{"topic_id":"exotic_health_horse","category":"exotic-pet-health","context":"---\ntopic_id: exotic_health_horse\ncategory: exotic-pet-health\ntitle: \"Horse routine health care — tetanus vaccination, annual dental checks, farrier hoof care every 4-8 weeks, worm control (UK DEFRA code)\"\nlang: en\nsource: \"DEFRA — Code of practice for the welfare of horses, ponies, donkeys and their hybrids (DEFRA, December 2017); Open Government Licence v3.0; verbatim quotation per COPYRIGHT_POLICY §2.\"\nsource_file: pdf-raw/horse-welfare/horses_welfare_code_2018.txt\ndate_parsed: 2026-08-22\ntokens_estimated: 200\nverification:\n  method: substring_match\n  claims: 6\n  passed: 6\n  date: 2026-08-22\nrecovered: false\npath: exotic-pet-health/exotic_health_horse/01_exotic_health_horse.md\nsource_document: \"Code of practice for the welfare of horses, ponies, donkeys and their hybrids (DEFRA, December 2017)\"\ncitation:\n  authority: \"Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs\"\n  title: \"Horse routine health care — tetanus vaccination, annual dental checks, farrier hoof care every 4-8 weeks, worm control (UK DEFRA code)\"\n  url: \"https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/code-of-practice-for-the-welfare-of-horses-ponies-donkeys-and-their-hybrids\"\n  retrieved: \"2026-08-22\"\n  ref: \"Code of practice for the welfare of horses, ponies, donkeys and their hybrids (DEFRA, December 2017)\"\n  doc_type: \"official PDF\"\n  needs_review: false\nlicense: cc_by\ncopyright_note: \"© Crown copyright 2017. This publication is licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0 (nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3); verbatim reproduction permitted with attribution. Attribution: Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs, Code of practice for the welfare of horses, ponies, donkeys and their hybrids (DEFRA, December 2017).\"\nauthority_tier: T1\nauthority_tier_basis: \"T1:uk-gov\"\nauthority_tier_date: 2026-08-22\n---\n\n# Horse routine health care — tetanus vaccination, annual dental checks, farrier hoof care every 4-8 weeks, worm control (UK DEFRA code)\n\nSource: UK Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA), “Code of practice for the welfare of horses, ponies, donkeys and their hybrids” (December 2017), gov.uk. Crown copyright, Open Government Licence v3.0 — verbatim quotation permitted with attribution; C1 substring-verified against `pdf-raw/horse-welfare/horses_welfare_code_2018.txt`.\n\nRoutine preventive health care from the DEFRA welfare code: vaccination (tetanus strongly recommended), dental inspection at least yearly, hoof trimming/re-shoeing typically every 4-8 weeks by a registered farrier, faecal-egg-count-based worm control, and isolation of new arrivals.\n\n## Claims\n\n- `It is strongly recommended that all horses are vaccinated against tetanus as horses are very susceptible to this fatal condition.`\n- `Teeth should be inspected by a vet or British Association of Equine Dental Technicians (BAEDT) equine dental technician at least once a year, and rasped or otherwise treated if necessary.`\n- `Hooves should be trimmed and/or re-shod as advised by the farrier, which should usually be every 4-8 weeks.`\n- `The routine use of wormers without faecal egg counts is strongly discouraged, as this will encourage parasite resistance to these drugs`\n- `When a new horse enters premises, the horse should be isolated before being introduced to the rest of the herd.`\n- `Become familiar with what is normal for your horse such as normal temperature, breathing rate, water consumption and mobility.`\n","sources":["exotic-pet-health — Horse routine health care — tetanus vaccination, annual dental checks, farrier hoof care every 4-8 weeks, worm control (UK DEFRA code) (retrieved 2026-08-22)"],"source":{"authority":"exotic-pet-health","title":"Horse routine health care — tetanus vaccination, annual dental checks, farrier hoof care every 4-8 weeks, worm control (UK DEFRA code)","url":"https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/code-of-practice-for-the-welfare-of-horses-ponies-donkeys-and-their-hybrids","retrieved":"2026-08-22","ref":"","doc_type":"official PDF","source_document":"Code of practice for the welfare of horses, ponies, donkeys and their hybrids (DEFRA, December 2017)","verification_file":"pdf-raw/horse-welfare/horses_welfare_code_2018.txt"},"source_document":"Code of practice for the welfare of horses, ponies, donkeys and their hybrids (DEFRA, December 2017)","source_file":"pdf-raw/horse-welfare/horses_welfare_code_2018.txt","trust":{"authority_tier":"T1","fidelity":"verbatim","license":"cc_by","display_grade":"A"},"tokens_estimated":200,"generated_at":null,"tip":"Use /api/v1/topics to discover more topics. /api/v1/nutrient for precise single-point queries. /api/v1/cross_compare for 2-3 standard comparisons."}