Horses

General Recommendations

• Remember that bringing in new horses is the most likely way for infectious diseases to come to your established herd. Maintain a closed herd if possible.

• • A closed herd means do not allow new animals onto the farm and do not move existing animals off, and them back onto, your farm.

• Maintain complete and up-to-date medical records on all animals (vaccinations, medications, veterinary care, injuries, clinical signs of disease, movement records on and off the farms).
• ID animals individually.
• The best option for horses is a 134.5 MHz microchip which provides a unique 15-digit ID number that belongs to your animal (it will begin with 840).
• Call your veterinarian if you notice an unusual illness.
• Monitor animals daily for signs of disease.
• Determine the order of animals from most to least susceptible. When working with your animals work in this order, starting with the foals first and ending with the horse that is boarding for weeks.
• Have a valid veterinary/client/patient relationship when treating your animals and include your veterinarian in all herd health decisions (vaccinating, deworming, quarantine procedures, etc.).
• Create Standard Operating Procedures for different animal health tasks on the farm. For instance, have a written protocol for introducing a new horse to your farm and note where the farrier or veterinarian should park their vehicles and wash their equipment.
• For pastured animals, disperse feeding areas to prevent congregating in one area.
• Understand that vaccinating your animals may only reduce the severity of disease in animals and not prevent infection.
• With help from your veterinarian develop a vaccination protocol to produce and improve the herd level immunity. Discuss possibly vaccinating for:

• • Tetanus, rabies, Eastern Equine Encephalomyelitis (EEE), Western Equine Encephalomyelitis (WEE), and Venezuelan Equine Encephalomyelitis (VEE), West Nile virus, herpes viruses, strangles and others.
  • Make sure the appropriate booster vaccinations are given to provide optimum immunity and protection to the diseases.
  • Vaccination recommendations will vary depending on the age of the animals, geographic area, disease history, breeding animal etc.

Resident Animals

Foals

• Foals are born without a fully developed immune system.
• Adverse environmental and management conditions will further compromise the immune system of the foal increasing the risk of disease.
• Mares should foal in a clean environment.
• Minimize exposure of foals to a dirty environment.
• Dip the navel of the foal with appropriate product -within the first few hours of life.
• After birth the foals should be sitting up (sternal recumbency) in minutes, standing within one hour (normal range from 20 minutes to two hours), suckling within two hours (normal range from 35 minutes to four hours), and the placenta should have been passed within three hours. You may want to call your veterinarian if the foal has not stood by two hours, suckled by four hours, and the placenta has not passed by six hours.
• Normal body temperature 99-102° F, normal heart rate and respiration rate at one-hour post foaling 80-130 beats/min and 80 breaths/min respectfully.
• Normal foals should be active early in life (hours old) and very reactive to external stimuli.
• Know how to identify immature features of foals (premature and dysmature): low body weight, domed forehead, drooped ears, poor strength (increased joint laxity).
• Ensure that foals actively drink colostrum from the mare: carefully observe for good nursing behavior (1-5 minutes of suckling separated by short periods of sleeping).
• Call your veterinarian if you are concerned that the foal did not ingest an adequate amount of colostrum (failure of passive transfer).
• Measuring the serum immunoglobulin (lgG) should be done between 12-18 hours after birth.
• The sepsis syndrome is the greatest health risk to a newborn foal. The best way to reduce this risk is assuring adequate colostrum ingestion in a timely manner and providing an adequate environment for the mare and foal.
• Sepsis is caused by many different types of infectious agents including: gram positive bacteria, gram negative bacteria, fungi and viruses.

Breeding Mares

• Use artificial insemination to reduce the risk of sexually transmitted diseases.
• Breed your mares on your farm or at your local veterinary facility.
• Do not move your animals interstate to be bred or to foal as this will significantly increase their chances of becoming infected with contagious diseases.
• Try to identify animals that abort and keep the fetus and placenta for your veterinarian or submit to a diagnostic laboratory.

NEW ANIMALS

• Try to maintain a closed herd.
• Minimize frequency and number of new additions to your farm if possible.
• Have designated isolation facilities for all new animals (refer to Facilities section below).
• Transportation is stressful for animals and will reduce the immune system's ability to deal with potential pathogens.
• Transportation may also expose animals to harsh environmental conditions; cold, dry and poor quality air, extremes of temperature, infectious agents.
• Isolate new animals or returning animals for a minimum of three weeks, if possible, before introducing them into the resident herd. Less time may be satisfactory but it will increase the chance of introducing a disease.
• Purchase animals from reputable sources with known and trusted health programs:

• • Ask the seller to test the animals to be purchased 1- 2 times within 30 days of shipping.
  • Ask for a written account of the seller's herd health information and review this with your veterinarian before animals arrive on farm. Topics to discuss include: complete medical and vaccination history [ such as Equine Herpes Virus (EHV), Strangles, Equine Influenza (EI), Salmonella], movement history of the animal (especially international), and is the horse microchipped?
  • Try not to purchase from sale yards as this practice can represent a high risk of bringing disease onto your farm and complete histories of animals may not exist.

