Why I won’t be following the new equine vaccine regime

When the vet had finished giving my horses their annual flu boosters, she reminded me the vaccination regime had changed. For the purpose of competing, horses must be vaccinated for flu every six months, which is something that had passed me by.

What with worrying about human vaccines, I had not noticed this change in the rules for equestrian jabs.

I thought about it for a split second, then decided. ‘Lucky I don’t compete then,’ I told her. Because being a rabid anti-vaxxer, I don’t want my horses pumped more full of vaccine than is absolutely necessary.

And this is precisely the sort of irrational and illogical reaction people have come to expect from someone like me.

I admit it, I’m so anti-vaccine I pay a vet to come out and give my horses a flu jab every year, and I don’t just unquestioningly agree when, after 20 years of this routine, for various horses, with no problems, the vet suddenly informs me that many owners are giving the same jab every six months now.