Strangles

[zoe_1210]

Moved yards last year to be on full livery. Expensive for me but I made this decision so that I could ride more but also spend time with my young family.

A girl bought a horse from a dealer. YO didn’t isolate and didn’t blood test. I had a bad feeling but I didn’t say anything. Two horses became sick and have confirmed strangles and were put on box rest. Patient zero was never tested even though had a cough and never isolated. My horse and another were able to touch parent zero over the fence for weeks and now have strangles. Really annoyed as my horse is sick, can’t ride, worried about all the vet bills. Ironically I have paid for 6 blood tests over the years to protect my mare. Feel like YO is gaslighting (it’s just like us having a cold) and I’m just trapped there angry at the whole situation. Before this I really liked the yard and thought it was the one! What can I do?

 

[AmyMay]

You can’t do anything sadly. My old yard had to lock down for months because of strangles. Hopefully your yard will lock down totally and learn from the experience.

 

[EventingMum]

Having had a strangles outbreak a couple of years ago I can empathise, it really is awful. I will never rely on a blood test again. I bought a horse, she was vetted and blood tested on a Tuesday, I got the negative results on the Friday and on the next Tuesday she was swabbed which came back as positive for strangles. Said horse was never ill, no temperature or symptoms other than a very small, clear nasal discharge which the vetting vet was certain was due to the vendors dusty hay. My vet was fairly certain she would test positive as a carrier but, in fact she didn't, she was just an asymtomatic case, again an unusual situation.

I had just changed vets due to the previous ones no longer covering my area, the old vets had always recommended blood tests for new horses. My new vets were very supportive but said they did not recommend relying on blood tests. The most usual situation is to get a postive blood test followed by a negative guttural pouch wash, more rare but much more concerning is what I had; a false negative blood test. Obviously I had to lock down the yard but thankfully we managed to contain the infection to one stable block where all bar one horse was owned by me. Due to most of the horses being riding school horses the loss of income, vets fees etc cost me around £20K. All incoming horses are now subject to a strict 3 week quarantine period with daily temperature checks. Implementing this means I have lost potential liveries who weren't prepared to quarantine their horses and abide by the rules for this but I certainly wouldn't risk not doing it now.

OP I can totally understand your frustration but, in all honesty, if the yard is being managed correctly now eg red, amber and green groups of horses and no horses in or out there isn't much you can do. I would have a calm chat with your YO about implementing a suitable isolatation/quarantine regime for all horses going forward and if they aren't ammenable to this then look at moving. I ended up setting up a seperate stable within a small paddock that is now my dedicated isolation area.

 

[saturdaygirl]

The blood tests are incredibly misleading and not very helpful! It's an antibody test so only shows exposure. The vast majority of carriers will be negative on blood test and the vast majority of positive bloods tests are not carriers/infected! Isolate new arrivals.

 

[zoe_1210]

The blood tests are incredibly misleading and not very helpful! It's an antibody test so only shows exposure. The vast majority of carriers will be negative on blood test and the vast majority of positive bloods tests are not carriers/infected! Isolate new arrivals

Having had a strangles outbreak a couple of years ago I can empathise, it really is awful. I will never rely on a blood test again. I bought a horse, she was vetted and blood tested on a Tuesday, I got the negative results on the Friday and on the next Tuesday she was swabbed which came back as positive for strangles. Said horse was never ill, no temperature or symptoms other than a very small, clear nasal discharge which the vetting vet was certain was due to the vendors dusty hay. My vet was fairly certain she would test positive as a carrier but, in fact she didn't, she was just an asymtomatic case, again an unusual situation.

I had just changed vets due to the previous ones no longer covering my area, the old vets had always recommended blood tests for new horses. My new vets were very supportive but said they did not recommend relying on blood tests. The most usual situation is to get a postive blood test followed by a negative guttural pouch wash, more rare but much more concerning is what I had; a false negative blood test. Obviously I had to lock down the yard but thankfully we managed to contain the infection to one stable block where all bar one horse was owned by me. Due to most of the horses being riding school horses the loss of income, vets fees etc cost me around £20K. All incoming horses are now subject to a strict 3 week quarantine period with daily temperature checks. Implementing this means I have lost potential liveries who weren't prepared to quarantine their horses and abide by the rules for this but I certainly wouldn't risk not doing it now.

OP I can totally understand your frustration but, in all honesty, if the yard is being managed correctly now eg red, amber and green groups of horses and no horses in or out there isn't much you can do. I would have a calm chat with your YO about implementing a suitable isolatation/quarantine regime for all horses going forward and if they aren't ammenable to this then look at moving. I ended up setting up a seperate stable within a small paddock that is now my dedicated isolation area.Ibdintmm

 

[zoe_1210]

The blood tests are incredibly misleading and not very helpful! It's an antibody test so only shows exposure. The vast majority of carriers will be negative on blood test and the vast majority of positive bloods tests are not carriers/infected! Isolate new arrivals.

That hasn’t happened though. And original horse never tested - so was never treated as a positive case.

 

[AmyMay]

That hasn’t happened though. And original horse never tested - so was never treated as a positive case.

What has your YO now put in place with regards isolating the yard?

 

[Hormonal Filly]

So sorry to hear this. I’d be wanting to know the future process of new horses arriving (quarantine etc) or I’d be looking elsewhere.

 

[holeymoley]

Our yard had a scare a while back, thankfully all was well. Despite me insisting that there is a way we can do some form of quarantine/isolation for newbies it fell on deaf ears. Which is a worry anytime anything else moves in.

 

[Pinkvboots]

You just need to isolate the sick and lock down the yard I worked on a yard where similar happened no one could leave or hack out for nearly 4 months.

It's a crap situation but that's why some yards should have quarantine practices in place, the horse that brought it in was probably a carrier they don't show symptoms and some only test positive after a pouch test.

I know because one of mine is not classed as a carrier but if you culture what is in his pouch it comes back as a strain of strangles yet he shows no symptoms.

 

[SEL]

I ran up a huuuuuge bill when a pony bought from a dealer came onto the yard and a week later had the typical yellow snot pouring from its nose.

I don't think the vets covered themselves in glory then tbh. They knew full well there would be an affordability issue with testing a number of the ponies but insisted on pushing ahead anyway. The lady who had bought the pony from a bin end dealer had it shot rather than run up a load of bills. Those of us who chose not to shoot our horses ended up with all the blood tests, guttural pouch tests etc.

And I had to have the horse who reacted to the guttural pouch procedure and needed two emergency call outs.