Why do yards try to keep strangles outbreaks secret?

[Zimzim]

I dont think people necessarily keep it a secret, sometimes it can take time for it to be confirmed as a definate case by a vet i.e. tests etc. Plus you have to remember theres client confidentiality to think about. Like others have mentioned people treat it like its a plague and then try to blame other people and make the situation very stressful to deal with.

Like Holly Hocks mentioned, our yard was extremly lucky as the horse that contracted strangles was on a different part of the yard to the rest of the other horses (has its own stables and fields) so it was completly isolated with the owners other ponies, therefore there was a very slim chance of any of ours contracting it. As soon as it was discovered all the proper measures were put in place and the rest of the yard went on lock down to show other people in the area that we were treating it as a serious illness and be seen as responsible owners (plus to stop idol gossiping!).

However it doesnt stop people from over-reacting.

 

[AmyMay]

I dont think that a yard should take responsability of keeping an outbreak of strangles quiet. I think it is an illness that has to be registstered with the authorities.

It's not a notifiable disease.

And they didn't try and keep F&M quiet at all.....

 

[Miss L Toe]

There is a voluntary scheme for vets to report outbreaks so that the disease can be monitored.
To make it a notifiable disease like F&M is in the UK, it would have to have a similar economic profile.

 

[YorksG]

Under the riding school licensing scheme, are the owners of an RS obliged to inform the local authority if they have an outbreak, does anybody know?

 

[ElvisandTilly]

YorksG. I have been told today that the riding school is definately open for business and is not going to be closing..... despite 4 horses having strangles on the yard.

 

[Hippona]

I was on a yard that had strangles once- the outbreak was managed well but the YO went around denying it to anyone who asked........despite the fact that her liveries were out buying Virkon in bulk

 

[Enfys]

YorksG. I have been told today that the riding school is definately open for business and is not going to be closing..... despite 4 horses having strangles on the yard.

Why should it be closed down?

As long as no horses are coming in or out and those with the infection, or have been in contact with them are isolated why should business be affected?

Clients/visitors should be made thoroughly aware of the situation and that they should change and disinfect before going near other horses off the yard, the choice should be theirs as to whether they go there or not.

Really, it is as simple as isolation, basic disinfection (ie washing hands, and don't all yard washrooms have that anti-bacterial hand wash available now as par for the course anyhow?) and changing/cleaning outer clothes.

 

[CBFan]

Because many people blow it out of all proportion!!!

As long as people visiting the premises are made aware and take necessary precautions there is actually very minimal risk of it being spread.

Horses literally have to be within snotting distance of eachother to pick it up and it struggles to survive for very long at all outside the body.

As long as the yard affected doesn't let visiting horses in or out you should be fine.

 

[frustrated]

All yard managers that act responible i congratulate you.
Round where i am, we sadly have riding schools that have strangles more or less permantly. Yet never close or inform the local horse community.
As a riding school yes horses don't leave etc, but its also a livery yard, horses are out and about and hacked out.
There is also a pony club, children hang around ponies touch noses.
It contantly annoys me, how people can be so careless with the welfare of there horses and of other peoples.
Stangles can be a mild illness, but it can also be pretty horrid, not just for the pony but for the child/owner to deal with.
For those that have a outbreak near by once a year lucky you, round here its a contant worry. Because it just is never dealt with.

 

[YorksG]

The yard in question is sadly not run responsibly IMO, it is a livery yard as well as an RS, it is hugely understaffed, it 'shares' its horses with another local school and as far as I am aware the RS customers have not been informed and very little if any bio-security proceedure put in place. If they were responsible and had told the people grazing near by etc. then I am sure that local people would have responded reasonably. It is the serecy which has concerned me in particular.

 

[Monkers]

Because of the stupid people that over react.

It is not a nice disease, but if the horse world was a little bit more sensible about the information they are given then maybe just maybe people would not feel like they have the black plauge and feel the need to keep it quiet.

Exactly. There is alot of panic amongst the uninformed. My yard got strangles about 15 years ago. I isolated all the obviously ill ones in one group and all the ones that had been in contact with the ill ones in another. The ones that had had no contact were also isolated. I had NO further cases.

I also had no further cases in the three months or so that we were "on alert" after symptoms cleared up.

You can only get strangles if your horse ingests the "snot" or the pus from an abcess from an infected horse. Shared water troughs are usually to blame. If an infected horse blew it's nose hard and your horse inhaled the droplets, he could become infected, but it's not likely.

