Horse Vaccine Schedule Calculator

How this checklist is built

AAEP sorts equine vaccines into two groups. Core vaccines protect against diseases that are endemic to a region, are highly contagious or severe, carry public health significance, or are required by law, and they have enough demonstrated safety and efficacy to be justified in all equids. AAEP names four: tetanus, Eastern and Western equine encephalomyelitis, West Nile virus, and rabies. Every horse in this tool gets all four listed.

Risk-based vaccines are selected after a risk assessment carried out by, or with, a licensed veterinarian, and their use varies between individual horses, populations and regions. This tool surfaces a risk-based vaccine only when your answers describe the exposure that would prompt the conversation. It never tells you the horse needs one.

Vaccination history changes the shape of the answer, not just the timing. AAEP's chart puts horses that are unvaccinated and horses lacking a vaccination history in the same column, and that column is a primary series rather than a booster. This tool does not print those series, because for several vaccines AAEP defers explicitly to the manufacturer's product recommendation, and because starting a series at all is a veterinary judgement about this horse.

The tool gives timing anchors, never calendar dates. "Before the vector season starts in your area" is the honest instruction, and where you tell the tool you do not know your vector season, it stops rather than guessing one.

What this tool cannot do

• It cannot examine your horse, so it cannot tell you whether vaccinating today is safe.
• It does not know your product. Dose counts, routes and intervals differ between inactivated, modified-live and vectored products, and the label governs.
• It does not know your regional disease pressure, your state's rabies or movement law, or your event's entry conditions.
• It gives no medication or vaccine dosing, and names no brands.
• It is not a record and not a compliance check. Competition and boarding paperwork must come from your veterinarian.
• Guidance is revised. AAEP publishes updates online at any time and the live chart is always the current reference.

Questions owners actually ask

Is a Coggins test a vaccine?

No. Coggins is a blood test for equine infectious anemia, a virus with no vaccine and no treatment. A negative Coggins records that your horse tested negative on a given date; it protects nothing. Requirements are set state by state and event by event, commonly around interstate movement, change of ownership, sales and exhibitions, so check your state animal health office and your event's own conditions.

My horse has no records. Do we start over?

AAEP's adult chart treats horses lacking a vaccination history the same as unvaccinated horses, which means a primary series rather than a single booster. Whether partial evidence can be accepted is a judgement your veterinarian makes.

Why won't this page tell me the primary series?

For several of them AAEP itself does not give one number. For influenza and equine herpesvirus the chart says the series depends on the manufacturer's product recommendation, and for strangles it differs between the killed and modified-live products. Printing a single number there would look more helpful and be less correct. For the four core vaccines AAEP does give one series, and this page still leaves it out, because deciding to start a primary series is a veterinary judgement about your horse rather than a number to read off a web page.

What does USEF require?

Under general rule GR845, horses more than seven months of age entering the grounds of a USEF-licensed competition must be accompanied by documentation of equine influenza virus and equine herpesvirus (rhinopneumonitis) vaccination within six months prior to entering the stables. Horses not in compliance may be required to leave the grounds at competition management's request. The rule also sets out acceptable documentation methods and a route for horses that cannot be vaccinated because of previous adverse reactions, involving a veterinarian's letter and a temperature log. Read the current rule text before relying on it.

Does that rule apply to every show?

No. GR845 governs USEF-licensed competitions in the United States. FEI events, racing authorities, breed associations, individual venues and other national federations set their own requirements, and some are stricter. Check the conditions published for the specific event.

Can a sick horse be vaccinated?

Generally only healthy, afebrile horses are vaccinated unless a veterinarian advises otherwise, and recent immunosuppressive medication can blunt the response. That is a decision for your vet on the day.

Do older horses respond the same way?

Not necessarily. Immune response can decline with age, which is a reason to keep senior horses on a veterinarian-reviewed program rather than a reason to stop vaccinating them.

Is EHM covered by the herpesvirus vaccine?

No available vaccine is labeled to prevent equine herpesvirus myeloencephalopathy, the neurological form. Vaccination targets the respiratory and abortion forms. Biosecurity, isolation of new arrivals and temperature monitoring do the work vaccination cannot.

Sources

• AAEP — Adult Horse Vaccination Chart, published 26 January 2026. Primary source for every interval and category on this page.
• AAEP — Vaccination Guidelines, including the core and risk-based definitions and the individual disease guidelines.
• AAEP — Foal Vaccination Chart, used for the foal and weanling section.
• US Equestrian — Equine Health, summarizing rule GR845 and the other equine health general rules.
• US Equestrian — Rulebook, for the current full text of GR845.
• Equine Disease Communication Center — Vaccination, for maternal antibody interference, immunosenescence and vaccinating only healthy horses.
• USDA APHIS — Equine Infectious Anemia information sheet, for EIA and Coggins testing.

Guidance and rules change. Every link above is the live source; if it disagrees with this page, follow the source.