What do you NORMALLY do to stop the spread of disease

[targetsmom]

This is only somewhat related to the recent EHV outbreak. As some of you may remember, we picked up something at a horse show last August that went through our herd and we didn't have everyone healthy again until Christmas. It seems it was Rhino (the respiratory kind) which prevented us from any more shows (so didn't qualify for year end awards) and we weren't able to take anyone to the MA Equine Affaire where we had reserved a stall in hopes of selling a foal. Then last month, a mare lost her foal at 299 days, almost certainly due to Rhino. So there were a lot of repercussions from this "common" form of Rhino.

And if you don't think this can happen to you because you don't show, or don't take your minis off the farm - guess again. I have had a horse get sick from something picked up from a horse show he never attended and neither did any of the horses in his barn. It was very contagious and must have been carried by a person going back and forth to the barn where the exposed horses lived. Just like your vet or farrier might carry something.

Here are some of the things we are doing to prevent this from happening again, many of which we were already doing. Please add anything you can think of!! For example, do you routinely clean/soak horse's feet when they return from off the property?

1. We are very careful to change clothes - especially boots - when we visit other farms or shows, and ask anyone who visits or works here to do the same. We also try to have vet and farrier visits (and our help) come here FIRST, before they go to other farms or boarding barns. On the other hand, when our horses were sick, we arranged to have our farrier come here as his very last stop before his fall vacation.

2. We kept ALL our horses home when ANY OF THEM were sick to avoid spreading this to anyone else.

3. This year we are only showing ONE mini - one of two that went to the show last August and the only one who never got sick. We will not stay overnight anywhere but only show off the trailer (which we did all last year too) and keep our distance from everyone. We figure Princess has been shown so much she has pretty good immunity, but still..

4. We are vaccinating for Rhino/flu every 2-3 months. Princess and the yearlings will get the vaccine that often, the rest at 6 month intervals unless anyone shows any signs of illness. Any bred mares will get Pneumabort shots at 3, 5, 7, and 9 months.

5. We are physically separating the bred mares from the rest of the herd to the best of our ability, but with such a small facility we can't really prevent all contact. Of course that won't help keep anything OFF the farm, just help keep the unborn foals alive.

I probably forgot something obvious, but then I am looking for input anyway!!! And I am sure that there will be variation in what people think is being paranoid versus being irresponsible.... Let's keep it polite and understand that not everyone will agree with every detail.

 

[hobbyhorse23]

I've been very lucky- despite showing hard since I was a child and usually allowing my horses to socialize with other animals at the shows, I've never had one come down sick. (Knock on wood!

) Allergic reactions, injuries, infections, toxic plants, yes. But nothing communicable. I do their regular vaccinations in the spring and if I ever went to Nationals I might very well get another round of whatever the vet recommended as that would be six months past their last shots, but that's about it. Most of our regular shows are held within three months of their spring vaccinations so normally I don't worry about things wearing off.

I do my best to treat my animals the same way I'd ideally treat myself- they get a healthy diet with a few unhealthy goodies thrown in, lots of rest, a positive living environment, and I do my best to cater to their every whim to reduce stress when we're at shows. I'm of the firm opinion that listening to your body (rather than pushing through the fatigue at the beginning of a cold, for instance) and maintaining a wholesome emotional environment will help keep the immune system functioning well. And of course we stay far away from anyone who shows signs of being sick!

I don't often handle other people's horses at shows and when I do I'll use hand sanitizer or wash up before going back to my own. My horses get hauled by me, handled by me, fed and watered out of their own buckets from home, and if something doesn't seem right I let the horse tell me if he's ready to compete. It's worked well for us for the last twenty+ years.

I think a lot of it is keeping them as naturally as possible. Ours all have big pastures with hills and trees, social time with other horses, good air flow in the barn and get out often enough to have some exposure to the bugs that are out there. I know mine start looking run-down the more they are kept in an unnatural environment, just as I start feeling sick and catching colds the more I'm stuck in an office building. It helps to get back in touch with Mother Earth!

Leia

 

[Minimor]

We don't do anything special--simple precautions like different footwear/clothing if we visit another farm. The way our place is set up it's not really possible to have a quarantine area for new horses, so we do not bother trying to keep new ones separate & never have. We don't vaccinate for flu/rhino/strangles and never have; the bred mares do get their Pneumabort-K vaccines, as that is a cheap and effective way to prevent rhino abortions.

We have never picked up any bug at any of the shows we've gone to. The one year back when I was in 4-H I went to a lesson night the one time & found that most of the other horses were coughing. I took part in the lesson but stayed well away from everyone else when we were standing around--my horse stayed healthy, and so did the others at home.

When we show we do use the stabling; I think only once did we show from the trailer and that wasn't because of any concern about illness. We do not bother spraying our stalls with disinfectant before moving the horses in--if you're showing at a fairgrounds that has old wooden barns, there's just no way that you're ever going to get the wood disinfected thoroughly and I figure it's a wasted effort to even try.

We did bring home strangles one time after visiting another farm. The owners didn't say anything about having sick horses & when we were there the horses weren't terribly sick--they just looked dejected and had mattery eyes. We changed clothes, washed up, scrubbed our boots, but obviously missed a germ somewhere because 3 days later the first of our horses was sick. It spread around the place, one horse at a time. The first ones were the most sick, the later ones had nothing more than fever and a few days of depression. That was 1991; had it again in 2003, and have no idea where it came from that time--no horses in or out, no visitors, and we had visited no one. Several years ago we bought some Minis from a farm that had a respiratory infection. We knew, and brought 2 colts home anyway. No problem there, and then a month later we brought home 2 more from the same place. Those two came down sick after arrival and spread it around to the others--not a big deal, as it was late fall and we had nowhere we wanted to go with horses--it ran its course & that was the end of that. There's really nothing wrong with some natural immunity--I honestly think it works better than vaccinations do.

We don't worry much about vet visits. The exception would be if I know there's something specific around at some of the barns, then I might ask if he could come here first, or at least not come if he's just been to one of those barns. I wouldn't want him here if he's just been to a barn that has strangles or neurological rhino--I don't need any new bug brought in if I can help it but don't put much time into worrying about it happening. I have no problem telling visitors to stay away if I think they might be contagious--one time a friend stopped in to see a young foal. She'd just been at another barn, where there were horses clinically ill with strangles at the time. I told her that I couldn't allow her to go near the horses--I was not going to have such a young foal exposed to strangles. She understood that & said she'd come back another time.

 

[Eagle]

After buying a mare that was Rhino positive and her passing it to my stallion and him passing it on to the rest of the girls

I know have a quarantine stall at my house (it was the stall and small pen that Britt was in on Marestare) Any new horses that I buy stay there until all the blood test come back o.k.

All my fences are double (about 3 meters wide) so anyone out riding can't get up close to my minis.

One thing I totally forgot about was the dog

She comes everywhere with me and her favourite hobby is kissing horses. When she started to get patches on her side I didn't think to leave her at home. She had picked up Fungus at the park probably, anyway she passed it on to a few of my minis.

By reneejewer at 2011-05-30

 

[sedeh]

Love that dog!!

Nope...not me mom!! If that isn't the most innocent looking face you could imagine!!

Vaccinations are a biggie for me! Now I also use a 10% bleach solution and spray the stalls. I try and keep the show horses away from the main herd...especially the preggo mares. I always isolate new arrivals for 2 weeks prior to allowing them in the herd.