Questions about Biosecurity

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gem17

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Hi all!

I am looking at setting up a new livery yard offering full and part packages, and today I've been mulling over best practise for introducing new liveries. It's all frying my brain!

So, what is current best practise? Isolating seems like a great idea, until you consider that on full livery one person will be doing multiple horses, and surely even with the best intentions around foot dipping and hand washing, strangles could still be transmitted on clothes? Blood tests/GPW sound expensive, stressful and not always reliable.

This and, when the first liveries arrive it will be difficult for each to have a separate isolation area. I've got plenty of room to put an isolation yard in for one/two horses away from the main yard, but how do you implement these measures when you first open?

Third - Surely horses going out to shows/clinics is always a worry?

Not sure if I'm overthinking everything, or if I'm right to be in a tizzy!
 
I do isolate new arrivals but don't go to the extent of foot dipping, testing etc. They go in a field alone, in sight of other horses but not next to, so no nose touching or physical contact. They are wormed or worm counted on arrival before they go with the others, I generally wait 5 days to see if any sniffles etc appear. We have had this happen (with a new horse of my own, over from Ireland) and while it was a minor thing that cleared up quickly, I was very glad not to have put him in contact with others. I do ask owners of new horses to be sensible with them on the yard and not allow them to go close to others until after this time. Bit different here as they live out.

I have made an exception just once when a horse arrived from a yard I know well and had seen him there (healthy) for a couple of weeks before he came. I collected him for the owner and know that my box hadn't had a horse in at all for months.

I know of a couple of places that insist on a period of isolated 'box rest' on arrival which seems to me rather unfair on a new horse and not a good way to settle them in well. So there is a balance between biosecurity and welfare.

On liveries going out to shows - sadly I don't think you can do a lot about this but make a pragmatic assumption that other horses at shows are unlikely to be ill if out competing.

On your question of when you first open - I didn't have a bunch of liveries arrive on the same day. They came one by one. When we first advertised it was slow at first, and I only had 2 new liveries in a few months. Now we are full with a waiting list and so we only ever have one arrive at once, in my case this has only been when horses have died (two in 18 months) or been sold and replaced by the same owner. Unless you are in an area of very high demand and local people are desperate for a new place, I wouldn't expect to fill all your boxes on day one. I guess if this does happen you can insist on staggered arrivals.
 
Just use common sense- horse coming from another established livery yard, vaccinated, clinically well etc, monitor but integrate into the yard routine.
Horse coming for dodgy background/ on a large transporter from somewhere/ unvaccinated, isolate and take temperatures twice daily for 7 days
 
I think it’s very hard to police and have a lot of respect for yards that have strict measures because I’ve been at nothing but yards where they have zero biosecurity! The worst offender was my last yard which bought unseen horses from Ireland from questionable dealers who were put in the main stable barn with all the others…one ended up having ringworm which spread to a couple of others! Nightmare!

I would definitely suggest something around worming though, I personally worm count and treat as needed but mine have still had worms I assume picking up from those that haven’t been tested or treated…so perhaps suggest all new horses are wormed and not put out with others for 48hrs? Of course you’ll have people refusing based on the risk of over worming but as a livery I wouldn’t mind this!
 
The ideal is a stable with no immediate neighbours but sight of others and a separate turn out paddock. If full livery then gloves and overalls worn when handling/mucking out etc which are removed when doing the other horses. Only admit one horse/owners animals at a time and separate for two weeks. Unless the horses are fresh into the country I wouldn’t put much reliance on blood tests.
 
The last yard I worked on, we would regularly have youngsters brought over from Ireland. Generally they came in pairs and would be isolated together so would have a friend. We would do this for two weeks.

We kept an empty stable between them and the next horse whenever possible and marked feed bowls/water buckets/brushes/headcollars and ropes with tape. They wouldn't share a fence line with any other horses and we would always wash hands between handling them and others.

We never had any health issues with them while I was there, so can't say for certain if it was due to luck or the measures we took!
 
Staff I used to work with on a yard of 50+ horses managed to do biosecurity super well - if you have the space, you have have a trug to keep kit in (gloves, head collar, grooming kit etc etc) and they there was a pile of coats/over trousers, and the odd boiler suit they used for when dealing with new to yard (primarily from Ireland) arrivals. They were wormed off the lorry in the car park before being chucked out into a separate field away from others.

