Tired of hearing about ‘the virus’? Me, too. But learning to live with this virus—and others—is important to the health of our horses and our community. And, while social media was effective in quickly spreading useful information, it was just as proficient at spreading misinformation. As with all new technologies, there is a learning curve.

The EHV-1 virus outbreak has made apparent a split between those who think we over-reacted and those who think we didn’t do enough. Regardless of your personal feelings, I suspect most of us have the best interests of the horse in mind—but with different tolerances for risk, as well as different ways of assessing and managing risk.

In this article, we’ll discuss what happened on a regional level, how we were affected, and what we can learn from the experience—including ways to incorporate biosecurity into our barns. We’ll share different perspectives (some of which you may not agree with) —and hope the worst truly is over.

Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water (or show your horse), yet another EHV-1 scare was publicized on June 15th. WSU’s College of Veterinary Medicine issued a press release reporting the ninth positive case of EHV-1 in Washington state. In response, I spoke with WSU’s Charlie Powell. The new horse had been in contact with one of the infected horses from Ogden, UT (secondary exposure). Because it was seen as high-risk (due to his contact with the Utah horse) the horse was immediately isolated. While test results had not yet confirmed it, it is likely that the case will prove to be neurologic.

As of June 16th, WSU still felt that we’re on the waning side of the disease. “To put things in perspective,” Mr. Powell said, “We’ve had nine confirmed cases in Washington; six are horses from one building. All have been related to secondary exposure to a horse at the Ogden, Utah show. While we can’t say there is no risk, we feel there is minimal, if any risk to horses not exposed to one of the Utah cases.”

WSU will not be surprised to see a few additional secondarily-exposed horses over the next few weeks. The hope is that we will not see tertiary exposures (secondarily exposed horses infecting additional horses). In the weeks to come, as we swing into competition mode, the veterinary community will be watching, hoping no new, unexpected cases arise. So far, there is no evidence that this will happen.

Let’s look at how the initial outbreak affected our community, how we responded, and ask what we can do better in the future.

How Did We Do?

Most people felt the state veterinarians did a great job of keeping people informed. The state websites (see below) were updated frequently and provided good information, easily understood by the average person. Having information freely shared was reassuring for many.

Shelley Camp of Oz, Inc said, “The government agencies have been great at reporting. There’s not so much mystery in understanding and identifying the problem. Unfortunately, statistics can be spun incorrectly—and some people like to sensationalize, to the detriment of the community.”

As expected, there was disagreement about how the states should have handled the outbreak. The issue was—and continues to be—emotionally charged. Some felt shows shouldn’t be cancelled; others felt all equine travel should be completely shut down. In the end, horse owners had to make decisions regarding their horses’ safety according to their own tolerance for risk—which made many people uncomfortable.

The data spoke to a relatively low risk of infection for non-exposed horses, which led state veterinary agencies to impose quarantines only on barns and veterinary facilities housing exposed/infected horses. Additional quarantines and show cancellations were strictly voluntary. The official stance was that it would be prudent to cancel events, such as shows, but not required. “I think it was handled terrifically well,” said Dianne Johnson, one of the Northwest’s most well-respected show managers.

On the front lines were the region’s veterinarians, fielding calls and emails from a panicked public. Barbara Crabbe DVM of Pacific Crest Sporthorse said, “In general, I think the biggest problem we’ve had has been more related to the general over-reaction/panic in the community. (The internet did us no good on this one.) The virus is certainly a scarey one, something we should pay close attention to. That said, it was very well-contained within the group of horses that were directly connected to the event in Ogden.” Dr. Crabbe notes that, after carefully assessing the risk, she and her daughter traveled to Thunderbird, in Canada, for their May show.

Corinne Stonier, Oregon Dressage Society’s central office manager, was generally pleased with the dressage community’s response to the crisis. However, “In this situation, I decided that having social networking such as Facebook and Twitter available to us was a blessing and a curse; communicating through social networks helped tremendously, as far as getting information out in an instant; however, I also saw a lot of rumors and speculation posted and tweeted. Our office had to delete several posts and comments from our Facebook page that were not completely factual.”

Luigi Menghelli of Inavale Farm, Philomath, OR said, “Caroline and I were very disappointed in the number of people voicing their uneducated opinion based on rumors, without having any facts behind them. On multiple occasions we talked directly with Dr. Don Hansen, Oregon State Veterinarian, to make our decision to not quarantine our barn or cancel our shows during this particular outbreak.”

