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January 5, 2007

I have been holding off writing my next column, hoping for something cheery to write about. No luck, other than that my mother gave us XM satellite radios for Christmas, which are fantastic! I drive 3 or 4 hours every day to teach my lessons, so having 150 stations and no commercials is great. I generally manage to arrive in good spirits, despite the un-fun situation we US riders find ourselves in this month.

We are dealing with an outbreak of Equine Herpes Virus, Type 1. This is the neurologic form of the virus, and is often fatal. The outbreak was first detected in Palm Beach, Florida, where thousands of horses had already arrived for the dressage shows and for the Winter Equestrian Festival. The area is fantastic – farm after farm, all bordering one another, all connected by 57 miles of bridle trails. There are several show grounds, it is all very upscale, and it is very densely populated. Think equestrian theme park. The caliber of riding and showing is some of the best the country has to offer.

The index case traces back to a shipment of horses that flew in to New York and were quarantined in Newburg, NY. The horses were apparently healthy when they boarded a van bound for Florida, stopping along the way a few times to add more horses and to drop of one or two. Several days after the horses arrived in Palm Beach some began to show symptoms of EHV-1. To make a long story shorter, horses have died, much of Palm Beach has been under quarantine, and the virus has traveled to California race tracks and to Ontario, Canada via a horse from the original group. One horse was also transported five hours north to Ocala, Florida, where most of the eventers go, but it was identified before it was unloaded and it was immediately quarantined.

The up-side to the experience seems to be that the horsepeople involved have done a great job containing the outbreak, and that the spread of disease in Florida was quickly halted. It did not gain a foothold in the huge racehorse populations in Florida, which is a relief. California race tracks, on the other hand, are apparently just beginning their battle with it.

We also have one case here in Connecticut, but it appears to be unrelated to the Florida cases. A horse recovering from arthroscopic surgery in a (high quality) local veterinary clinic ran a fever and tested positive for EHV-1. It was immediately quarantined and the clinic voluntarily closed. The horse has not showed any neurologic symptoms and is doing well. As of today I do not know of any cases related to this one but there were certainly local horses exposed while visiting the clinic as outpatients over the 5 day spell before the horse was quarantined. The vets there believe it was a case of the latent virus becoming active.

The barns in our area have been voluntarily closed since before Christmas, so I know that my own horses have not been exposed, but I suppose there is a slight risk that the virus has been walked in by the farriers or by myself or my dog. Scary.

Rather than publish second-hand details, here are the web links that I have found helpful this month:

www.faep.net

www.thehorse.com

www.fairfieldequine.com

These sites give you the whole story, to the best of my knowledge.

As for my own horses, they are in daily work thanks to the bizarrely warm weather we are having, but they are terrifically bored going around and around our little arena. It’s not quite big enough to jump in, and due to the quarantines we have not been able to ship to our usual indoor and jump rings. Bill plods from the mounting block to the ring and does his requisite flexibility exercises. He is actually learning to canter both directions on the bit and to make smaller and smaller shapes every day. He finds it easy now that he knows what I want, but he must think his new career with me looks very dull. Ping Pong, however, is living up to his name. He has resorted to spooking at everything imaginable to keep himself amused. The sound of the sand hitting the boards is a common excuse, as is the splat of his slobber hitting his front legs. I try very hard not to startle him by speaking or coughing, and we practice extreme counter-flexing every time we pass the water spigot, the corner of the barn, and the rock pile. Very irritating. Oh well, at least he is sound!

Now that the EHV-1 is subsiding in Florida, I feel confident to stick with my plan to drive south at the end of the month. I will certainly stay home rather than risk my horses if the disease flares up again, but for now I am allowing myself to look forward to the trip – great footing, sunshine, and some long, tiring trot sets for Ping Pong!