Guide · Canada

Horse vaccination schedule (Canada): the core four, rabies, EEE, and Equestrian Canada's six-month rule

Last reviewed 6 November 2026

Equestrian Canada publishes no vaccination schedule of its own and sends owners to the American one, and every horse vaccine licensed here is of US origin. What is Canadian is the risk around it. Rabies vaccination is law in Ontario for any horse the public can reach. Eastern equine encephalitis struck horses in Ontario or Quebec every summer from 2023 to 2025, and killed unvaccinated horses in both provinces. And since 2020, any horse at an Equestrian Canada show needs its flu and herpesvirus vaccines inside six months.

This is a summary of published information, not veterinary advice. Which vaccines a horse needs depends on where it lives, what it does and which product is used, and your vet decides. Rules and labels change; check the current ones before relying on any interval here.

In Quebec? The French version covers Cheval Québec's rules, raccoon rabies and the EEE cases there. In the US, the UK or Australia? Read the US version, the UK version or the Australian one.

An American schedule, and American vaccines

Equestrian Canada's vaccination guide is explicit: "Here are the protocols from the American Association of Equine Practitioners (AAEP)". The AAEP divides horse vaccines into core vaccines, for every horse, and risk-based ones:

Core: tetanus, Eastern and Western equine encephalomyelitis (EEE/WEE), West Nile virus and rabies.
Risk-based: among others equine influenza, equine herpesvirus (EHV, rhinopneumonitis), strangles, Potomac horse fever, botulism and equine viral arteritis.

Equine Guelph's handbook, reviewed by Ontario Veterinary College vets, lists rabies, tetanus, West Nile virus and Eastern equine encephalitis as typically core. Vaccines are licensed in Canada by CFIA's Canadian Centre for Veterinary Biologics, and every one of the roughly forty horse vaccines on its list is of US origin; there is no equine viral arteritis vaccine on it.

The core four, every spring

Boehringer Ingelheim's Canadian schedule, which it labels the AAEP adult vaccination chart, gives:

Vaccine	Adult never vaccinated	Adult already vaccinated
EEE/WEE	two doses, 4 to 6 weeks apart	yearly, in spring
West Nile	a two-dose series	yearly, in spring
Rabies	one dose	yearly
Tetanus	two doses, 4 to 6 weeks apart	yearly, and again at a wound if the last dose was more than 6 months ago

The spring timing is the point. EEE and West Nile are carried by mosquitoes; Quebec's agriculture ministry asks for the encephalitis vaccine "each spring before the risk period", by early May at the latest, after which the horse is protected until the first frosts, and Ontario's says most cases come between August and October and end with frost. A horse vaccinated for the first time is protected only once its second dose has gone in, so a new horse bought in June starts late.

Rabies: law in Ontario, and a vaccine only vets can buy

Federally, the Health of Animals Regulations forbid selling a rabies vaccine "to anyone other than a veterinarian", so no owner can buy one anywhere in Canada; the only exceptions are the Minister's written permits for temporary emergency clinics and remote areas without a vet. Ontario goes further. Regulation 567 under the Health Protection and Promotion Act requires the owner or keeper of a horse, cow or sheep to ensure that it is immunized against rabies, revaccinated by the date on its certificate. The exemptions are narrow: a horse that only the people caring for it can reach, or one the public sees only at a seasonal agricultural fair, unless it is part of an interactive display, and one a vet certifies cannot safely be vaccinated, provided it is kept where it cannot be exposed to rabies. The vaccine must be given by a veterinarian, or someone the vet authorizes, and the vet signs the certificate. In practice that covers the horses the public can reach: at a lesson barn, a trail-riding business, a boarding stable with visitors.

Rabies is reportable everywhere in Canada. CFIA's laboratories confirmed 281 cases in 2025, 120 in Ontario and 107 in Quebec, mostly in bats and raccoons, and none in a horse. Raccoon rabies came back to Quebec from Vermont in 2024, and the province had confirmed 328 raccoon cases in 2026 by late October.

EEE: the summer's killer, close to Ottawa and Montreal

Eastern equine encephalitis is carried by mosquitoes from birds to horses and people, and the horses in the recent Canadian cases were unvaccinated or under-vaccinated:

In July 2023 Ontario's ministry reported an unvaccinated 17-month-old colt in Lanark County; that September, a Quebec alert on outbreaks in eastern Ontario and northern New York State said at least three stables near Ottawa were thought to be affected and more than ten horses to have died in the previous ten days, none of them vaccinated.
In August 2024 at least five unvaccinated horses died in two stables in Lanaudière, north of Montreal, and another case followed in Mauricie in October. Three people caught EEE in Quebec that summer.
By late August 2025, Ontario had its fifth confirmed case of the year.

Laboratories must notify CFIA immediately of EEE, WEE and West Nile virus, and Ontario's Animal Health Act adds EHV-1, strangles, influenza A, rabies and equine infectious anemia to the hazards its labs report at once.

Risk-based: flu, herpesvirus, strangles, Potomac

Vaccine	First course	Boosters
Influenza	depends on the vaccine type	yearly or every 6 months, by risk
EHV-1/4	two or three doses, per the manufacturer	yearly; every 6 months for horses at higher risk
Strangles	two or three doses, by vaccine type	yearly or every 6 months
Potomac horse fever	two doses, 3 to 4 weeks apart	yearly or every 6 months

For a horse that competes, the first two are not a choice, as the next section shows. The others depend on where the horse lives and travels; Cheval Québec's biosecurity guide calls Potomac horse fever emerging in Quebec and recommends vaccinating in the areas where it occurs.

