Strangles Campaign

do you think strangles should be reportable?

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stop-strangles

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Hi I have just started a campaign to get Strangles made reportable disease to DEFRA after being caught in a nasty out break at which the yard owners failed to manage the situation even going as far as attending shows knowing that her horse was stabled beside a known case. After going to ALL the authorities found that although they were sympathetic there was nothing that could be done it was suggested to me that I should write to my local MP and start a campaign.

I am therefore asking for all your help please email me at stopstrangles@hotmail.co.uk and I will email a preformed letter for you to send to your local MP asking for them to back this campaign

Thank you for reading this if enough of us get to together we can start to control this nasty killer in horses and get a code of practice to be followed by ALL yard owners/managers so containing strangles and stop Irresponsible people hiding it from everyone

David
 
Well , as the one no vote so far. Once you get defra involved expect it to cost us all a fortune. Also ,since it seems that no two vets can agree how to deal with it ,expect chaos .It is far too common ,in all the various strains of it, to make it notifiable and start compulsory quaranteening.The comicly dodgy bloodtest results would prettywell ensure that no horse ever left its stable in future.The statistics of how serious it is are completely skewed by the fact that most horses just shrug it off and dont get sick.You only normally see the seriously sick ones.A definate NO on this one.
 
I would really like to thank you for posting this, It must be made a notifiable condition to stop irresponsible people in the horse world from taking no precautions to stop the spread of strangles which is extremely painful and can be deadly.
My horse is presently being treated for strangles and he has really suffered due to a selfish livery yard owner allowing us onto the yard knowing strangles was present.
Anything that will prevent other horses suffering will be a positive and much needed action.
 
Thankyou Kas i totally agree with what you said as we also had a bad experience, with a inconsisderate selfish jumped up little yard owner, the more people that back this the less stuffering for the horse that are put at risk by these type of people .
 
Hi thanks for your vote although i dont agree its nice to have the chance to see other peoples opionin,the vets that were called out to our yard there were 3 different ones all confirmed strangles in the horses, all at differnt stages, no blood was taken as things are now done through use of nasal swabs,i no if defra get involved it means yard closures and other precautions are put in place, which may result in a loss of money for the yard owner, but surely this is better than the death or stuffering of any horses .
 
I also voted No.

I'm happy to support a campaign to give more education to horse owners about strangles and how it spreads, and I'd support the BHS and the competition organisations take action against their members who travel a horse that may be spreading the disease.

But I absolutely agree that to get DEFRA involved would be a bad thing for the equine world. Expensive, Beauracratic, and Rigid. I personally want to remain in an equestrian world that is not subject to the same form-filling that is crippling the dairy, beef and pig farming industries.
 
thank you for your views it is not my intention to get us all crippled with paperwork just some regulations that will stop uncaring yard/horse owners from ignoring whats happening on there own yards and to give a governing body the teeth to do something about it when it is brought to their attention this course would also provided some statistical data as well as this is sadly lacking in this country
 
Another 'No' here. Strangles on the forest is endemic and with a semi-feral herd there is little that can be done to stop it being endemic. It can be a nuisance and yes a few ponies do become very poorly but as MIke007 mentioned most don't even notice it. Because there is no stigma attached to a strangles outbrake in the forest, any yard that does get it normally publicises it well and the local vets tend to inform us if there are confirmed cases on the forest locally.
 
Hi thanks for taking the time to air your veiws i totally understand were you are coming from, but our experience with this diease was quite nasty mainly due to the fact that the yard owner did not take precautions to stop the spread she even denied it was present at all although we have to vet reports to say so, it was on the yard when we moved in and was not told, the vet had recommended closure of the yard, but they ignored his advice, and banned him from their yard ,thous leading us to try to get some sort of body in place to stop people like her doing it again, causing stuffering to the owner and horse, i just wish they were all like your area once again thanks
 
sorry a no from me, because you will only be penilising the honest, the dishonest will still be dishonest. the cost to treat my mare was £800 in vets fees before you take into account, the extra bedding, disinfectant, cleaning stuff etc. if defra got involved the cost would be considerable higher
 
We voted yes. Our yard "developed" strangles a week after we moved on. (We where told that it was already in the barn opposite us after we moved in)
Unfortuintly my mare contracted stranlges within the week. Even after we had had her clinically diagnosed, my yard owner completly refussed to accept that strangles was pressent. She still took her horse competing and carried on as normal. While my mare was sick the yard owner sold a pony and brought in two others - who then became ill but she refuses to treat her horses, she also allowed a new livery on the yard, he was put in a contaminated stable and wasn't told.
When these became ill she decided instead of quarenting our barn all 8 horses she would simply kick out the 5 sick horses into a field on a public footpath non the less.
The some of the concaminated bedding was dumped in a field and left where non-sick horses where, the rest was just left in the barn. Our yard owner then decided that she would move her heavily preg mare into one of the now empty stables (and risk sperading it further).

