EHV show cancellations

[luvsminis]

Does anybody know if any of the miniature horse shows have been canceled because of the EHV (Equine Herpes Virus), and what about Nationals? Has anyone contacted AMHR yet on this?

 

[Mominis]

I have not heard of any cancellations in the midwest due to EHV. I did read that Gordyville and a few others have special regulations about horses (temperatures taken, etc). I can't imagine that they'd cancel Nationals though.

 

[Joanne]

In California yes. And I am so happy they did. It is a wise decision and worth the effort to stop the transfer of the virus.

I am very proud of the miniature horse industry for complying to the suggestions and skipping a couple of shows.

 

[Mominis]

This is just MHO....I think that, in light of so many of us skipping shows this year for the safety of our horses, the National Show Committee should consider waiving the qualification requirements for this one season. ETA: I did send an email to ASPC/AMHR in regards to this.

 

[luvsminis]

That is an excellent idea. Maybe they will consider it. I am truly wanting to take my little stallion to Nationals, but not at the expense of possibly getting him sick with this dreaded disease. I guess the risk would be high there too though, but the more shows you go to, the more chance you take of your little ones getting it. My brother said that they have cancelled many shows out in Texas for the quarter horses that he attends. This virus can be transmitted by just breathing the same air that infected horses have. So any show would be risky. Are a lot of people considering not going to very many shows?

 

[Mark & Sharon Bullington]

I spoke to Lenard Davenport the other day. He has already had phone calls about Congress and Nationals. They are NOT contemplating cancellation of these shows. I understand how serious this disease is - but c'mon people. Every time you take your horse off of your property you take the chance of picking up some kind of equine sickness. There is an outbreak of something each and every year in the USA - and we get through it every year. The horses infected in Utah have been quarantined. And if people stay away from them and eliminate the chance for cross contamination, this outbreak will die out 2-3 weeks from its INCEPTION. Long before Congress, Nationals, and the World show as well.

 

[Katiean]

I spoke to Lenard Davenport the other day. He has already had phone calls about Congress and Nationals. They are NOT contemplating cancellation of these shows. I understand how serious this disease is - but c'mon people. Every time you take your horse off of your property you take the chance of picking up some kind of equine sickness. There is an outbreak of something each and every year in the USA - and we get through it every year. The horses infected in Utah have been quarantined. And if people stay away from them and eliminate the chance for cross contamination, this outbreak will die out 2-3 weeks from its INCEPTION. Long before Congress, Nationals, and the World show as well.

Yes there is an outbreak of something every year. However, The mortality rate of THIS outbreak extremely high and the cost of saving your horses is very, very high. Let alone the suffering that your horse would go through contracting this disease. They still have not decided if they are canceling the Reno Rodeo yet. Last week we had confirmed cases of EVH-1 here in Washoe county. There is a shoeing school I want to take my horses to. But, as long as this thing is floating around out there There is no way my horses are leaving the property.

 

[Mominis]

I am sure it will have been brought under control before Nationals. We are going to Tulsa for sure. However, my concern is for the qualifying shows. We decided to skip what was to be the first show of our season to qualify as the outbreak is so new and no one is sure exactly how far reaching it will be, at this point. We are still tentaively planning to hit the July show in Colombia and certainly the Bluestem in August to get qualified. However, if the option were there to get qualified without having to haul out during all of this, I'd jump on it and skip the July show.

The biggest problem is that, should a case confirm anywhere in the state while we are at a horse show, our boarding barn will go on lockdown. That means no horses in at all period. Can you imagine being at a show and suddenly finding out that you couldn't take your horses home after the show was over? I am pretty sure my neighborhood association would frown on two minis jaunting about in my back yard.

 

[Charlotte]

I suspect the next 30 days will tell us whether this is under control or not. And this isn't a new disease. There have been outbreaks in various states for a number of years. I have mostly heard of outbreaks in the Eastern US in the past so I am a little surprised at the reaction to this one outbreak.

Charlotte

 

[hobbyhorse23]

The Emerald Valley AMHA show here in the NW was cancelled due to the outbreak just to be on the safe side. We had one of the original Utah cutting horses in isolation at my local clinic with the illness but he survived and has been sent home to Eastern WA once it was confirmed that he was no longer shedding the virus. Believe me, I was more than a little irate with the clinic for not telling me he was there before I brought my horses in for elective chiropractic and dental work!

I ASKED, they said they did not have any cases, and I found out later his positive test results had in fact come back the day before.

Thankfully both my horses are fine and it's been almost two weeks since they were at the clinic. Once they are past the incubation period I will consider taking them back out depending on what I'm hearing about the state of the outbreak. (There's really not much risk since he went straight to isolation, but I don't want to even potentially expose any of my friends' horses if it turns out I was wrong.)

I'll be honest- if I stay home from the two R shows in June (which comprise our entire remaining show season here) it will not be because of the illness unless something changes. Budget, weather (it's still too cold to clip here), work, but not the illness.

Leia

 

[Minimor]

People keep saying that this is so much more virulent than previous infections, but no one has said how that evaluation is made. Numbers affected? Really, for the numbers being reported, as compared to the number of horses that were at the Ogden competition...the greater percentage have not come down with symptoms. Of those that do have symptoms, more seem to have respiratory symptoms only, it's a very small percentage that actually have had neurological symptoms. When there were the outbreaks earlier in the year at some of the eastern racetracks....at any given track it didn't shut the entire facility down. Quarantine was limited only to specific barns. This latest outbreak created more of a stir because so many states were potentially affected--the Ogden cutting horses scattered back home to all parts of the country, creating the potential for the infection to spread to many other horses. That hasn't happened.

In any case, the EHV-1 outbreak has not caused any show cancellations in this province. People have done their homework, assessed the risk and determined that our local shows are safe. Many are choosing to not travel to out of province shows at this time, but all of those that have had their sights set on Nationals are not ruling Nationals out. None of those are saying they won't attend Nationals--I don't think they are even THINKING it, not even as a very remote possibility.