Strangles

[First Time Mum]

Hi has anyone heard anything about strangles being confirmed in the Doncaster area. Do not want to start scaremongering however there is rumours flying around at the moment.

 

[hnmisty]

Haven't heard anything, I'm in sheffield.

 

[natmac84]

best thing to do is call some local vets and ask - they will advise if there are any known

 

[JudgeD]

There is one confirmed case at Moss nr Doncaster. A riding school that has been in business over 30 years, they have issued a public statement on Facebook. No horses leaving the premises. There are also no deaths, despite rumours to the contrary. No need to be scared, just be vigilant like the majority of horse owners are in any event x

 

[RubysGold]

I heard there were cases in Moss Askern and Sykehouse. But have since found out its only in Moss and is apparently being well contained

 

[Bendyhorse]

They only published it because they got found out. They continue to have horses hack out and people come in and out of the premises. they said its a "mild case of strangles" which is absolute rubbish and irresponsible. They should have notified people a lot sooner than they did! It should have been on complete lockdown one horse or not they have a yard full of potential patients/carriers

 

[tinap]

They have stopped all hacks now x

 

[Cheshire Chestnut]

You have to be careful with rumours about strangles, especially if this is someone's business - it can be very damaging indeed. We were unlucky to contract strangles on my parent's yard about 10 years ago. We strongly suspected that is was brought onto our yard by someone who attended one of our Pony Club shows, we had never had it before in the 15 years we had the yard for previously. One of our elderly retired horses became ill first, followed by a 2 year old and then Shetland - all of which shared a field, a field we had used as an overspill for car parking on the day of the show.

We had the vet attend ASAP and we got the disgnosis. We were lucky to have two stable blocks, one of which was about 100m away from the other - this became the 'Isolation Ward' and all the infected horses were put there. We then disinfected EVERYTHING - grass, stables, tools, the school, tack, as well as burning the muckheap, hay and straw. We didn't want to take any chances. We even threw away saddlecloths, brushes and other 'none-expensive' and replaceable items. We made sure NO ONE (not even the fit horses) left the yard hacking or in the box, the fit horses were allowed to be ridden one at a time in the school but then it had to be disinfected afterwards. It goes without saying that no riding lessons took place in this period and no one was allowed to visit the yard, apart from liveries that all had to disinfect their boots before/afterwards, only touch their own horse and we provided them with paper overalls that were to be disposed of afterwards.

One more horse was diagnosed with Strangles, so that made 4 in total. We had 36 horses on the yard, many of which were liveries and our riding school ponies. The vet congratulated us on the way in which we contained it, to have only 4 horses out of 36 infected, we had done well. The old horse was the only one to develop B*****d Strangles, but luckily made a full recovery.

Dispite our best efforts, it devastated our business and good name. Let alone to mention the costs - we didn't charge the full amount to our liveries and the riding school had stopped, leaving us to pay out of our pockets for their keep too. Things were never the same afterwards and although I understand that things like will always stick in people's minds, it was beyond our control and we did everything we could. We could never hold shows again as we ran the risk of no one turning up, horrible rumours had gone round that the burning of our muck heap was in fact us burning horses (not true) and we were just lucky to have some very loyal and understanding liveries that tried to put right the bad mouthing.

I just hope that if someone is unfortunate to have an outbreak of Strangles, that everyone is supportive and understands that it could happen to anyone - people bring new horses onto yards every day and it wasn't neglect or uncleanliness that lead it to our lovely yard - it was bad luck. Just remember that please and know that the yard owners and horse owners will be going through Hell.

 

[tinap]

You have to be careful with rumours about strangles, especially if this is someone's business - it can be very damaging indeed. We were unlucky to contract strangles on my parent's yard about 10 years ago. We strongly suspected that is was brought onto our yard by someone who attended one of our Pony Club shows, we had never had it before in the 15 years we had the yard for previously. One of our elderly retired horses became ill first, followed by a 2 year old and then Shetland - all of which shared a field, a field we had used as an overspill for car parking on the day of the show.

We had the vet attend ASAP and we got the disgnosis. We were lucky to have two stable blocks, one of which was about 100m away from the other - this became the 'Isolation Ward' and all the infected horses were put there. We then disinfected EVERYTHING - grass, stables, tools, the school, tack, as well as burning the muckheap, hay and straw. We didn't want to take any chances. We even threw away saddlecloths, brushes and other 'none-expensive' and replaceable items. We made sure NO ONE (not even the fit horses) left the yard hacking or in the box, the fit horses were allowed to be ridden one at a time in the school but then it had to be disinfected afterwards. It goes without saying that no riding lessons took place in this period and no one was allowed to visit the yard, apart from liveries that all had to disinfect their boots before/afterwards, only touch their own horse and we provided them with paper overalls that were to be disposed of afterwards.

