reasons for them, they're more likely to comply."
Quick action limited EHV-1 infection to a few sections of Rancho Sierra Vista Equestrian Center and kept it from spreading to neighboring facilities that were home to another 650 horses. Cathy Hanson reports that management "jumped on the situation." Some shared facilities were ruled off limits, wash stalls and equipment were disinfected after each use and hand sanitizers and footbaths were at the ready. Quarantine information was also posted on the center's website.
"The disease itself doesn't last long, and most horses don't get very sick, but with so many horses here we knew it could take months to run its course through the facility," Cathy says. To shorten that time and to stop the spread, the center arranged to test all 350 horses for EHV-1 and use portable stalls to create an isolation area for the horses who tested positive.
In the end 16 horses tested positive, but only the first horse developed neurological signs, and that horse recovered. At the Empire Polo Club, too, which also provided regular updates about the situation on its website, the first case was the only one. Quarantine was lifted at both facilities February 14.
At press time in mid-March, CDFA reported that two horses who attended the same California event had tested positive for the non-neuropathogenic strain of EHV-1.
This article originally appeared in the May 2012 issue of Practical Horseman magazine.