Show managers with events scheduled for late May and early June were in a tight spot. With barns closed and tougher travel requirements, several shows and clinics were cancelled. The economic loss was heavy for some. Fees had been paid to rent facilities, airline tickets purchased for judges, plus incremental costs. In some cases, the unavailability of facilities made rescheduling impossible.

The loss of income from clinics and haul-in lessons hit many trainers hard. Some were able to regroup and travel to barns, instead of allowing clients to haul-in. Some barns, such as Oz, Inc. allowed a limited number of haul ins. “I had two haul-ins I allowed,” Shelley Campf said. “I knew their history, so they were no threat. But we limited their access and they had no direct contact with other horses in the barn.”

Cancelled shows and limited lessons also affected competitors, many of whom had pre-registered for shows months in advance. The loss of training was a set-back for some, who counted on lessons and clinics to put the final polish on their competitive performances.

Losing an early-season show would cost their horses show ring experience, as well as the opportunity to earn year-end points. Trainer Jessica Wisdom said the cancelled shows were, “A huge deal when you’re trying to qualify a young horse. The season is so narrow, there’s such a small number of USEF qualifiers.” Instead of earning points at a show just down the road, she would be trekking several hundred miles for one class with one horse. Regardless, she didn’t feel it was right to put her own horses, or horses in her care at risk.

Welcome, Biosecurity

In short order, the term ‘biosecurity’ had new meaning for horse barns and the people who frequent them. The internet provided barn owners with information to pass on to their clients and staff. “It was an opportunity to educate the kids,” Shelley Campf said, “Limited tack sharing!”

Devonwood Equestrian Centre cancelled all haul-in lessons and no horses left the property without returning to their isolation barn for 14 days, with temperatures being taken daily. Biosecurity included a foot bath, hand washing station, and hand sanitizer at the entrance to the isolation stalls. ‘All our staff used this precautionary station for feeding and stall cleaning,” owner Ginny Rattner said, “We asked anyone going into this area to take the same precautions (including vets, farrier, and horse owners). It was safer to err on the safe side.”

Farrier Phil Smith obliged clients who asked him to take extra precautions but felt the risk of transferring infection was minimal. “I’m not working with cutting horses or horses who have been exposed to cutting horses. If I was, I’d feel differently.”

The Quarantine Decision

Were the quarantines necessary? For unexposed horses, the quarantines seemed a conservative measure, but many barns willingly self-imposed quarantines. Jason Kelly, Public Information Officer for Washington State Veterinarian Dr. Leonard Eldridge said, “The State Veterinarian has been very pleased with the voluntary compliance and vigilance of the veterinary community. Without this, we could have seen a very different outcome.”

Barbara Hort, owner of Farmhill Farm, noted that ‘The easiest form of biosecurity is, of course, quarantine—which is why Farmhill was in quarantine 12 hours after AAEP* issued their first alert. Some people would probably find this response extreme. I hope that the outcome of this outbreak proves people right.”

Many people felt that no amount of risk was appropriate. As Rachel Kosmal McCart of Equine Legal Solutions put it, “Sure, the risk might be low, but the consequences are very high.”

Kathy Hall, President of the Oregon Hunter Jumper Association and owner of High Valley Farm felt, “Risk isn’t limited to the competitors. It can go far beyond a single owner if the horse is boarded with horses owned by other people. The barn owner should restrict access to and from their barns to protect his/her boarders. It’s the responsible thing to do.”

Anna Collier’s Vossenberg Farm is set up with separate barns, to avoid co-mingling between horses that show and those that stay home, to minimize risk on a daily basis. She imposed a modified quarantine in her barn, in response to EHV-1. “Anytime something is on the news, it is a knee-jerk reaction to overreact. After reviewing the numbers and cases, I allowed horses in which hadn’t been moved for 10 days for haul-in lessons that could not have been anywhere near a potential exposure. No one was allowed up to the barns.”

Luigi Menghelli, owner of Inavale Farm, stated “This is not the first time this disease has been around, so our reaction was to get the facts. After talking with Dr. Don Hansen (Oregon State Veterinarian) and understanding that all of the primary and secondary horses in Oregon were already quarantined for this outbreak after a couple of days from the first announcement, we chose to remain cautious—but it was not necessary to quarantine our barn or facility. Certainly precautions were taken to interview people coming and going, to identify potential risks, and continuous monitoring of the situation to assess if it was necessary to change our decision.”

*American Association of Equine Practitioners.

Liability

A secondary issue was that of liability. As equine law specialist Kathryn A. Hall put it, “Oregon horse owners need to understand that Oregon law doesn’t recognize implied assumption of risk. Only express assumption of risk is recognized.” Like many horse owners, Hall felt that, “The barn owner should restrict access to and from their barns to protect his/her boarders. It’s the responsible thing to do. ” Show managers were under just as much pressure to protect horses—making the decision to hold or cancel a show painful.

