“What
if…” or the Importance of Quarantine
By
Alejandra Abella for Equestrian Services,
LLC
 Illness
is a fact of life for all living beings and,
to horse-owners, an illness that attacks our
herd might as well be attacking our family.
We dread it and fret over it, and yet few
of us prepare for its eventuality as properly
as we should. It may be because of the “it
won’t happen to me” syndrome,
or perhaps it is the added expense and land
allocation that stop us, but the truth is
this should be our slogan: Have Horses, Must
Quarantine.
With the Equine Herpes Virus attacks that
afflicted several riding and track operations
in the U.S. last year and in the beginning
of 2006, and the worries about new viruses
threatening both animal and human populations
--such as the infamous Bird Flu-- this is
a timely issue to tackle. Biosecurity requires
a three-pronged approach:
- Vaccinate regularly
- Do not introduce new diseases
- Do not allow transmission of
existing disease
All
three are important management strategies,
and a quarantine area can help you with at
least two of them.
Proactive Quarantine Areas
We all know quarantine areas as the place
where sick horses are segregated, hence preventing
the spread of disease. However, they are not
only for horses that are ill. In fact, their
most important role is that of protector from
illness, separating newly arrived horses from
the regular equine residents and preventing
the introduction of new diseases. The quarantine
area can be your knight in shining armor,
riding in just in time to save your horses.
But in order for it to be effective, it must
be prepared for battle before illness strikes.
 A
quarantine area need not be an ugly, unsightly
component of your farm. It can be a cute little
stall or run-in shed with a sweet little paddock
or turn-out area of its own, but it does need
to be at least 300 yards from your central
facility and from contact with your main herd.
This is because air-borne illnesses and infected
insects tend not to travel beyond the 300
yard boundary. If you have ample availability
of land you may even want to go beyond that
distance (up to 2 miles is best!), but make
sure that the distance involved in feeding
and caring for a quarantined horse doesn’t
also cause a management nightmare. Having
to feed and clean two separate locations can
affect your bottom line in terms of labor
hours, or if you are the main caretaker for
you horses, it can become an additional burden,
so location planning is key. And this brings
us to the next point: efficiency.
Efficient Quarantine Areas
Like with all other elements of your equestrian
facility, planning is possibly the most important
aspect of your quarantine area. Planning will
help you correctly locate the quarantine area
within your property so that it is not only
effective, but also efficient.
So let’s look to the purpose of a quarantine
area for answers on planning for it. What
does the quarantine area do? First, it segregates
sick horses from the rest of the herd so that,
at the very first sign of illness, the disease
can be contained as much as possible. Second,
it separates newly arrived horses from the
herd so that, should there be latent disease
in the newly arrived horse, the regular residents
are not infected.
 Now, how does the quarantine area do what
it does? It segregates through distance, but
it also needs time to be effective: 14 to
21 days of quarantine are usually sufficient
for a concealed disease to emerge as symptoms
in a new equine resident. Then, once a disease
has manifested itself, your vet (and sometimes
the State vet, if the condition is highly
contagious) will tell you for how long the
horse or horses must be quarantined. In addition,
you may be instructed to handle sick horses
with rubber or disposable gloves and/or change
clothes and shoes between handling of sick
and healthy horses, so that you don’t
transport contagion on your person. Needless
to say, the sick horse’s buckets, grooming
tools, blankets…they all must be segregated
from your healthy horses.
Therein is the importance of planning: time
and distance will determine the success of
your quarantine area and, by extension, of
your operation during a crisis. You will want
your quarantine area to be at a certain distance,
and yet easily accessible and manageable.
If you must change clothes between the quarantine
area and your main barn, you may want the
quarantine area to be on your way out, so
that you only have to change once and so that
the last contact you have before going home
to shower was contact with the quarantined
horse/s. Quarantine clothes and shoes may
even need to “live” at the quarantined
area, so plan for even a small storage space.