• Test new animals and observe for clinical signs while in quarantine facility. Remember that a negative test may not guarantee freedom from disease and a positive test result does not always mean the animal is infected. Talk to your veterinarian or laboratory for clarification of test results.
• Realize that vaccinating animals when stressed (recently transported, new environment, recently weaned, etc) may not provide the best protection.

Employees

• Check references and perform background checks for all prospective employees.
• Provide supervision to all new employees.
• Restrict employee access to their respective work areas.
• Train employees in good animal handling techniques. Good horsemanship adds to a positive environment that assists in maintaining animal immunity against disease.
• Train all employees to recognize signs of disease, alert supervisor of suspicious activities, and understand and follow procedures within the biosecurity plan.
• Train employees to understand that the movement of manure (on clothing, boots, equipment, animals, etc.) is one of the biggest biosecurity risks for on farm movement of diseases.
• Warn employees who have contact with off farm animals of the same species to not track off farm manure onto your farm.
• Require employees to wear clean clothing and boots.
• Create protocols for cleaning clothes daily and for washing boots and hands regularly.
• Require employees to wear gloves when caring for sick animals, assisting with births, and collecting dead animals.
• Require employees to work through groups of animals in a certain order, from clean to dirty, young to old, and healthy to sick, to reduce spreading disease to the more susceptible animals.
• Require employees working in "high risk areas" to remain in those areas or change clothing and footwear before leaving those areas.
• Retrain employees regularly to maintain a high level of employee performance in all their tasks including the biosecurity plan.

Visitors

• Visitors include routinely scheduled persons (veterinarians, haulers, fuel/feed deliveries, inseminators, vaccinators, utility readers, etc.) and non-routine persons (tours, salespeople, other equine owners, and regulatory personnel) who visit your farm.
• No person should enter your farm without your prior approval.
• All visitors should sign a log book. Include information, such as date, name, organization, phone number, reason for visit, and the last time they had contact with horses. This list will be an important tool used by investigators to contain an outbreak.
• Evaluate the level of risk associated with your visitors: Do they own animals? Do they move between farms? Will they have close contact with your animals? Have they recently returned from another country?
• Do not allow anyone who has been on a farm in a foreign country to enter equine units for a minimum of five days after returning to the US. Other countries may have diseases in their herds that are considered Transboundary Animal Diseases to us.
• Restrict visitors to the specific areas required for their task(s) Post signs to inform visitors of rules to follow while on the farm.
• Do not allow visitors to bring food articles with them on the farm.
• Visitors should be provided with new plastic shoe covers, clean rubber boots, or they must brush and then disinfect their shoes/boots with appropriate disinfectant before and after visiting the operation. Disinfectant will not work unless surfaces are clean and an adequate contact time is allowed.
• Visitors who will have contact with animals must wear clean coveralls.
• Visitors must wash hands their hands thoroughly with soap before and after accessing animal areas.

• Maintain optimum ventilation and sanitation in all facilities.
• Designate a quarantine/isolation facility on your farm.

• • Make sure isolation facility is well away (> 100 yards) from nearest resident animals with no possibility for nose-nose contact.
  • Isolation facility should be managed as an "all in-all out" (all animals in/all animals out) facility with cleaning and disinfection between groups.

• Locate all animal facilities as far away as possible from any public roads and neighboring farms.
• Lock all gates and storage buildings to keep secure while no one is working there.
• Store hazardous materials used on the farm (such as chemicals, fuels, pesticides, fertilizers) away from animal areas and feed areas and in secure locations with limited access. Maintain inventories and usage logs of these materials.
• Properly maintain equipment, buildings, fences, watering, feeding and waste management systems on a regular schedule.
• Reduce areas with standing water, drainage or run-off problems.
• Locate biosecurity high-risk areas away from other animals, such as sick pens and isolation facilities.

• • Maintain strict entry/exit sanitation and traffic control for personnel working in these areas.
  • Clean and disinfect these areas between animals.
  • Restrict the use of each high-risk area to its intended purpose.

• Limit access to your farm through gated entry sites that are clearly posted with signs.
• Post signs advising visitors that this is a biosecure area, and who to contact for entry permission.
• Lock gates and buildings when not in use.
• Repair and maintain fences. Fences should keep pastured animals away from roads and other farms; and should keep predators away from your animals.

• Park vehicles away from animal facilities, feed storage areas, and manure handling routes. Park all vehicles in designated areas, preferably on hard surfaces such as concrete or asphalt. Dirt, mud or manure on vehicles must not be allowed on unpaved areas. Use signs and/or barriers to direct vehicles to the designated areas.
• Do not share vehicles, trailers or equipment with other farms, without cleaning and disinfecting between uses.
• Be prepared to disinfect vehicle tires and wheel wells during a disease outbreak if a vehicle has to drive into flock production areas of your property.