As Rebecca Chatfield, president of Equestrians’ Institute put it, “Imagine the negative consequences to any horse-show management team, snowballing from just one confirmed viral incident emerging from a show. It would truly spook people and make them think twice about attending any future show run by that team, and create the perception of sloppy management and poor health standards.”

Lucy Franklin of Franklin Shows, a veteran show organizer, made a last-minute call to cancel the Rose City Opener, scheduled to be held at DevonWood Equestrian Centre on May 26^th through 29^th. Consensus from the Oregon State University Veterinary School, Oregon State Veterinarian Dr. Don Hansen, and several local vets initially indicated that the show could go on as scheduled “with a big dose of common sense.”

Lucy said, “It was not until a few days before the show that the information out there was getting clouded and people were getting very apprehensive. We decided to move the indoor classes to the outside arenas and to stable horses at least one stall apart and, where possible, one row apart. This provided a lesser risk. However, partially based on the situation which developed and partially on people’s perception, we later agreed that it was in the best interest of everyone to cancel the show.”

Equestrians’ Institute did end up cancelling one of their big recognized dressage shows, during the height of the concern. “But as the outbreak news became less worrisome we returned to business as usual,” Rebecca Chatfield stated. “ We did, however, investigate new measures of biosecurity for show competitors to follow and implemented a few simple procedures to catch early evidence of any viral problems at our shows.”

On June 3rd, before the quarantines were lifted, Stephanie Alvstad, Executive Director of J Bar J Youth Services was making decisions regarding the Oregon High Desert Classic Shows, which are held in late July. She and show manager Dianne Johnson decided to proceed as planned. “At this time,” she said, “the states have done a great job at quarantining the cutting horses with the EHV-1 and it is not in the hunter jumper horse industry to our knowledge.

To manage horse shows in light of the virus, “The biggest threat is stalls,” Stephanie said. “I called our stall contractors and they have not rented to any cutting horse shows. We will keep a watch on EHV-1, but at this time, it looks very well contained.”

Gaye McCabe, one of Oregon Dressage Society’s top show managers, took extra precautions before making the decision to go ahead with their June 5th show. “We took the precaution at the show grounds to group horses who board together in groups, and not with stalls next to other horses. I also checked with the fair and they had not had any horse shows for about three weeks. Those shows were local 4-H and OHSET shows, so we knew that the stalls would not have horses from out of the area.”

Indeed competitors will likely see new biosecurity measures in place at many shows and would be smart to follow those measures at home and on the road.

Dividing Lines

For some, the quarantine/no quarantine decision became a dividing issue. Clearly, choosing to quarantine was the safer choice but may have been unneccessary—only hindsight will tell us. Given the data, choosing to carry on using biosecurity techniques and ‘reasonable common sense’ was a sensible choice for others.

Some felt that economic factors played a large role in how much risk an individual, be they a barn owner, competitor or individual horse owner, was willing to take. Economics are a factor in any business, but few people who are involved with horses see them soley as a business asset.

Our equestrian sports all involve risk—choosing to get on a horse’s back; put him in a trailer; take him on a trail; over fences; or to a show. Presumably we make these decisions based on the best available information with the best interests of the horse in mind. Differences in how we assess and manage risk are difficult, particularly when lives are involved. To avoid risk completely means to never own a horse—and, to do so, would make life less meaningful for most of us.

I think our community weathered this storm rather well. There were differences in opinion, moments of panic, and both use and abuse of social media. But the process helped us identify some solid sources of information and (hopefully) taught us about sources to question. We have a heightened awareness of biosecurity and ways to incorporate it into our daily horsemanagement—in hopes of weathering future outbreaks even more effectively.

Great Sources of Information

Here are some of our favorite sites for reliable information about EHV-1 and other horse-related health issues:

Washington State’s Department of Agriculture, with updates from Washington State Veterinarian Dr. Leonard Eldridge:
www.agr.wa.gov

Oregon State’s Veterinary Medical Association, with updates from Oregon State Veterinarian Dr. Don Hansen:
www.oregonvma.org

American Association of Equine Practitioners:
www.aaep.org

United States Department of Agriculture:
www.aphis.usda.gov

Oregon State University College of Veterinary Medicine:
http://oregonstate.edu/vetmed/alert/equine-herpes

Washington State University College of Veterinary Medicine:
www.wsunews.wsu.edu/

UC Davis Center for Equine Health:
www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/ceh