Equestrian Canada's six-month rule

Article A519 of Equestrian Canada's rules, in force since 2020: "All horses attending Equestrian Canada sanctioned competitions must have been administered Equine Influenza and Equine Herpes Virus (1&4) vaccinations within 6 months (+21 days grace period) before arrival at the event." In detail:

Not too late, not too recent: no vaccination in the 7 days before arrival, and a horse that does not comply "may be asked to leave".
Proof on request: competition management may ask for the documentation, and the entry form carries a signed A519 certification.
Who vaccinates: a vet is recommended, not required, and the frequency follows the manufacturer or the vet.
Exceptions: a horse that cannot be vaccinated needs a vet's letter with its entry, and may be asked for a temperature log.
A ceiling too: organizers may not require flu or herpesvirus vaccination more often than twice a year.

The rule applies at every level, Bronze included. A proposal for 2027, whose comment period closed on 21 October 2026, would add an annual proof of a regular vaccination program and require the six-month period to run until the horse leaves the grounds, not just until it arrives. In Quebec, Cheval Québec also requires a vet-signed flu and rhinopneumonitis certificate at every event it issues a permit for. Internationally, FEI rules apply as everywhere: the FEI HorseApp's influenza vaccination module took effect in February 2025, and the FEI's Equipass app, launched in January 2026, puts a digital copy of an FEI horse's passport on a phone, alongside the paper passport it does not replace.

Why the calendar drifts

A Canadian horse that competes runs on two clocks: the core vaccines once a year in spring, and flu and herpesvirus every six months for the show season, with a 21-day grace that is easy to spend without noticing. Each counts from when the last dose actually went in, not from when it was planned, and a vet visit pushed back two weeks in April is a horse sent home in October. When the secretary asks, or the vet calls about a sick horse in August, the date has to be at hand.

Questions people ask

What vaccines does a horse need in Canada?

Equestrian Canada publishes no schedule of its own; it points owners to the American Association of Equine Practitioners. Its core vaccines, for every horse, are tetanus, rabies, Eastern and Western equine encephalomyelitis and West Nile virus, all given yearly, the mosquito-borne ones each spring before mosquito season. Influenza, equine herpesvirus, strangles and Potomac horse fever are risk-based, and influenza and herpesvirus are required for any Equestrian Canada sanctioned competition. Your vet decides what applies to your horse.

Is rabies vaccination mandatory for horses in Canada?

In Ontario, yes for any horse the public can reach: a provincial regulation requires the owner of a horse to keep it immunized against rabies unless only the people caring for it can reach it or another narrow exemption applies, and the vaccine must be given by a veterinarian or someone the vet authorizes, and the vet issues a certificate. Elsewhere, ask your vet whether your province has a rule. Federally, rabies vaccine may be sold only to veterinarians, save for the Minister's written exceptions for emergency clinics and remote areas, so an owner cannot buy it.

What are Equestrian Canada's vaccination rules?

Under Article A519 of Equestrian Canada's rules, every horse attending a sanctioned competition must have been vaccinated against equine influenza and equine herpesvirus 1 and 4 within 6 months, plus a 21-day grace period, before it arrives, and not within the 7 days before arrival. A horse that does not comply may be asked to leave, and the organizer may ask for the records.

Let the record do the arithmetic

EquiDiary works from what you logged, not from a fixed calendar. Record each vaccination when it happens, with the product, batch and vet, and put it on a rhythm in the care schedule: the next due date counts from the last dose you logged, and a morning email says what is due. Rabies, West Nile, tetanus, influenza and EHV have types of their own, and EEE/WEE goes under Other vaccine. Keep the vet's certificates in the horse's wallet, and everyone who looks after the horse sees the same history.

Start free for 3 months

Sources

Equestrian Canada — Equine vaccinations guide and AAEP vaccination guidelines
Boehringer Ingelheim Canada — How often should I vaccinate? (manufacturer)
Equine Guelph — Horses 101
CFIA — Licensed veterinary biologics
Health of Animals Regulations, section 134.2 and Ontario Regulation 567 (rabies immunization)
Ontario — Veterinary advisory on rabies (2024) and CFIA — Rabies cases in Canada, 2025
Gouvernement du Québec — La rage chez les animaux (in French)
Ontario — Veterinary advisory on eastern equine encephalitis (2023) and Standardbred Canada — EEE case reported in Ontario (2025)
Quebec EEE: MAPAQ — Encéphalite équine de l'Est, alert of September 2023, alert of August 2024, CAHSS alert of October 2024 and INSPQ (2026) (in French)
CFIA — Immediately notifiable diseases and Ontario — Notifiable hazards under the Animal Health Act, 2009
Equestrian Canada — 2026 Rules, Section A (Article A519) and proposed 2027 rules, and the notice of 15 January 2020 that brought A519 in and the rulebooks page (the 2027 comment period)
Cheval Québec — Biosécurité and biosecurity guide (posted 2024) (in French)
Equestrian Canada — FEI HorseApp influenza vaccination module and FEI — Equipass and FEI Sports Forum 2026, session 8 (its launch)

Labels, rules and event conditions are revised; check the current version before relying on it, and confirm the program with your vet.

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