What would you think of a yard that doesn't ask new arrivals for a strangles test and doesn't quarantine?

I don’t know all that much about the strangles test but have heard it is unreliable. I have a little yard. I isolate arrivals for approx 10 days unless they are very well known but that means a paddock where they can see and not touch others. In this time they are worm counted / wormed. It’s not perfect as they are still using the yard and so sharing space but I do ask liveries to be sensible about keeping a distance for a bit. Only ever had one (off the lorry from Ireland in a big batch) have a sniffle after a couple of days. As others have said being too stringent when horses often go to shows and others visit to go hacking.
 
I have never been asked quarantine, though I do wonder why a large stud farm close to me, never quarantines any horses. I would be worried about visiting mares and foals and of course the studs own mares and foals and stallions catching anything.
 
I quarantined my mare that travelled from Italy. She spent 2 weeks in a field separate to mine but she could see them. (That was maybe pointless though. Someone said strangles travel in the air?) She was pretty stressed for that 2 weeks but my other 2 were old so I was concerned about them.

I didn’t quarantine my mare that came from the north of England. She traveled here alone though and decided the risks were lower.
 
I completely agree that what the horse has been up to and where it’s from is important when making these decision’s. t I quarantined the last horse I bought from Ireland with my old horse on my top yard and kept my others on the bottom yard that was because he had had a long journey in a mixed load .
Twelve horses many of them young and stressed is just what strangles likes .
But when bought I Blue from a local sales agent I know just down the road there seemed little point he had been hunting mine had been hunting so we just got on with it .
 
A horse near us nearly died as it got a strain of flu from a well known venue stabling over night. The owner didn't know he had flu until 2 weeks later and he nearly died. Only just got better a year on. Others on the yard caught it as well. All horses were vaccinated against flu. This was a different strain. She saw that someone else had asked if any horses had been ill at that venue and that the owner had attended a different show to hers.

And on another yard a new horse brought in strangles and wasn't quarantined. A horse on that yard died from it that wasn't the brought in horse.

It's not just strangles you have to worry about.

If you are stabling at a venue always make sure the stable is disinfected properly before use.
 
Ample Prosecco said:
I know the owner and horse too and it was absolutely tragic. The yard was dodgy AF as not only did they hush up symptoms but they inisted she hush up too, and kickled her off when she refused. Forcing an acutely ill horse to travel.
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That poor woman. (I'm assuming it's a woman for simplicity's sake.) How dare they treat her that way, especially on top of that tragedy.
 
Everything is quarantined. The only one who isn't is my 3yo who lives with a friend who is just as anal about bio security as I am as she moves between yards.
 
I do understand the logic behind quarantine etc. But how many of us take their horses away to camps, clinics, championships etc.? I can guarantee that not every stable is disinfected between horses. For some places the bedding isn't entirely removed before a new horse moves in. My mare quite often goes and stays with my trainer if I am away on holiday. Do those who quarantine their horses never mix with other horses? I am just thinking about the practicalities here.
 
I don’t know. I’ve never been on a yard that does either of these things. As above he goes out competing and will stay overnight at different venues though obviously not touching noses with other horses. When the last flu outbreak happened, I was surprised how few horses at the yard were vaccinated or at least had up-to-date vaccinations for flu.
 
I have never been asked to provide a test. I didn’t even know it was a thing. I have been asked to provide proof of up to date vaccines.

It would make ask if the horses are vaccinated and how often they leave the property.

Not requiring the vaccine AND not having a proper quarantine would make me look elsewhere. I have been at a barn that had an outbreak and it’s very stressful. Between the protocols and worrying if your horse is going to catch it and how bad it will be if they do is just nerve wracking.
 
