EquiDiaryHorse flu vaccination checker: can your horse compete on that date?
Last checked: 12 October 2026
A horse can be fully vaccinated and still be turned away at the gate. International rules want a dose in the last six months and 21 days and none in the last week, and since 2024 a new primary course runs to tighter intervals than the one in most passports. Put in the dates and the day you arrive, and this works out whether the horse can start, and when the next dose has to go in.
This applies published rules to the dates you type. It is not the organiser's decision, and it is not veterinary advice. What is checked at the event is the passport, filled in and signed by a vet, and federations revise these rules — check the current version before you travel. Nothing you type here leaves your browser.
The rules it applies
Each rule as the checker reads it, from the body that sets it. Where a rule says nothing about a step, the checker does not invent one.
| Rules | Primary course | Boosters | At the event |
|---|---|---|---|
| FEI international | second dose 21–60 days after the first, third within 6 months + 21 days of the second; for courses started before 2024, 21–92 days and 7 months | at most 12 months apart | last dose within 6 months + 21 days before arrival; none in the 7 days before arrival |
| OEPS Austria | second dose 21–60 days after the first, third within 6 months + 21 days | at least once a year | last dose within 6 months + 21 days of the start; none in the 7 days before arrival |
| LEWB / Paardensport Vlaanderen Belgium | second dose 21–92 days after the first, third within 7 months | at most 12 months apart | last dose within 6 months + 21 days before the competition starts; none in the 7 days before it |
| FFE France | for a second dose given since 2024: 21–60 days after the first, first booster 120–180 days after the second; 2013–2023: 21–92 days and 5–6 months; before 2013: 21–92 days, then yearly | at most 1 year apart (with one day of tolerance) | from the 8th day after the second dose or any booster; equine herpes (rhinopneumonitis) vaccination is also required in the Pro and Amateur divisions |
| FN Germany | second dose 28–70 days after the first, third within 6 months + 21 days | at most 6 months + 21 days apart | a start no sooner than 14 days after the second dose, 7 days after any later one |
| KNHS Netherlands | for courses from April 2024, three doses: second 21–60 days after the first, third 120 days to 6 months + 21 days after the second; no competing before the second | within 12 months (disqualification only past 14; the checker uses 12) | every dose at least 7 days before the first competition day |
| RFHE Spain | second dose 21–92 days after the first, third within 7 months | at most 12 months apart | a dose within the 6 months + 21 days before the competition; none in the 7 days before arrival, and 7 days after the second dose before competing |
| Swiss Equestrian Switzerland | second dose 21–60 days after the first (21–92 if given before 2024), third within 6 months + 21 days | never more than 365 days apart | last dose within 365 days; no event for 7 days after any dose — the 8th day is allowed |
| British Showjumping United Kingdom | courses from 2024: 21–60 days, third within 6 months + 21 days; earlier courses: 21–92 days, third 150–215 days after the second | at most 12 months apart | seven full days between a dose and the competition |
| USEF United States | not set | not set — the vaccine maker or the vet decides | a dose in the 6 months before entering the stables; EHV vaccination is required too and is not checked here |
Not covered, because no current rule text could be confirmed or the rule leaves nothing to count: the FISE in Italy at national level (it defers to each vaccine's own leaflet), the FEP in Portugal, the other British disciplines and British racing, and national shows in Mexico and Brazil. In Australia no flu vaccine is approved at all.
The 2024 change most passports still show
For primary courses started on or after 1 January 2024, the FEI tightened two intervals: the second dose now comes 21 to 60 days after the first, where it was 21 to 92, and the third within 6 months and 21 days of the second, where it was 7 months. A course started before 2024 keeps the old intervals — nobody re-vaccinates a horse because the rule moved — but a third dose given from 2024 on is held to the new limit, which is how the FEI handled horses caught halfway.
The national federations did not all follow. Swiss Equestrian, the KNHS, British Showjumping and the FFE moved to 21–60 days, and the OEPS uses 21–60 as well; the FN in Germany kept its own 28–70; the RFHE in Spain and the Belgian federations still use 21–92. A horse that competes under two of them can be on time under one and late under the other, which is why the checker asks whose rules first.
How the dates are counted
- Months are calendar months. Six months after 31 August is the last day of February: where a month has no such day, the checker takes its last day, the earlier reading.
- Arrival and the first day of competition are different days, and the rules differ on which they count from. The FEI counts from arrival, the FN and the KNHS from the competition, and the OEPS uses one for its window and the other for its waiting period. The line under "Whose rules?" says which.
- The seventh day. "No vaccination within 7 days of arrival" is clear for six of those days and not for the seventh. Where a rule's wording settles it — Swiss Equestrian's "8th day", the KNHS's "at least seven days before" — the checker follows the rule; where it does not, it says the day is unclear rather than deciding it for you.
- Without the first dose, the primary course cannot be checked. Untick the box and enter only the recent boosters, and the most the checker can say is yes, provided the vaccinations before them were in order.
- A late dose is reported, not repaired. Most rules want a new primary course after a missed interval; the checker says which interval was missed and leaves the restart to your vet.
- Doses after the event do not count for it, and the same date entered twice counts once.
Let the passport dates do the remembering
In EquiDiary each vaccination is an entry with its date, the vaccine and batch, and the vet who gave it. Put influenza on a rhythm in the care schedule — every six months, say — and the next due date counts from the last dose you logged, with a morning email when it comes up. The vaccination page lays the whole history out on one sheet, ready to print or hand to a vet or an organiser.
Start free for 3 monthsSources
- FEI Veterinary Regulations 2026, art. 1003: the primary course and its 2024 change, boosters, the 6 months + 21 days and the 7 days
- FEI — Vaccinations
- OEPS — Regulative 2026 (ÖTO Teil A, § 11)
- LEWB — Règlement général 2024 (the FRBSE rule of 2017), Paardensport Vlaanderen
- FN — LPO 2024, Durchführungsbestimmungen zu § 66.1.7
- KNHS — Algemeen Wedstrijdreglement, 1 april 2024, KNHS — the change to the influenza deadline
- RFHE — Reglamento Veterinario 2026 (May 2026 update), arts. 2 and 3
- Swiss Equestrian — Veterinärreglement, Anhang III: Impfungen (as of 1 September 2025)
- British Showjumping — Members Handbook amendments, October 2025 (rule 42.5)
- FFE — Règlement des compétitions, dispositions générales (July 2026 edition, applicable from 1 September 2026): "Protection sanitaire : vaccinations"
- USEF — GR8, Conduct of Licensed Competitions (GR845, effective 1 December 2025)
Each rule as published on the date shown in its source. Federations revise them, often at the turn of a year.
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Next: horse vaccination schedules — which vaccines, and why the competition rules differ by country.