One more horse was diagnosed with Strangles, so that made 4 in total. We had 36 horses on the yard, many of which were liveries and our riding school ponies. The vet congratulated us on the way in which we contained it, to have only 4 horses out of 36 infected, we had done well. The old horse was the only one to develop B*****d Strangles, but luckily made a full recovery.

Dispite our best efforts, it devastated our business and good name. Let alone to mention the costs - we didn't charge the full amount to our liveries and the riding school had stopped, leaving us to pay out of our pockets for their keep too. Things were never the same afterwards and although I understand that things like will always stick in people's minds, it was beyond our control and we did everything we could. We could never hold shows again as we ran the risk of no one turning up, horrible rumours had gone round that the burning of our muck heap was in fact us burning horses (not true) and we were just lucky to have some very loyal and understanding liveries that tried to put right the bad mouthing.

I just hope that if someone is unfortunate to have an outbreak of Strangles, that everyone is supportive and understands that it could happen to anyone - people bring new horses onto yards every day and it wasn't neglect or uncleanliness that lead it to our lovely yard - it was bad luck. Just remember that please and know that the yard owners and horse owners will be going through Hell.

well said CC, although the whole ordeal must have been horrendous a friend of mine also had a case on her yard & managed to keep it contained to just her horse on a yard of about 10. She was super vigilant just as you were & also very open with everyone regarding the situation. Scaremongering just makes things worse xx

 

[Indy]

They may have had all lessons stopped now but it is true that they were still continuing lessons - right up to last Thursday in fact.

 

[RubysGold]

CC that sounds like a horrible ordeal, but well done for keeping it contained!

 

[twiggy2]

the yard I was working at 25yrs ago got strangles probably via a pony our boss bought at the sales, we did not isolate the sicklies were just turned out in the front fields for a quiet stretch and peaceful grazing, we too only had one case of barstard strangles (the original one) and only 4 out of over 50 came down with symptoms-we had no overalls and only had dips on and off yard. lessons continued as long as people knew the risks to other horses and stayed clear from others.

personally I think it is all hyped up a bit these days

 

[Rosiejazzandpia]

Not heard anything, I am in Sheffield and have my ears open. As soon as we get a whiff of a rumour we will all be getting a lecture from local farmers

 

[Cheshire Chestnut]

Thank you - it wasn't easy and really awful for everyone at the time but it paid off, I dread to think what would have happened if we hadn't contained it so quickly

I agree they shouldn't be hacking out at all if they do have Strangles, however but to be fair we had loads of people saying we'd all been hacking out, attending shows and having visitors - we hadn't at all. People just like to cause drama sometimes so I just mean don't listen to everything you hear. Afterall, it was our lovely horses that had been infected and we would have done anything to make sure they had a full recovery - just as any other horse owner would.

 

[Cheshire Chestnut]

the yard I was working at 25yrs ago got strangles probably via a pony our boss bought at the sales, we did not isolate the sicklies were just turned out in the front fields for a quiet stretch and peaceful grazing, we too only had one case of barstard strangles (the original one) and only 4 out of over 50 came down with symptoms-we had no overalls and only had dips on and off yard. lessons continued as long as people knew the risks to other horses and stayed clear from others.

personally I think it is all hyped up a bit these days

I do agree it's more hyped up these days but let me explain why we did what we did even though some may think it was OTT. We took all those precautions more for the liveries than anything - we had to make sure we showed them we were doing everything we could for the welfare of their horses. I think if we hadn't been subject to so many nasty tales from other people on other yards (people used it as a selling point for their own yards would you believe!!!), then we could have been more relaxed, however when it's your reputation and livelihood at stake you do anything to preserve it.

 

[Nugget La Poneh]

There have been calls of Strangles at a couple of yards about 2-5 miles away. Another got named on a public riding club FB page and wasn't too happy about it at all.

There is a rumour that a girl that has a horse that has been confirmed, instead of isolating and letting vet come to her, she took the horse to the vets, walked into the site stables, opened doors without washing hands etc. Vets apparently (and if true, quite rightly) not happy.

All horses from the suspected yards are competing.

But no-one has actually confirmed it. Although one of the livery's website has been taken down so who knows!

 

[Cheshire Chestnut]

There have been calls of Strangles at a couple of yards about 2-5 miles away. Another got named on a public riding club FB page and wasn't too happy about it at all.

There is a rumour that a girl that has a horse that has been confirmed, instead of isolating and letting vet come to her, she took the horse to the vets, walked into the site stables, opened doors without washing hands etc. Vets apparently (and if true, quite rightly) not happy.

All horses from the suspected yards are competing.

But no-one has actually confirmed it. Although one of the livery's website has been taken down so who knows!