With liveries you may have to place them in alternate boxes, then bunch up once past week/two weeks period. If you’re up to it - brief the owners as a group on yard rules on bio security and stress this is for the benefit of everyone.
 
It’s a controversial opinion but I hate strict isolation periods. I moved down south for work and decided to buy a horse. I found a livery yard, paid to hold the stable. Purchased a horse and got it delivered. Yard Owner hadn’t mentioned anything about strangles test or anything else. Horse arrived and YO announced it would need to be isolated for 2 weeks in a stable out of sight of any other horses and not turned out.
It was the worst 2 weeks. I didn’t know the horse and it got extremely stressed.
YO said I could use the arena though which I thought was a bit contradictory as you had to walk through the main yard to get there.
The horse never settled there and I’m sure he was ulcery after this. I moved him soon after.
 
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After a nightmare with a false negative strangles blood test we now operate a strict 3 week isolation policy for new arrivals. Our isolation area is a stable in a small paddock separate from the yard. All tack and equipment for the horse is kept separately from everyone elses. We have footbaths at the entrance to the isolation area. Owners are not permitted in stables etc on the yard. During isolation we regularly take and record the isolated horse's temperature. One member of staff per day does the isolated horse after the rest of the yard is done am and pm. They wear overalls and disposable gloves when doing anything or full waterproofs which get washed down with a suitable disinfectant like Virkon S after use - these are kept separate from everything else. Any horse going off the yard only travels with horses from here and owners are reminded not to allow their horses to touch others or share any buckets or equipment. It's not perfect but it's the best we can do.
 
EventingMum said:
After a nightmare with a false negative strangles blood test we now operate a strict 3 week isolation policy for new arrivals. Our isolation area is a stable in a small paddock separate from the yard. All tack and equipment for the horse is kept separately from everyone elses. We have footbaths at the entrance to the isolation area. Owners are not permitted in stables etc on the yard. During isolation we regularly take and record the isolated horse's temperature. One member of staff per day does the isolated horse after the rest of the yard is done am and pm. They wear overalls and disposable gloves when doing anything or full waterproofs which get washed down with a suitable disinfectant like Virkon S after use - these are kept separate from everything else. Any horse going off the yard only travels with horses from here and owners are reminded not to allow their horses to touch others or share any buckets or equipment. It's not perfect but it's the best we can do.
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Out of interest, how do you manage competing horses that come back home having being in close contact with others in temporary stabling and the like?
 
At ours they require a negative PCR test for rhino (I am in France), then two weeks in isolation in a stable away from the others, the owners aren't allowed to touch others horses etc. Horse turned out in the arena for a couple of hours each day, arena poo picked after. Temperature check etc two weeks later before they go out with the others. In general they only have new people in spring to autumn when the horses are on 24 hour turnout. Then it is easier to manage as there are stable blocks empty. Stables disinfected before and after. No sharing buckets etc.

In general they ask that if we go to other stables (e.g. we have kids that ride elsewhere etc) we don't use the same clothing, equipment etc and disinfect everything before we come to the yard.

When they go to the French championship at Lamotte in the summer there is a two week isolation afterwards as well.
 
ihatework said:
Out of interest, how do you manage competing horses that come back home having being in close contact with others in temporary stabling and the like?
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Honestly, none of my current liveries compete at the level that requires them to be away overnight so we're ok in that respect. In the past I have encouraged them to take a spray bottle of Virkon S and spray round temporary stables before putting the horse in - we did this with our own competition horses. At one point we had eight horses regularly going off the yard to competitions so isolation would have been impossible. Again it's not perfect but I think it's a case of doing what you can. I do insist on vaccinations and we have started the new strangles vaccination.
 
A friend has just sold a young pony and the new livery yard he was going to insisted on a negative strangles test. Had to be a pouch scope. There was not a lot of change left from £500 💥
 
Jenko109 said:
A friend has just sold a young pony and the new livery yard he was going to insisted on a negative strangles test. Had to be a pouch scope. There was not a lot of change left from £500 💥
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Ouch.
That would possibly stop me going there, I’d have to have zero other decent options.
I’ve strangles blood tested for yards fairly routinely
 
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