Rigerous biosecurity is a must. We had dip trays every where and wore disposable boiler suits. We only had one groom looking after the infected horses and no other staff were allowed anywhere near them.

I had a riding school in those days, and yes, I stayed open! I couldn't afford to shut down for three months!! I was open and honest with all clients and foot dips were provided for them and fact sheets if they were likely to encounter other horses elsewhere.

There is no need to panic if a local yard has strangles. You certainly shouldn't be witch-hunting and complaining if they do. Be sensible and check if any farriers or others visiting your yard have been there before hand etc.

Strangles can spell disaster for businesses like mine. Local horse owners should be informed and supportive, and shouldn't be whispering and finger pointing. Maybe then the yards that have it would be less inclined to keep quiet!

Oh and one last thing..... so many strangles rumours turn out to be just that!! I have had many phone calls over the years from concerned locals as they have heard that my yard has strangles!! I had it once, 15 years ago and was open and honest, and STILL the rumours go on!!

 

[Dolcé]

Because of the stupid people that over react.

It is not a nice disease, but if the horse world was a little bit more sensible about the information they are given then maybe just maybe people would not feel like they have the black plauge and feel the need to keep it quiet.

The problem is that people don't always behave appropriately by keeping their horses on the yard when infectious and then spreading it to others. I would want to know so that I could move my horses out of the field that has a bridlepath running next to it. Our horses are self contained really, the only contact they have with other horses are those passing the field on the track if they happen to be in that field. By making local yards aware owners then have the choice of their own management to try and keep their horses clear, such as not riding a certain route that takes them near to infected horses.

 

[cc14]

People hear the word strangles and just panic. I had one with my boy about 3 weeks ago, and as soon as the vet said strangles we all went into a meltdown. About 2 minutes later, we realised he was fine, it would be over in a week, and would just mean a bit of cleaning and disinfection which the place could do with anyway. In the end turned out to just be a virus, but we kept it no secret, all farriers and vets were told, no hacking took place etc.

Sadly it is one of those things where nobody is to blame but where horse snobbery tends to present itself slightly.

 

[Pearlsasinger]

Exactly. There is alot of panic amongst the uninformed. My yard got strangles about 15 years ago. I isolated all the obviously ill ones in one group and all the ones that had been in contact with the ill ones in another. The ones that had had no contact were also isolated. I had NO further cases.

I also had no further cases in the three months or so that we were "on alert" after symptoms cleared up.

You can only get strangles if your horse ingests the "snot" or the pus from an abcess from an infected horse. Shared water troughs are usually to blame. If an infected horse blew it's nose hard and your horse inhaled the droplets, he could become infected, but it's not likely.

Rigerous biosecurity is a must. We had dip trays every where and wore disposable boiler suits. We only had one groom looking after the infected horses and no other staff were allowed anywhere near them.

I had a riding school in those days, and yes, I stayed open! I couldn't afford to shut down for three months!! I was open and honest with all clients and foot dips were provided for them and fact sheets if they were likely to encounter other horses elsewhere.

There is no need to panic if a local yard has strangles. You certainly shouldn't be witch-hunting and complaining if they do. Be sensible and check if any farriers or others visiting your yard have been there before hand etc.

Strangles can spell disaster for businesses like mine. Local horse owners should be informed and supportive, and shouldn't be whispering and finger pointing. Maybe then the yards that have it would be less inclined to keep quiet!

Oh and one last thing..... so many strangles rumours turn out to be just that!! I have had many phone calls over the years from concerned locals as they have heard that my yard has strangles!! I had it once, 15 years ago and was open and honest, and STILL the rumours go on!!

The point there being that you told local people so that they could make their own bio-security arrangements, made sure that your clients knew about disinfectant dips and provided a fact sheet for them. You didn't, as this yard IS doing, deny that your yard has strangles and try to cover it up.
This particular yard doesn't have a reputation for being the most well-managed premises anyway, it is owned by the same family as another local RS and the two yards regularly share horses, which are hacked from one yard to the other. So there certainly is scepticism in the area about the rigour of their bio-security.
This yard already has 4 horses affected, so their management hasn't been too good so far!

 

[Monkers]

The point there being that you told local people so that they could make their own bio-security arrangements, made sure that your clients knew about disinfectant dips and provided a fact sheet for them. You didn't, as this yard IS doing, deny that your yard has strangles and try to cover it up.
This particular yard doesn't have a reputation for being the most well-managed premises anyway, it is owned by the same family as another local RS and the two yards regularly share horses, which are hacked from one yard to the other. So there certainly is scepticism in the area about the rigour of their bio-security.
This yard already has 4 horses affected, so their management hasn't been too good so far!