After we complained that nothing was being do to help prevent the spread of desease she forciably evicted all horse that were sick. She gave us only 4 days to find somewhere else. Obviously we couldn't move onto a livery yard as we hadn't had clear swabs from our horses. We were forced to rent just a field at the bottom of someones garden (thank god there are people still kind enough and understaning out there). Otheres have been forced into the same possition we are in. The poor horse that moved on to the yard while the strangles was presant has suffered complications and is a really unwell boy, he now lives in a tempory box tring to get better.

Even without DEFRA strangles is a terrible illness and is financially very expensive - i would say that by the time we move onto a new livery yard we would easily have spent £1000 on our two horses, so if this can be stopped and people such as my previous yard owner can be brought to be accountable the yes get DEFRA involved.
 
Mike007 said:
Well , as the one no vote so far. Once you get defra involved expect it to cost us all a fortune. Also ,since it seems that no two vets can agree how to deal with it ,expect chaos .It is far too common ,in all the various strains of it, to make it notifiable and start compulsory quaranteening.The comicly dodgy bloodtest results would prettywell ensure that no horse ever left its stable in future.The statistics of how serious it is are completely skewed by the fact that most horses just shrug it off and dont get sick.You only normally see the seriously sick ones.A definate NO on this one.
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An interesting, and probably correct response. If the technical advice could be relied upon, then we could perhaps, reach an informed decision. It isn't, and so we can't.

Why is it, that our serious researchers, are still bogged down, and seem unable to give us clear answers?

Alec.
 
I voted no, for most of the reasons already quoted. Its endemic in feral ponies in this area, & has many variations.
It does annoy when I read of such irresponsible attitudes as quoted on this thread though. I had a youngster present with strangles like symptoms, who at the time was turned out with a 3yrs old who showed no signs of illness at all. It was in the middle of the county showing season, & I was amazed at how many people suggested that we took the 3yrs old out anyway as there was nothing wrong with him. People who should have known better, & appreciated that we didn't take him out.
 
stop-strangles said:
Thankyou Kas i totally agree with what you said as we also had a bad experience, with a inconsisderate selfish jumped up little yard owner, the more people that back this the less stuffering for the horse that are put at risk by these type of people .
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I had my yard on lock down for two months because of an "inconsiderate selfish jumped up little horse owner," that bought her horse to the yard knowing that it had strangles and not telling me, and I ask everyone if anything at their previous yard has had any sickness etc. Despite isolation, despite my explaining, personally, why new horses should not be touched, it still spread (I do wish people would learn that "NO Contact. Isolation" means just that, but oh no, people pat the horse then go and cuddle their own. What do they expect when it spreads?:mad::mad:

It so annoys me to hear of YO's lambasted all the time, we aren't all bad! Swings and roundabouts folk, swings and roundabouts.
 
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I voted "no". Strangles, for the most part, is mainly an inconvenience. It's still rare that complications come with it and in general horses shrug it off without any long term damage. The benefit, if you like to call it that, is that at least 75% of horses contacting strangles will become immune to it and that immunity is often lifelong.

If strangles became a notifiable disease then like the other notifiable diseases, the protocol which would be initiated would financially cost owners significantly more. All the paperwork which would need to be done, all the vet costs at the deemed intervals would have to be completed and then the checks to make sure shutdowns are in order. Who do you think would pay for all of this?

Ignorance is what causes many outbreaks. Education is what will reduce outbreaks. Not legislation.
 
Spring Feather said:
I voted "no". Strangles, for the most part, is mainly an inconvenience. It's still rare that complications come with it and in general horses shrug it off without any long term damage. The benefit, if you like to call it that, is that at least 75% of horses contacting strangles will become immune to it and that immunity is often lifelong.

If strangles became a notifiable disease then like the other notifiable diseases, the protocol which would be initiated would financially cost owners significantly more. All the paperwork which would need to be done, all the vet costs at the deemed intervals would have to be completed and then the checks to make sure shutdowns are in order. Who do you think would pay for all of this?

Ignorance is what causes many outbreaks. Education is what will reduce outbreaks. Not legislation.
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I'm sorry but I can't believe you have ever nursed a horse with Strangles if you think it is merely an inconvenience.