When I last moved my lads, I was asked to provide proof of up to date vaccinations (with Baggs I provided a letter from my vet as he reacts really badly to the flu jab so it's been decided that it's safer for Baggs health wise to not have the flu jab, but I made sure to let everyone on the yard know when I arrived about the situation) and to have them wormed before I moved them x

I did offer to do a strangles test and keep them quarantined for a while (easier for me as I have my two so the process would have been a lot smoother and easier for me to do so) and my yard owner thanked me and said that the info I had already given her was enough. I did keep them in for a few days just to be on the safe side, but that was my choosing x
 
AppyLover1996 said:
my yard owner thanked me and said that the info I had already given her was enough.
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Personally I wouldn't be worried by no quarantine or strangles testing, but I would want to feel that the YO and other liveries were aware of the risks, vigilant in keeping an eye out for worrying signs, and had some sort of sensible policy for if something was thought to be ill. For me, the fact that you'd discussed with your vet and made an evidence based decision would indicate that you were both aware and careful. That's the kind of attitude I'd be looking for in a yard (or a livery if I was a YO), rather than any particular hard line "isolation on arrival" policy.
 
I've never been on a yard that quarantines or wants a blood test, the closest was one yard that insisted any horses bought from a particular loca dealer were quarantined in a field away from the main yard for 3 weeks.

To me it makes very little sense unless horses coming back from competitions or hunting are quarantined and I've never heard of a yard doing that.
 
Thanks, everyone. Interesting to hear lots of different views. I just assumed quarantine or testing would be the norm, but apparently not! I guess it's not practical.
 
I'm another at a yard in Scotland which does both. Our YO insists on the following:

New arrivals are placed in one of two isolation paddocks for a period of 2 weeks - they can see other horses but cannot touch them and are not allowed to leave the field at all during that time. All liveries know that these fields are out of bounds when new arrivals are isolating
After 2 weeks vets take a blood test. If clear, they are moved to their respective field and allowed to use all the yard facilities. If the blood test shows antibodies, a guttural pouch scope/wash is required, which if clear ends isolation. If not clear, full strangles containment protocol kicks in.

When we bought our new pony back in the springtime we ended up with a total nightmare situation. Both isolation paddocks ended up being occupied for longer than expected as both horses had positive blood tests so required the guttural pouch test, so when our pony arrived the yard we had to section off opposite ends of our field with a no-mans land in between to separate our little companion pony who had been there over a year and the new one. On day 2 the little Welsh devil went through 3 lots of electric fencing to say hello to the new arrival :rolleyes: so she then ended up in isolation for 2 weeks as well! New pony's blood test showed antibiodies so she got scoped and pouch tested while existing pony had to get blood tested after 2 weeks too. Luckily all was clear but the whole thing ended up taking over a month by the time all the results came back.

If we ever have to do it again I will go straight to scope and pouch as I have no faith in the blood test being an accurate indicator given the false positive.
 
Ample Prosecco said:
I know the owner and horse too and it was absolutely tragic. The yard was dodgy AF as not only did they hush up symptoms but they inisted she hush up too, and kickled her off when she refused. Forcing an acutely ill horse to travel.
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I think this happened around the time my sister took on Benjamin Brown. She had a youngster which she moved from the breeders place to a yard nearby. Then was looking for another horse to ride on loan. She obviously spoke to a few people locally and saw/tried a few before settling on re-homing BB. He was at the yard for a few weeks before she was told she needed to stable both (on a little yard of 2 away from main yard) and have them both tested before going back out with the others.

Turned out one of the liveries (that wanted the 2 stables for themselves) told the yard owner BB was an older horse that had come from a yard locally with strangles. Poor BB ended up having a blood test (positive) and a pouch wash (negative) just to satisfy a yard gossip/bully. The daft thing was BB is a very 'horse' orientated horse and would have been far more settled on the bigger/busier part of the yard - the woman could of swapped stables with my sister happily if she had just asked. But things went sour from there and my sister ended up leaving the yard as she felt uncomfortable there. Then BB ended up on that hill with 2 others until he came to me.
 
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