I appreciate this, but the OP was wondering why the yard was keeping their strangles a secret and why it hadn't closed down, and this was what I was trying to address.
If local horse owners offered their support and advice, it might be well recieved, instead of all the chinese whispers that tends to go on around the local horse community that surrounds an infected yard.

This yard may not be run as well as it could have, but I have a degree of sympathy for the owners as people are finger pointing and outraged that they haven't closed down. There is no excuse for poor biosecurity, but neither do they deserve critisism for not closing. They have to make money to feed the horses and pay the staff. Simple as that.

It may even be that they don't have strangles and it's another rumour! Might just be why they are "keeping it a secret"! I was accused of this a couple of years ago, but I didn't have strangles! Turned out it was another yard with a similar name a few miles away, that they meant. Guess what? They didn't have strangles either!

 

[Pearlsasinger]

Oh they definitely have strangles!
They have not informed their next-door neighbour whose horse grazes at the other side of the wall but fortunately someone else has.
Whilst I can see your argument for continuing to operate as a RS, did you really continue to hack out around the area? Did you tell any livery customers that they need to observe bio-security measures, or did you try to tell them that it was not really strangles that the ill horses on your yard had?
TBH, this is just the latest in a long list of irresponsible actions by a very young, much indulged, not very truthful about her qualifications, RS 'owner'

 

[ChesnutsRoasting]

A local(ish) yard has an outbreak of strangles, which they were trying to keep secret Why do yards insist on doing this? Surely we all know that this is just one of those unfortunate things that can happen (the illness) but it is so irresponsible to try and keep it secret IMO. This yard also has a riding school attached, I do not know if that is still open or not, but hope they stress the importance of biosecurity.

Stigma of Strangles equals reputation down the drain equals loss of business. Like most things in business, comes down to facts and figures.

 

[Monkers]

Oh they definitely have strangles!
They have not informed their next-door neighbour whose horse grazes at the other side of the wall but fortunately someone else has.
Whilst I can see your argument for continuing to operate as a RS, did you really continue to hack out around the area? Did you tell any livery customers that they need to observe bio-security measures, or did you try to tell them that it was not really strangles that the ill horses on your yard had?
TBH, this is just the latest in a long list of irresponsible actions by a very young, much indulged, not very truthful about her qualifications, RS 'owner'

No we did not hack out our horses as a courtesy to other horse owners. If we had, it wouldn't have been an issue anyway. You can not transmit strangles from healthy horses or sick ones for that matter unless your horse comes into DIRECT contact with snot or abcess pus.

I can assure you that I was honest with everyone livery owners included, that we had horses with strangles on the yard. I never tried to cover it up. To be honest I found most local horse people supportive and grateful for my honesty, but there is always a few prepared to bad mouth you about your chosen course of action, but those people are usually pretty ill informed about strangles and how it is spread.

 

[Pearlsasinger]

No we did not hack out our horses as a courtesy to other horse owners. If we had, it wouldn't have been an issue anyway. You can not transmit strangles from healthy horses or sick ones for that matter unless your horse comes into DIRECT contact with snot or abcess pus.

I can assure you that I was honest with everyone livery owners included, that we had horses with strangles on the yard. I never tried to cover it up. To be honest I found most local horse people supportive and grateful for my honesty, but there is always a few prepared to bad mouth you about your chosen course of action, but those people are usually pretty ill informed about strangles and how it is spread.

That is the answer that I was expecting from you. Unfortunately the yard the OP was talking about has not behaved in a similar responsible manner. This yard is trying to keep their problem a secret. Hence the thread title 'Why do yards try to keep strangles outbreaks secret?'
No-one has come up with a sensible answer to this question IMO

 

[Monkers]

That is the answer that I was expecting from you. Unfortunately the yard the OP was talking about has not behaved in a similar responsible manner. This yard is trying to keep their problem a secret. Hence the thread title 'Why do yards try to keep strangles outbreaks secret?'
No-one has come up with a sensible answer to this question IMO

? I think several people including myself have answered this. Whether you agree with our answer or not is up to you.

Yards keep it a secret because of the stigma attached and the potential loss of business that can create. I don't condone this approach, I believe honesty is the best policy, but this yard has chosen to keep quiet, and those are the reasons why!