest mare-was the other one who got sore and was short-striding! (I also used the shorter, smaller diameter needle to give the booster in the NECK of my 26 YO mare, because she has had SO many shots in the butt in her long years--and she has thankfully been FINE....)So- WHY this is happening is to me a mystery....

Glad to hear your mare is feeling better, barnbum--seems very odd that it would be that long before such soreness manifested, though?

Margo
 

Latest posts

Back
Top