You will also want to have access to water,
electricity and all the comforts of an equine
home, so planning for your quarantine area
must be done in unison with planning for your
water access routes and electrical work. Think
of direct outlets, because x-ray machines
sometimes require direct contact to an electrical
source, rather than through an extension cord,
and you may have to clip areas of your horse’s
coat for veterinary interventions. A quarantined
horse may have to be off pasture, so planning
for a dry turn-out area is essential.
The health of your horses may well depend
on having an assigned quarantine area and
facility, and it may save the health of your
operation as well. The cost of having to plan,
design and build one may seem unnecessary
to you at first but, believe me, disease can
happen to any of us and it is better to be
safe than sorry. And the first time you lose
an irreplaceable horse (and aren’t they
all?) the cost of that quarantine area will
seem insignificant in comparison. Better to
be safe; don’t be caught thinking “what
if….” |
A Better Life
Through Horses
By
Sarah L. Mesa for Equestrian Services, LLC
Dog may be man’s
best friend, but horses can offer the same
and maybe even more emotional benefits to
their humans as other companion pets. Pets
have been shown to enrich people’s lives
at the physical, emotional and social levels.
Being social animals themselves, horses can
play a particularly interesting role in helping
us not only to relax but also to teach us
useful communication tools that can be applied
to other areas of our lives.
Even the image of horses grazing among rolling
fields of green grass conjures up a feeling
of relaxation and contentment, which explains
the growing popularity of equestrian communities,
where even non-equestrians can enjoy the benefits
of seeing horses outside their windows.
The
emotional connection between humans and animals
has always been supported by anecdotal stories.
Now, research studies are showing instances
of the human-animal bond that are improving
people’s attitudes, assisting in mental
health therapies and are linked to better
physical health.
Many people with chronic back pain report
that horseback riding provides excellent relief
as the movement in their backs created by
the horse’s gaits naturally lubricates
the joints of the rider’s spine. Those
with arthritis benefit from the consistent
physical activity of caring for and riding
horses that helps alleviate their persistent
pain.
Like other sports, horseback riding offers
the physical benefits of exercise. But unlike
other sports, the added component of dealing
with a living, breathing, thinking animal
to accomplish your goals also requires added
intellectual and emotional work. The payoff
to that extra challenge is the immensely satisfying
feeling of making a connection with an animal
that has become your partner.
Horses, who are large and can be very powerful,
can also be intimidating to some. But that
size and power also creates an opportunity
for people to overcome fears and build their
confidence, which can be related to other
challenging and intimidating situations in
their lives.
Not surprisingly, the examples of the benefits
horses can have on one’s emotional and
physical well-being are not a recent phenomenon.
According to the American Hippotherapy Association,
references to using horses for physical exercise
were recorded as early as 377 B.C. when Hippocrates
wrote a chapter on “Natural Exercise”
and included horseback riding. During the
18th century, hippotherapy, also known as
therapeutic horseback riding, was prescribed
by doctors to help patients with improving
coordination and balance.
While most people have heard of therapeutic
riding programs for the handicapped and disabled,
the use of horses for mental health is a relatively
new field that is rapidly growing in popularity.
Equine Assisted Psychotherapy (EAP) utilizes
horses to encourage the development of communication
skills by analyzing body language and encouraging
patients to learn new ways of identifying
with and expressing their emotions to others.
 As
herd animals, horses learn what their roles
in each social situation are and develop different
attitudes and personalities accordingly. Patients
discover that the way they approach one horse
may not work with another horse, so they have
to adapt and develop different techniques
for expressing themselves, just as they have
to do in situations with other people.
Anyone who can describe a special bond with
their pet understands the strong bond a companion
animal can offer. Pets, including horses,
rely on us to provide them with everything
they need to survive; food, shelter, care
and companionship. In return, they offer their
unconditional love and, often times, unfailing
loyalty. These are qualities that we can strive
for in all our relationships, not just those
with our animals.
|
Don’t forget, Trail Trotters’ Day, an event created
and sponsored by the Equestrian Land Conservation
Resource, is rapidly approaching. This day
of trail improvement and maintenance is an
excellent method for developing relationships
with land owners and managers, giving back
to the land that they so kindly offer to us
for equestrian use.