Herpes type 4

[MiaBella]

my sister has just bought a young Irish gelding to share with her teenage son - the idea being that she can do some dressage (RC) and he would do pony club eventing on it and hunt through the winter.
He came from a dealer with a reasonable reputation. Horse has a 'warranty' period. So far he is proving to be what they wanted except that about two days after getting him home he wasn't right. Vet came and ran bloods. Horse is diagnosed with herpes type 4.
Has anyone any experience of this? Dealer will take the horse back, but my sister is dithering because he is otherwise the ideal horse (except that they haven't had much of a trial as he has been ill and now in quarantine) and there is the risk that another from same dealer will also have issues.

 

[Exploding Chestnuts]

Ask your vet for advice: you can ask dealer to refund and remove or ask for extended warranty. Presumably a replacement can be quarantined at the dealers and a blood test taken. Any new contract should be in writing, and take in to account your expenses.
It sounds risky to accept a horse with a health issue.

 

[Moomin1]

If it is the actual case then your horse has a high possibility of being a carrier for life. Personally, I would be wanting a refund from the dealer, and I would go elsewhere. If you can't get a full refund I would expect a partial one and to keep hold of the horse.

 

[Birker2020]

To be honest a third of the horse population are carriers and horses can shed the virus when they get stressed. This can be reduced by vacinnation but needs to be repeated on a regular basis as there is no immunity for life. EHV 4 is the respiratory type of Equine Herpes Virus, EHV1 can cause abortion and respiratory disease and its my understanding that EHV2 can cause ataxia.