As we head into the holiday season, many of us are gearing up for a winter full of horsey events near and far away.  Whether you are at your home farm traveling to clinics or shows, or spending the winter in warmer pastures to show, here are a couple of myths to clarify:

“We’re safer than ever with all these protocols; no need to worry!” 

While all shows and facilities have implemented COVID-19 prevention protocols, we know from research done in Ontario (Spence et al, 2018) that horses have more “touch points” than we thought at shows.  Mathematical modeling was used to look at how quickly an outbreak of equine influenza would spread through a horse population from a single horse getting sick at a single dressage show.   Interestingly, some of these same modeling experts have been working with the Canadian government to predict COVID-19 trends and outcomes. The researchers found that a single exposure at a small show of only 69 horses would lead to over 700 infections within 10-14 days.  Vaccination, while helpful, didn’t stop the spread entirely.  The biggest measure to help stop the spread of disease was to keep horses who had showed separate from home horses for 14 days; this was 91% effective.  Sounds a lot like applying our COVID-19 logic would also make sense to our horses! 

“We only see horses in our own show circuit and they’re all vaccinated, so we’re ok.” 

Another research paper showed, despite a horse show being for only one discipline, the mixing between horses of different sectors was pretty spectacular within a few days of returning to their home farm (Spence et al, 2017).  Remembering that all the services attached to horses can be cross disciplinary (hay and feed delivery being one nice example), and that we might interact with people and horses from other sectors and not really realize it, the potential for spread is definitely present and impressive. 

So, what is the best bet to ensure we have a safe show season, and maximize the time we have to show?  Many of these tips work for COVID-19 as well as horse disease!

• Designate staff for home horses and show horses.  Have your staff divide into 2 teams and don’t have them working together at the same hours or at a minimum, in the same area of the barn. (This is also a great tip to avoid shutting your whole barn in the event of a COVID exposure).
• Make sure barn staff are washing their hands and sanitizing and changing clothes before entering the home facility if they have been off property.  Keeping a change of clothes at the barn is a great idea for all staff.
• Make sure barn staff are not working at multiple facilities.
• Ask professionals who come to your farm to ensure they have swapped jackets/shirts and sanitized their hands before working with your horses.
• Keep a log of who’s been on your farm, and their phone numbers. It’s become common procedure in many of our daily lives, so shouldn’t be a stretch!
• Grab some free biosecurity training from Equestrian Canada, no membership needed. Access it here.
• Don’t let vaccine lapses happen!  Keep up to date with your vaccines and get reminders for boosters.

References:

Spence, K.L., O’Sullivan, T.L., Poljak, Z., Greer, A.L. March 2018. Estimating the potential for disease spread in horses associated with an equestrian show in Ontario, Canada, using an agent-based model. Preventive Veterinary Medicine. vol. 151; pp. 21-28.

Spence, K.L., O’Sullivan, T.L., Poljak, Z., Greer, A.L. June 2017. Descriptive and network analyses of the equine contact network at an equestrian show in Ontario, Canada and implications for disease spread BMC Veterinary Research. vol. 13, article 191.