Strangles! Helppppp!

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Alice_30

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Urgent advice needed on what you would do! Strangles is present on the yard we have now had three active cases, the yard has around 25 horses on it all turned out together over 30 acres, unfortunately the yard owner has a ‘it’s not my problem sort it out between you’ attitude and will not enforce quarantine.
Unfortunately we have some extremely selfish individuals on the yard who have their horses as pets, and are therefore not willing to quarantine and pay out for tests to get the all clear from the vet. Having no managerial enforcement means this wont go away, those who want to hack, show, hire horseboxes, clippers have instructors down not to mention the difficulty of getting a dentist out are not able to do so. I am literally at my wits end with the situation and no amount of negotiation seems to be changing their minds!
Please someone help or point me in the right direction of what you would do in this situation?
 
Quarantine is virtually impossible on a yard this size. So long as people are not taking horses off the yard and sensible precautions are taken, i.e not share tools or grooming equipment then it is easily managed. Our horses from memory were not permitted to be turned out when we had strangles at a previous yard but my horse was running with about 35 others, so I could understand that in a herd this size it wouldn't be advisable. Each horse had to have three clear swabs (from memory) and if a horse hadn't developed strangles they were monitored by taking their temperature and if the temperature became elevated we had to get antibiotics from the vet. This was many years ago (1998) and I think things have changed since then particuarly with the distribution of antibiotics!

All you can do is print out some advice for people from the internet and leave it in their mangers, or on their tack lockers or whatever. Maybe display it on a notice board even.
 
You are in a tricky situation with no real way forward, strangles is not a notifiable condition so there is no authority to turn to, the YO is being totally irresponsible by not taking control of the yard and putting some form of quarantine/ testing in place, as a YO myself I could not imagine just leaving 25 owners to sort this out between them, some horses will not get it others may become seriously ill, or worse, it is not acceptable to leave things to individuals to sort out.

That is no help for you as you are stuck there for the long haul, which may be many months, until the yard gets the all clear, if you have a good vet would they take time to come in and meet everyone at a set time to discuss in full the implications and how best to deal with the outbreak without it costing too much and get a proper plan in place that all will adhere to, otherwise it may just be a case of sitting it out, dealing with your own and getting out as soon as possible, if horses are suffering from lack of care the BHS may be able to come in and advise, really the YO needs to step up and take charge, they have a duty of care and this would certainly be falling short at the moment.

Good luck, I have dealt with strangles and it is not nice to see how poorly they can be when it really hits them they do require proper nursing and plenty of TLC being turned out in a group may not harm if they are not too bad but if they are they really need to be in and kept warm with soft easy to eat food, not to mention the job of cleaning up the mess each day when the abscesses burst.
 
Thank you for your reply, I know I think the best thing to do Is just to ride it out and do the best I can for my horses. We do have a good vet in place who has spoken to the whole yard numerous times about action plans and even offering payment plans for testing but unfortunately there are still a few individuals who don't feel this is necessary, its a horrible and very frustrating position to be in especially with the run up to summer :(
 
When in a similar situation a few years ago - although with a very proactive yard manager, we isolated the infected horses and just waited it out with the others 3/25 actually contracted strangles, no test were done except on the infected horses who were not allowed to mix again until they had 3 clear swabs. The vets advise was followed as regards the whole yard staying put (no hacking, shows etc.) until they gave the all clear. It took about 2 months before we were allowed to move again.
 
I wouldn't advise not testing horses that don't appear to be infected. When we had it in our yard it was just my horses that got it. We were already separate as we had just moved to the yard and our new horse went down with extremely mild symptoms about 10 days after we got him. TBH nobody thought he had strangles and he was only tested as he was new just to be on the safe side. In the end my other horse also tested positive but showed no symptoms at all, not even a raised temp.
 
I have Strangles...

Had it over a year now. I had 14 horses and 1 brought it (from a local dealers yard) and infected 4 so they moved straight into a quarentine paddock and get tested every 2-3 months. Cost me 8.5k so far with only 4 horses and its still not over yet.

Its horrible and unfortunatelly most yards dont have quarentine measures. My advice. Move to a quarentine yard and let them know the full situation. As soon as youve found a yard happy to hold her in quarentine for 2 weeks then test and hold her for another 2 weeks for results in full iscolation then id do that. If shes positive then get a gut pouch flush and test again afterwords. It will be expensive but as soon as shes moved from the rest then the safer she will be.

Everyone at that yard should do the same and maybe that will push the yard owner to put quarentine measures and regular tests in place to ensure the safety in the yard as the owner is fully responsible for safety on the yard if shes accepting money. Shes not obligated to pay tests but she is to take steps to avoid these things.

Hope ive helped in someway.

Toni x
 
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