Sensitive Public Situation..... How would you handle????

[WIChookchick]

There are travel restrictions within some states, needing certain papers and all of that. AND horses that go to/and come back from a show are often quarantined for2 weeks just to be sure.

We may not be riding off the farm much this year. And when we do we will NOT be in contact with other horses OR riders.
Although our local saddle club had their BIG show this weekend.
Only local members can come, and it is one of the big show's in the area.
I think that educating yourself, your club members and explain WHY you want to do things, with good documentation is the key.

Good luck and let us know how it goes.

Carol

P.S.
Here in the Midwest and other places you are required to have a negative Coggins test, with accompanying paperwork. There hasn't been a case in over 30 yrs in our state.. but they do pop up elsewhere now and again.
on the West Coast, it was rarely heard of, and not required ( I don't know if that is the case now).
But immunizing your horse, and practicing safe bio security is a good idea.

 

[chickened]

I read that it can be transferred to burros, donkeys, mules, and camelids (llamas, alpacas and camels etc.) is that true?

 

[pdsavage]

Im sorry if your going to ask her not to bring horses to your show then anyone who had horses at her show should not come as well.
If your that worried about her horses infecting everyone then im guessing your scared she might have allready infected others at her show.
So also contact everyone who has been to her shows and tell em not to come,that is the fair and safe thing to do.

 

[ChooksinChoppers]

Quote:
I agree!

 

[perolane]

Quote:
I agree!

Agreed here also.

This is going to be a mess for you! At this point I would send out letters to ALL members warning of this outbreak with advisory vet info. Request that anyone who has purchased a horse within the last XXXX amount of days...especially those purchased from brokers, traders, or sale barns.....or have been exposed to any such horses... not attend shows. Be specific & not single anyone out.

Of course everyone will be on the honor system....and those who choose not to attend & risk exposing their horses will be hopefully safe. Those who do attend, will have been warned & are willing to take their chances. I would calculate points & disperse trophies now.

Best of luck to you & hope this turns out well!

 

[dutchhollow]

I think the fair way to handle it would be to send a mass email to all of your members and anyone that has entered you shows before stating that no horses that have come from west in the last 6 months, horses that have been around any new horses, or horses that have been on property that house such horses will be allowed to attend. Of course this means that anyone that was at any of her shows won't be coming.
Sounds like you are going off of word of mouth as to where she has gotten horses in the past, without any first hand knowledge of where this new horse came from. Also sounds like a little sour grapes because she has not supported your shows this year and had a few of her own, by covering everyone with new horses you are going to save yourself from people bringing that up. Try to avoid singling out the one person, you will save yourself some trouble with everyone.

 

[babylady4]

Quote:
Exactly.

 

[welsummerchicks]

I think that you should talk to an equine veterinarian who is familiar with this illness before making a decision.

I am not 100% sure the person you're talking about should be uninvited from your show. You need to talk to a vet.

I will answer based on what I learned at a recent EVH-1 seminar just to get people in motion, but you should discuss your prevention and quarantine methods with your veterinarian.

I am not sure that unless the horses she has came into direct contact with the horses that were sick, they need to be kept away from your local horses. You need to talk to a vet.

It is not really clear WHY the Neurological form develops. But it is from the SAME VIRUS (earlier reports to the contrary are wrong). One amino acid may be altered in the virus when it goes to the neuro form, but overall it's not yet clear why the neuro form occurs or why when it does, why it makes a beeline to nerve cells. But once they understand that, they can develop a vaccine.

If her presence would cause a lot of anxiety and complaints in the membership, that is one thing, that's basically, well, an organizational matter. I'd suggest that taking a poll among your members would help you get a feel for how the GROUP is going to react. In general, horse people don't know much about EVH-1 or its Neuro form, except that they are scared of it. I think the decision will HAVE TO BE what the membership is comfortable with. How your organization wants to handle it, what your members demand, may have very little to do with the actual nature of this disease or whatprecautions really SHOULD be made.

But risking tearing apart a fledgling organization by doing something that scares people half to death is probably unwise, whether their fears come out of knowledge of the disease or not.

The nature of the illness and the precautions recommended by vets, though, that is something else.

