People who want their horses to achieve their full potential will usually leave no stone unturned in their efforts to have a winner. Carefully planned feeding and training programmes are devised and special attention is given. However, all of this can be to no avail if your horse gets sick. Not all illness can be prevented, but two of the more serious diseases, tetanus and strangles, both potentially fatal, can be prevented by vaccination.

Everybody has heard of tetanus and many people are aware that it causes signs of muscle stiffness, tremors and "lockjaw". Treatment is difficult, time consuming, very expensive and often unsuccessful.

Strangles may not be as well known as tetanus, but when an outbreak occurs and a large number of affected horses show the typical signs, with pus discharging from the nostrils and swellings (abscesses) forming in the lymph glands under the jaw, it is not easily forgotten.