• Buy feed from known, reliable vendors, and record all transactions.
• Store feed off the ground using feed tanks, pallets, barrels or containers with tight lids and smooth, cleanable surfaces.
• Protect feed from weather and moisture to prevent spoilage and mold growth. Remove and destroy spoiled feed and dispose of refused feed.
• Keep manure handling and feed handling equipment separate.
• Protect feed from vehicle and foot traffic, as well as from manure or urine run-off.
• Clean up and dispose of feed spills around storage bins and feed tanks to avoid attracting wild birds or rodents Completely clean out all feed storage areas between shipments.
• Feed and equipment delivery points preferably should be located close to the farm's perimeter.

• Use controlled water sources if available.
• Prevent contamination of water sources from manure or dead animals.
• Prevent animals from standing in the source of drinking water.
• Clean and inspect the water delivery system daily.
• Test well water for chemicals, mineral levels, heavy metals and microorganisms periodically.

• Be aware of current Confined Animal Facility Operation (CAFO) laws and regulations.
• Locate manure storage areas away from animal areas and prevent run-off into feed or water sources.
• Remove waste, as needed, and transport it with designated equipment to a designated storage or disposal area.
• Avoid spreading manure where susceptible animals graze, or, allow adequate time between spreading and returning animals to pasture.

• Develop a written pest control program, including a regular service schedule.
• Follow directions on baiting chemicals and place where resident animals and farm pets do not have access.
• Rodents (mice, rats) - seal potential entry points in buildings to prevent rodent access. Eliminate piles of wood and debris that could serve as rodent hiding places.
• Insects (flies, darkling beetles, mosquitoes) - focus control measures on manure, waste feed, ponds and other areas which are their breeding grounds.
• Wildlife (wild birds, raccoons, opossums, skunks, deer, feral swine) - restrict contact with wild animals using proper fencing, pens or enclosed housing.
• Hunters should keep dead game away from resident animals.
• Keep pets out of animal production sites, as they can spread disease too!

• Immediately dispose of all dead animals in an approved manner (such as, burial, incineration, composting, or landfill).
• Submit your animal for postmortem examination or have your veterinarian do an exam on the farm to determine cause of death.
• Provide a secure pick-up site away from public observation where dead stock vehicles do not have to enter or come near animal units.
• Confined animal facilities must dispose of dead animals using an approved method or site, as specified in the producer's permitted Comprehensive Nutrient Management Plan or Animal Facilities Management Plan. This management plan must provide both a normal and a catastrophic mortality disposal / treatment method. A catastrophic plan must be in place for a disease or natural event in which the mortality rate is higher than normal or more than the mortality plan options can handle. Arrange an inspection of sites for non-confined facilities (range animals) to pre-approved mass animal burial sites.

The more animals there are congregating at an event, the more risk that a contagious disease will spread from one animal to another. For instance, a trail ride group will most likely be less of a risk than a large three-day event.

Try to minimize the risk that an infected animal will spread a disease before, during and after an event. You will have to adapt your biosecurity plan to each event as they will all be different.

Before the Event

• Do not take any animals to an event that are sick or have been sick in the last two weeks.
• Make sure that you have an up to date Equine Infectious Anemia (EIA) negative test (Coggins form), Certificate of Veterinary Inspection, and other paperwork you may need to participate in the event.
• Contact the event organizers prior to commencement and inquire about their biosecurity plan/rules.
• Wear freshly laundered and designated event clothes to reduce the chance of your carrying a disease into the event.
• Clean and disinfect both the vehicle and trailer/float prior to arriving at the event.
• Clean out the feet of the animals you are taking to the event.
• Clean and disinfect (if possible) any equipment/tack you are taking to the event.
• Before and during check-in do not allow unnecessary people to gather around your animals. For example, only allow access to your party and officials until you have entered the event.

During the Event

• Try to keep you animals separate from other animals at the event.
• Bring your own designated water and feed bucket which has been cleaned and disinfected.
• Bring your own feed (and water if necessary).
• Do not share equipment or tack with other people/horses.
• Do not bring your pets (dogs).
• Prevent spectators from touching your animals.
• Wash your hands before and after you make contact with your animal(s).
• Use a foot bath before and after you access your stall/stable.
• If your animal becomes sick at the event, isolate it, contact the event official/veterinarian by cell phone if possible (stay with the horse), and try not to come in contact with other people or animals.

After the Event

• Take your animal(s) directly home after the event Wash equipment, tack, trailer, vehicle and the animal(s) (including feet) in a designated area prior to using it again (this may be done at the event in some cases).
• Place your animal(s) in the isolation facility for a minimum of two weeks.
• Shower and change clothes before contacting other animals.
• Monitor animals closely for at least seven days after returning home (many contagious diseases will show signs within seven days of exposure).