strangles

mole

Well-Known Member
Joined
12 April 2007
Messages
643
Location
Gloucestershire
Visit site
has anyone else had an outbreak of strangles at their yards? i was wondering what happened and how long you needed to stay on lockdown for and also did ALL the horses on the yard need a bloodtest to check they were clear and how much did it cost you (blood test that is)

cheers
 
Hi, I was once on a yard that had strangles.
Every horse had to be blood tested (some didnt obviously want to as it was expensive) especially those close to the horse who had it. I think the ones that had been in direct contact to the horse had three, the others had two tests. Some that were suspicious had a swab thing done as well.
This was quite expensive, i think the total for two bloodtests was something like £200 and the third and swab more.
We were 'shut down' for something like four months I think. We were very lucky as had only found out about the horse having strangles by having a blood test done for totally unrelated reasons! So we caught it very early and it didnt spread to anyone else. The horse who had it wasnt snotty or anything, just quiet.

Hope all is ok, I know how hard emotionally and physically it is to be involved in this situation! Good luck with everything :)
 
yes it is stressful.

did you get the cost of blood tests put onto anykind of insurance or did each owner pay for a blood test to be done separatley? did you all have to use a nominated vet or can you use your own vet?

just trying to work out what to do
 
Mine was at grass livery. I didn't blood test, I waited until she was symptom free and the others had finished with it (about 6-8 weeks for me as mine was one of the last to get it) then had a gutteral pouch flush done and the gunk flushed out was tested for bacteria. She was negative. I did this as I felt it was a lot less stressful than repeated blood tests which are not necessarily accurate.
 
yes it is stressful.

did you get the cost of blood tests put onto anykind of insurance or did each owner pay for a blood test to be done separatley? did you all have to use a nominated vet or can you use your own vet?

just trying to work out what to do

I dont think anyone claimed on insurance apart from the owner of the horse who actually had strangles, her bill must have been horrendous! The reason why we didnt get it on insurance is because it wasnt worth it, after youve paid excess you wont get anything/very little.
We all used the same vet purely becuase it made it much simpler in them keeping everything organised, keeping track of how all the horses were, and getting a plan for what to do next/where it came from initially. You can use your own vet though.

We only had them all done because we were advised too - yes this might have been for the vets to make money, but trust me, with everything going on it will put your mind at rest!

I knew my pony didnt have it, she'd been nowhere near the horse and had no symptoms. But one day i noticed a lump by her glands and freaked - fact was, the lumps had probably always been there, she was clear of strangles and the lump never went away! It just makes you think all kinds of crazy things!
 
if your horse shows no symptoms even after a month of lockdown do you still need to get them tested? is blood test the only way of doing this or is a flush better even though they have shown no symptoms?
 
I dont think anyone claimed on insurance apart from the owner of the horse who actually had strangles, her bill must have been horrendous! The reason why we didnt get it on insurance is because it wasnt worth it, after youve paid excess you wont get anything/very little.QUOTE]

did anyone claim on the initial carrier horses insurance? how much did it all cost you in the end? sorry for all the q's!
 
I claimed on my insurance for her flush and flush results. It was about £300 I think, and my excess was half that, but I didn't have the other half of the money so had to claim. They paid out fine with no problems. I would keep yourself isolated until everyone is clear. It's the right thing in terms of infection control. Your horse may have bacteria brewing and the bug is infectious in the first couple of weeks and shows no symptoms at that stage. It's harsh if you know that your horse probably won't have it, but without a definate all clear from everyone then there's always a chance you may pass it on.
 
did anyone claim on the initial carrier horses insurance? how much did it all cost you in the end? sorry for all the q's!

No no-one did, I'm not 100% sure, in the end my pony had two blood tests and a swab as i was worried and i think that cam to about £260. Our vets did us a sort of 'deal' as we had so many horses being tested, they didnt charge us a call out and charged less on something else (im sure they made a huge profit on us regardless!) I suppose it depends on your vets as to how expensive things are.
Unfortunately the blood tests arent massively accurate - some horses can be carriers of strangles. On their blood tests it will show they are slightly positive, but the only way you will find out if said horse has strangles, is by doing a guttral swab.

Agree with GJ - keep isolated!

No problem, happy to help you must be very worried! Strangles is a horrible, horrible thing!
 
