Not me but close, strangles

Jessey

Jessey

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Dec 20, 2004
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Suffolk, UK
I've just found out my friends yard has comfirmed strangles, they are just up the lane from me, not quite a mile, 1 died, 1 confirmed, 2 inconclusive so will be retested, the rest clear for now (they have probably 20 horses on the yard).
So into super bio control I go, now off to get disinfectant :(
 
As long as everyone is sensible it isn't that easy to pass on, but like you I'd still be worrying.

I assume the yard has been sensible & has been on lockdown as soon as they suspected strangles - no hacking out or shows, telling any professionals so they could make visits the last of the day, not going to tack shops etc in clothes that they've just worn to the yard and so on. The fact that so many horses on the yard are showing no signs suggests they've acted quickly & carefully, so fingers crossed it's contained.

For you I guess all you can do is try to avoid shared routes - though any damage would probably already be done by now - & no grazing out hacking. Maybe double check with necessary visitors that they haven't been there first & keeping visitors to a minimum. And pray, it never does any harm & may just help.
 
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A mile away is nothing. For me that would be like my main hacking route. Very worrying. You also get those that will carry one regardless hacking out.
 
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Its right at my main access point into the forest and between me and them is 6 properties, 5 have horses on.

They've locked down and are hopefully dealing with it, unfortunately the owner hasn't made any announcement so all we know is hearsay, though my source shares a horse on the yard so is pretty reliable (but hasn't been there recently due to work commitments) I just think it's best to be up front and let people know you are dealing with it.

I've got a group outing to a local cross country booked for next Sunday which I will cancel as I think it's just too risky and I'm sure the venues liveries will agree, but I don't want to announce I'm cancelling due to strangles with out giving the livery owner a chance to say her bit first, I'm going to give it a couple of days then I'll have to approach her to let her know I plan to put it on the group page (she's a member on there), of course I won't do it in a negative way, just that we are supporting their lock down but I don't want her to feel like we are talking about her in any way.
 
I'm stressing over this, I really don't want my horses to get it for 1, 2 I don't need a huge vet bill right now and 3 our horsey holiday is booked for next Thursday.....and last night I saw the infected yards owner driving past my place to go and hay the horses in her field, which means she drives in, drops the bale and drives back out past mine. As far as I know the horses in the field were all tested negative, but they would remain high risk being next to the infected yard I would think? and I don't know if she is spraying down her vehicle after leaving the field but I doubt it :(
 
If they were tested negative then they don't pose a risk, and it may be that she's moved them away from the yard to try to avoid infection - that being the case she's going to try to be sensible about biosecurity. Strangles isn't airborne so driving past or being next to the yard isn't increasing the risk as long as there's no physical contact. It's extremely unlikely that she's increasing the risk to yours, but to be safe just don't graze them where she's driven.
 
I would be too, but as long as everyone is being sensible the risk is minimal. The cases to worry about are the ones you don't hear about!
 
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Please try not to worry.......

Strangles is a bacteria and bacteria can't walk or fly. You can ONLY catch it via direct contact with snot/phlegm etc into an area of vulnerbility. So there needs to a) be some infectious material that gets up your horse's nose somehow or into their body.

The vast majority of cases are via nose to nose contact or via sharing water buckets/haynets.

In theory you can catch it if an infected horse sneezes on you. Not near you - via air borne disease - but actually sneezes infected snot right into your horse's face.Which is unlikely. In theory animals can carry it on their paws and then run into your field and then your horse can graze. But again this is a minimal risk. Especially as there would be precious little snot left on the paw after a mile!

When we had strangles the vet in charge of the outbreak told us who we had to tell. This was essentially just the venues where horses from the yard had gone to in the days leading up to diagnosis and anyone working on the yard eg farriers etc. We did NOT tell local yards. The vet said there was no need as we did not pose any kind of risk to them.

The 8 horses with the illness were kept in an isolation field with no shared fence lines but they were still on the yard. There were100 horses on the yard and none of them got strangles without direct exposure - there was zero spread beyond those 8 and the 7 had been directly exposed to the first ill horse.
 
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I understand its not airbourne, just worry she's dragging infected material right past my gate, its not just whats on the tyres, but loose hay the horses in the field have pulled off and dropped back on the truck etc. there might not be much left after a mile but it doesn't take much.

The thing about telling people is at least they then know you aren't trying to hide it (people who hide things tend to be those not dealing with it properly in my past experience) and there are dozens of us that ride along their fence line into the forest, several of my neighbours let the horses 'talk' over the fence and we ride regularly with horses off of her yard, so it would have been the responsible thing to at least let the neighbours know. She has another field the opposite side of me, 1 of her horses and 2 others, the lass who owns the 2 and does the day to day care hadn't even been told and the YO delivers hay and feed into the field for her regularly..... She hadn't even let everyone on her yard know, my friend shares there and I knew before she did. It may pose a small risk to others, but common courtesy says you let people know so they can make their own decisions for their own horse and perhaps increase their own biosecurity measures while its in the area.
 
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I agree with you about the telling people, & I think most people will have more respect for someone who does. I think there is still a bit of a stigma in some people's minds though - we know strangles is simply a bacterial infection but there's probably a few people around who see an infected yard & think it's badly managed or dirty - and so people are reluctant to disclose it.

Remember the horses in the field have tested clear, so even if a bit of hay they've pulled off & dropped back into the truck should blow into your field & then yours should chance to eat it there's no problem because there's no infection to transfer. And are your horses really going to be falling on a bit of loose, blowing around hay when they have enough to eat & the grass is starting to grow?
 
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carthorse said:
I agree with you about the telling people, & I think most people will have more respect for someone who does. I think there is still a bit of a stigma in some people's minds though - we know strangles is simply a bacterial infection but there's probably a few people around who see an infected yard & think it's badly managed or dirty - and so people are reluctant to disclose it.

Remember the horses in the field have tested clear, so even if a bit of hay they've pulled off & dropped back into the truck should blow into your field & then yours should chance to eat it there's no problem because there's no infection to transfer. And are your horses really going to be falling on a bit of loose, blowing around hay when they have enough to eat & the grass is starting to grow?
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Haha no telling with the terrible little boys :p but no you are right, unlikely. I have been told those horses tested clear, but also heard whispers yesterday that she left testing up to the owner and that not all were done.... I take the point though, stop worrying :p
 
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