My horse was very very ill, couldn't breathe properly due to the abcesses (before they burst) obstructing his airway, couldn't eat or drink, collapsed several times, colicked due to the lack of water.
Once the abcesses had burst he had huge holes you could get your fist in, dripping puss, although at least he could eat and breathe.
After months of care at least he made a full recovery.

Another horse at my yard had colic for the above reasons, he didn't pull though and died.

Another got b*s*td strangles and had a huge abcess in his abdomen but by a miracle has survived (very unusual) although regularly has colic episodes still.

Another has permanent damage to the nerve at the back of his throat which means he has a nasty (permanent) cough and will never return to ridden work.

That is out of 20ish that got it.

Not to be underestimated. Horrible.
 
JackyandRosie said:
I also voted No.

I'm happy to support a campaign to give more education to horse owners about strangles and how it spreads, and I'd support the BHS and the competition organisations take action against their members who travel a horse that may be spreading the disease.

But I absolutely agree that to get DEFRA involved would be a bad thing for the equine world. Expensive, Beauracratic, and Rigid. I personally want to remain in an equestrian world that is not subject to the same form-filling that is crippling the dairy, beef and pig farming industries.
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^^^^^agree with the above and MIKE07 a NO from me.
 
foxy1 said:
I'm sorry but I can't believe you have ever nursed a horse with Strangles if you think it is merely an inconvenience.
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Sorry to disappoint then but yes I've overseen many many strangles cases and in each case the amount of horses who contracted the condition were kept to a minimum due to diligence. None of the horses in any of these cases developed complications and all recovered well. I firmly believe the outcome can be helped or hindered depending on the treatment route the horse receives. Good efficient yard management is paramount to containing this condition. It's very unfortunate to read that 20 horses on your yard came down with strangles, that's a lot! It's even more unfortunate to read that 2 developed complications and 1 horse died.
 
I too was surprised at howdevastating Foxy 1,s experience of strangles was, but as I said earlier,there are different strains .Some far more virulent than others. I do sympathise and my experience is that the quality of veterinary advice can be somewhat variable. For what its worth, during an outbreak ,your best friend is the thermometer. All horses, twice a day. The moment a horse shows any signs of being off colour, or a temperature rise.Stop exercise, rest,and anything to reduce stress. The use of antibiotics is a bit of a double edged sword ,and if the temperature is not too high far that individual horse(all horses vary)I tend to avoid. But a high temperature for 24 hours,I would want treated . The trick is to get get at the disease,BEFORE the lymph glands become seriusly infected. Most horses have some natural resistance nowdays and the trick is to give the horse every chance to fight this himself. This is not veterinary advice, merely my observations from experience.
 
Yes without a doubt and the yard should be locked down and only essential personel should be allowed on the yard.
 
We had a horse on our yard with suspected strangles, it was imediately isolated and nobody else had it, yard was locked down, the YO was fantastic and dealt with the situation brilliantly.

All our horses were blood tested, my horse had it over 20 years ago but still had the unpleasant metal rod up his nose to get a swab more than once to make sure everyone was clear.

I'd say its slightly more than an inconvenience tbh, my horse was very ill with it and in those days we didin't know how infectious it was, went through the whole yard, some got it some didn't, my old pony didn't, my horse did I didn't own him then, he was really ill.

I don't know who needs to be involved but I think it should be notifiable and people shouldn't ride or go off the yard to completitions
 
Mike007 said:
I too was surprised at howdevastating Foxy 1,s experience of strangles was, but as I said earlier,there are different strains .Some far more virulent than others.
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Yes the vet said he thought our 'outbreak' was particularly nasty so I think you have hit the nail on the head Mike.

Unfortunately I was on a large (45ish horses) DIY livery yard with a mixture of abilities of owners. So while we had some owners taking temperatures twice a day, we had others that couldn't/didn't do it all.
We also had shared hay and straw ie. from bays from one large bay and one huge tank for soaking hay.
The other aspect was that it didn't present as typical Strangles, and early swabs and tests were negative, so horses were not isolated as soon as they could have been had we known what it was.
As soon as Strangles was confirmed the yard was in lock down, we all had foot baths/hand washes and no other horses/yards in the area got it.
However, the horses that developed complications were nothing to do with poor nursing or vet treatment it's just in the lap of the Gods.

Spring Feather :Sorry to disappoint then but yes I've overseen many many strangles cases and in each case the amount of horses who contracted the condition were kept to a minimum due to diligence.

I shall treat that comment with the contempt it deserves Spring Feather.
 
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