Someone said there is no test or vaccine for this illness. Some urged extreme caution and others urged not worrying about it.

Horses CAN be tested for virus activity, actually, it's just that this is not usually done unless symptoms develop.

And there IS treatment for the neurological form. IF anti-inflammatory medication is started early enough, it really does help reduce the neurological form.

At the seminar, they said the neurological form does not attack neurological tissues directly, it creates little mini-infarcts disrupting the circulation to the cells - that is why anti inflammatories are so critical in the treatment.

And vets ARE saying, that while there is no guarantee, it DOES appear that the vaccine for EVH-1 CAN lessen the seriousness of the Neurological form. It appears to lessen the 'viremia' of the neurological form. This was stated in the seminar I attended given by Joe Bertone.

If the vaccine has even a slight chance of reducing the severity of the neuro form it is very well worth it, and it appears to be more than a slight chance.

AGAIN...no guarantees that the EVH-1 vaccine will ALWAYS, ENTIRELY prevent the neuro form of EVH-1, but from what I know about viruses this does in fact, make sense that the vaccine could lessen the viremia of the virus. Viremia is the virus activating. The more activation, the more severe the disease.

BUT....virtually ALL horses carry this virus in their tissues. Yup. That is what he said.

In other words the question is not whether horses are carriers or not. Virtually all are.

Virtually all horses have had the respiratory form and will always carry the virus in their tissues. The question is how to keep it from activating. Stress appears to be a key - but that word 'stress', that means different things to different people. I think though, that longer transports are an example of the kind of stress he means. These trips stress the respiratory system.

Bertone also stressed that once a horse has gotten EVH-1 (even the neuro form), once he is recovered, he is no more or less infecttious than any other horse. In other words, the usual ideas about spreading viral disease don't quite work with EVH-1.

Neither panic nor a casual reaction really is best. Bertone's point was that we have to COMPLETELY CHANGE our thinking about infectious diseases and our horses.

WHY?

He said we need to isolate new horses that come into our barn for 3 weeks...YUP - not just during these outbreaks but always. Always(but check it out, most stables have no place or method to isolate horses).

And that means the horses don't graze on the same ground, people change clothes and boots (one method is to have a different set of boots and coveralls for handling the new horse).

AND that at shows, we should wash our hands BEFORE AND AFTER HANDLING EVERY HORSE. NOTHING FANCY IS NEEDED - SOAP AND WATER WILL DO(those hand sanitizers are probably more convenient).

AND....if we put a horse in a show stall, it has been several days since the last horse was in it and all the bedding used by the old horse, to scraping the floor, has been removed(there were several comments from the audience that the shows they attend just don't remove bedding or time when stalls were used). There is no chemical or solution you can wash down a show stall with that will get into all the crevices and corners, time best kills the virus.

The EVH-1 virus, once it gets outside its host, is very, very fragile. It dies quickly. It does not persist in soil like some other infectious agents. BUT horses CAN pass it to each other and people an pass it from horse to horse.

HE was very definite about that - that PEOPLE can and do, spread this disease from horse to horse, so likely all those people that visit the show barn and go down the line petting horse after horse, are spreading diseases, if not EVH-1, then some other diseases. People are starting to put hand sanitizer up by each stall, and 'do not pet' signs. But I think some horse people will never change thei habits on this particular front!

 

[lockedhearts]

Quote:
Yes, she has a right to attend, however the by-laws of this club, and they were in place before I was elected President, state "The Officers of the club have the right to ask any person (member or non-member) that may put other participants at risk of any kind, to not attend the shows"

I have another issue where a member has a horse that frankly is "nuts" he has learned that he can either pull away when being led by kids or just take off when a kid is on his back. Last show he dumped the inexperienced rider and ran blind, with 15 other horses in the arena. Luckily no one was injured! I have had to ban this horse from the shows.

 

[andalusn]

If your not worried enough about the potential for anyone to bring a horse that could infect horses on the grounds and do not cancel then she should be allowed like anybody else that pays their premiums. If your not making a vet check mandatory how can you treat all equally? I would hope the this person you want to bar from the show does not have deep pockets because I don't think the group as you describe it can support a lawsuit. Simply not liking where her horses come from does not mean they have been exposed or are carriers of the disease.