I was on a yard in essex last year that got it, horse was moved on with out quarantine horse was seen coughing a looking bad at yard show it came down with it the next day/ confirmed to have it. The yard was locked down with all horses in stables unless you had a large mouth and shouted off. No blood test were done as everybody was a too cheap to bother (i only shared a horse) it all seemed to be run terribly with more emphasis on money that the horse, not even the original horse was tested again. Lots of people were using vapour rub etc swearing it would stop it. The only things that were really done to stop it was disinfect everything as well as nobody aloud to leave the yard apart from once again those who shouted loudly. Needless to say yard was not popular locally and left soon after to a more horse orientated yard.
 
We where lucky in some respects as they where at grass. All 30 odd where exposed to and grazed with horses who went down with it, and as soon as they started to show symptoms they where moved to the 'pus paddock' where those who abscessed went to pass that stage and when they had healed they went to another paddock. I was very impressed at the way the yard handled it. They where a schooling yard and had 3 sites and contained the outbreak to the 1 field. It wasn't pleasant, and I felt awful for her, but it's done now.
 
we have always had individual grazing so have our own water, wheel barrows, equipment and grazing so we have less chance of catching it than being in a herd i guess. and the horse that has it is isolated in the stable no where near the grazing. really hoping that no other horses get it but will be a bit peeved if i have to fork out for blood tests etc
 
I spent hours researching how to have her tested after and decided I'n the flush as cost wise it was about the same as bloods would work out as ( although I would have had to have changed vets as the visit charge for at least 2 tests would be about my excess!!) and it was more accurate. I wanted her back at college after she was better (she cought it while in summer break). I had decided I wanted the flush as if she ended up a carrier and passed it to my friends while at livery I would never forgive myself.
 
Had a LONG chat to our vets last week as a local yard has had some cases.....they advised the only way to be sure that horse is clear is for gutteral pouch swab/flush, coming in at around the £300 mark. Also advised that it has a 21 day incubation period soa yard would have to be free of signs/symptoms for that time to be as certain as possible without tests that an outbreak was over. I did find them to be a little wishy-washy about lock-down period though which was rather frustrating as surrounding horse owners are now effectively being left to make their own judgement as to whether they risk crossing hacking paths with horses from the affected yard.
 
Last edited:
All horses blood tested. Yard locked down until infection had run its course. YO will dictate how 'manage' infection under direction of one vet, but owners would be free to use their own for treatment.

And of course no one tried to claim from initial infected horses owner.
 
we have always had individual grazing so have our own water, wheel barrows, equipment and grazing so we have less chance of catching it than being in a herd i guess. and the horse that has it is isolated in the stable no where near the grazing. really hoping that no other horses get it but will be a bit peeved if i have to fork out for blood tests etc

D`on't you believe this!

We had an outbreak five or six years ago. I haven't a clue as to how they caught it as the jump racers and hunters were all turned out. As were the youngsters.
We are not near any other horses and nothing had been off the place.

As most of the horses had been near each other I just wiped goo from one infected nose around them all and let nature take its course.
They were over it within a month. As usual, the older horses were fine, the youngsters all got abscesses.

I did feed them all with high doses of NAF D-tox as this boost the immune system.
 
I play with mine, long rein and school at liberty and we also ride out. No stress we have fun.
Some folk think I am perculiar :-)
 
As most of the horses had been near each other I just wiped goo from one infected nose around them all and let nature take its course.
They were over it within a month. As usual, the older horses were fine, the youngsters all got abscesses.
.

Why did you deliberately infect them?
 
each yard makes its own rules on advice (hopefully from the vet), we had it where i was working 24yrs ago, an old pony from the sales had it when he arrived, its was a riding school/livery yard approx 50 stables.
nothing was isolated, everything still had turnout and was ridden as usual all riding school continued as normal with everyone being aware of the infection and being advised to go home and shower and get changed before visiting any other yards/horses.
we had about 12 of them being under the weather and the original one was the only one to get ******* strangles, he was 32 and in terrible condition when he arrived (little oliver) we came close to losing him. we had two mares with foals under 2 months old at foot none of them showed any symptoms.
i think if they are gonna get it they will isolation just means it takes longer to go round.
my vet follows policy but he agrees the best thing to do is turn them all out depending on weather and let nature take it course, grazing with their heads down in the fresh air and constant movement helps the lymphatic system and the drainage of the nasal cavities, also grass is less abrasive on what is a sore throat in many cases. i dread where my horses are kept getting it due to the over the top panic and restrictions that tend to accompany it
 
Top