With respect to my above posts, just please don't believe everything you hear. Why would the horse owners put their own horses at risk of infection as well as others? This is how rumours gets spread and names tarnished. There is absolutley no way you could know that this girl in question didn't wash her hands, walked the horse into the vet's stables or even took it there without actually being with her at that very moment.

For some reason the horse world these days is so quick to make up ridiculous unfounded stories without thinking about the consiquences. People just seem to love a bit of drama but that is someone's business and livelihood you're talking about without even knowing if it's true. I know how hard it can be to be on the receiving end of such damaging rumours so please just don't spread them or talk about it in public until you 100% know the facts.

 

[twiggy2]

I do agree it's more hyped up these days but let me explain why we did what we did even though some may think it was OTT. We took all those precautions more for the liveries than anything - we had to make sure we showed them we were doing everything we could for the welfare of their horses. I think if we hadn't been subject to so many nasty tales from other people on other yards (people used it as a selling point for their own yards would you believe!!!), then we could have been more relaxed, however when it's your reputation and livelihood at stake you do anything to preserve it.

yes we had all that too, we were lucky in that the vet agreed isolation is a waste of time once a horse on the yard is showing symptoms (this vet still thinks this but accepts it is not what most people want to hear), the vet came out and spoke to any liveries or horse owners with worries/concerns. we were very lucky with a good group of liveries and everyone wanted horses turned out not stuck in, liveries wanted to ride their horses and were happy to stay on site, we were given the all clear within 5 weeks as every horse was exposed in the first week and we had no more come down with it outside the first 7 days.

you always get people saying the yard is not restricting movement and hacking during strangles out breaks, the horse world is a very bitchy place and people seem to love to gossip and add some untruths to the mix. most owners have no idea of the repercussions that can and do occur.

 

[twiggy2]

There is a rumour that a girl that has a horse that has been confirmed, instead of isolating and letting vet come to her, she took the horse to the vets, walked into the site stables, opened doors without washing hands etc. Vets apparently (and if true, quite rightly) not happy.

vets are where sick and contagious animals often have to go-where do you think dogs with parvo go, IF the above is true the vets will have everything they need in order to contain any risk. a vets stables should not be accesable for anyone to walk their horse into with out being stopped first anyway-you cant just walk a dog into the kennels at a small animal surgery due to health risks and insurance an equine vets should be no different

 

[Nugget La Poneh]

With respect to my above posts, just please don't believe everything you hear. Why would the horse owners put their own horses at risk of infection as well as others? This is how rumours gets spread and names tarnished. There is absolutley no way you could know that this girl in question didn't wash her hands, walked the horse into the vet's stables or even took it there without actually being with her at that very moment.

For some reason the horse world these days is so quick to make up ridiculous unfounded stories without thinking about the consiquences. People just seem to love a bit of drama but that is someone's business and livelihood you're talking about without even knowing if it's true. I know how hard it can be to be on the receiving end of such damaging rumours so please just don't spread them or talk about it in public until you 100% know the facts.

Apologies - I wasn't intending to add to the rumour mill I have stated none of it confirmed, but then I guess (as you have unfortunately found out yourself from experience) because of the damage it can cause to a business there is an element of not wanting to confirm it. Who knows. The last time I dealt with strangles was over 15 years ago and the way it was managed then is different to how it would be now, purely because of the way horses are managed now in general. I know that the YO's of the yard I am on have measures in place should the vets confirm cases within a certain radius of the yard to prevent it as much as possible.

 

[Cheshire Chestnut]

Apologies - I wasn't intending to add to the rumour mill I have stated none of it confirmed, but then I guess (as you have unfortunately found out yourself from experience) because of the damage it can cause to a business there is an element of not wanting to confirm it. Who knows. The last time I dealt with strangles was over 15 years ago and the way it was managed then is different to how it would be now, purely because of the way horses are managed now in general. I know that the YO's of the yard I am on have measures in place should the vets confirm cases within a certain radius of the yard to prevent it as much as possible.

Oh I know, I just meant be careful because some of the stuff said is hard to wipe from people's memories even if turns out it's not true. It was hard and I was so upset for my mum, who put everything into that yard to make it special for everyone. We did Riding for Disabled too so I think it hit us really hard when we were subjected to rumours that out ponies had been burned and we had the parent's of the kids ringing up angry. Just shows you the power of a horrible rumour

 

[rosiesmumof4]

Not rumour mill but fact, horses from the affected yard in moss attended pony club events at the end of October and have succeeded in passing it on to yards in Sherborne in Elmet and burton salmon.

 

[Bendyhorse]

Like I said they only let people know when they were found out....its ridiculous...call me paranoid but or the health of my horses I will be annoyed by their stupidity,