Trade Now or Wait??

[Annabellarose]

Regarding quarantine, for those reading / learning, keep in mind that it may prevent "nose to nose" spread of illness but what about the illnesses spread by insects and by you yourself as you tend to each of your horses a couple times a day. I'm not saying don't quarantine new horses, but to fully understand the limitations of whatever protection that may actualy offer your horses.

I, personally, do not touch a quarantined horse and then touch my other horses until after I have washed my hands and/or changed my cloths (if I do more than just pet or touch the horse with my hands, i.e.: groom, ride, etc.). I have an area where I quarantine new horses that is removed from my other horses. You do have a point about insects, but there isn't a lot that you can do about that, but nose to nose, dirty hands, and shared water and/or feed buckets are going to pose a greater threat than insects.

 

[Jill]

Right, I'm not saying not to quarantine, but to be aware that the protection it offers is limited. I've "shipped in" probably 15 horses and not ever had a problem -- then again, I never have brought in one from a farm where I knew there was a very serious illness going on... the situation we're talking about at this farm is a potentially fatal and contagious issue.

And washing hands is great, of course, but to really do all you can to protect, you'd want to also change your clothes and your shoes. Trying to point out to people who do quarantine that they should realize it offers limited protection and if they do it, there are things that can be done to strengthen the protection.

 

[Brandi*]

In my experience (only happened once) I would in no way bring any horse that was remotely near the sick filly near other horses for at least 3 weeks. I once brought a colt to live with Miss Melody and was told he was just getting over a little cold and had already been given antibiotics for it. Well long story short Miss Melody was in the hospital for a week and a half and barely made it

I learned a hard lesson but will certainly know what to do and what NOT to do in the future. It's just not worth the risk

Hopefully the person you're trading with will understand

 

[SHANA]

Just so everyone knows Frosty DOES NOT have Rhodococcus Equi, she only has a day left of of Excenel (tommorow am and pm) and just had a cold and is now better per my vet. She is back to her good old self. I talked with my vet this morning and asked him a billion questions and told my vet to phone the lady I am trading with to answer any and all her questions. As for the 2 adult horses I am trading they have not been near my weanlings at all and are seperated by 2 roads and some pasture(+ intersection) and stay outdoors with a huge run in shed. The filly that she is taking was checked by my vet friday and is 100% healthy. It'll be probably another 2 weeks by the time the shipper heads this way, so about 3 weeks since Frosty became sick. I feel that is long enough and if the other filly does get sick I WILL NOT PUT HER ON THE TRAILER. I am not stupid. Also my vet didn't say horses that are not inbred can't get that Rhodoccus Equi just that he sees it more in ones that are inbred. Sorry if you misunderstood ME.

 

[Mona]

Just so everyone knows Frosty DOES NOT have Rhodococcus Equi, she only has a day left of of Excenel (tommorow am and pm) and just had a cold and is now better per my vet. She is back to her good old self. I talked with my vet this morning and asked him a billion questions and told my vet to phone the lady I am trading with to answer any and all her questions. As for the 2 adult horses I am trading they have not been near my weanlings at all and are seperated by 2 roads and some pasture(+ intersection) and stay outdoors with a huge run in shed. The filly that she is taking was checked by my vet friday and is 100% healthy. It'll be probably another 2 weeks by the time the shipper heads this way, so about 3 weeks since Frosty became sick. I feel that is long enough and if the other filly does get sick I WILL NOT PUT HER ON THE TRAILER. I am not stupid. Also my vet didn't say horses that are not inbred can't get that Rhodoccus Equi just that he sees it more in ones that are inbred. Sorry if you misunderstood ME.

Shana, how can you say this now? In your post back on page 2 (Oct. 24) of your original thread you started about your sick filly, you stated: (I bolded mine)

Well vet just left and some good news, she doesn't have heart failure but does have Rhodococcus Equi which is the disease I was talking about that horses that are inbred get quite often. I asked my vet to write it down so I could remember it.

That was AFTER the vet saw her and left, and AFTER you said he even wrote it down for you. Now you are saying that is not true??

 

[SHANA]

Mona because my vet told me this morning. The medicine she is on now DOES NOT cure Rhodococcus Equi(only the pills which I was supposed to give her do) and Frosty is fine with just the Excanel. My vet drove by here this morning. My vet did write it down but told me this morning it was only a cold as she was doing so well on Excanel.

 

[Minimor]

Keep in mind that a course of treatment with any given drug does not ensure that the 'bug' won't return once treatment is stopped. As I mentioned on another thread, there are a couple farms here that have had problems with that this year. Some of the horses on one farm have had 3 rounds of Excenel--horses seem to be all better when the treatment is complete, but 10 days to two weeks later the horses again have snotty noses and/or coughs. After 3 rounds of treatment the owner has given up and is letting it run its course--HOPING it will run its course soon and be gone for good.

And that is one reason why, if I were concerned about a horse coming in and spreading something to my other horses, I would wait at least a month after treatment ends/symptoms disappear before bringing that horse or it's pasture mates onto my property. I'd want to know for sure that the horse is healthy.

 

[rabbitsfizz]

There is not a cure for Rhodococcus Equi.

How could we have misunderstood when you stated quite clearly that this was what she had??

Your Vet is wrong!!

Inbreeding does not actually have any affect on the horse,only bad breeding, which is not in any way the same thing, maybe he just does not like inbred horses??

 

[mizbeth]

I agree with the others. I would wait also and would quarantine the horses that I bought when they arrive as well. I guarantine any new horse that comes here anyway regardless, as not all folks are so honest. Some horses are just not sick when shipped but pick up something along the way.

Good luck.......

Beth

 

[SHANA]

I gave the lady the vet clinics phone number as well as my vets name so she is more than welcome to talk with him. My filly that is sick will be kept seperate from the others until this ladys' minis leave. All the other weanlings are still fine.

 

[Saber]

Just wondering .....is a just a "Cold" not still Contagious????

 

[Jill]

I'd figure anything along the lines of what has been described is very contagious and the filly that did get sick was reportedly not expected to even make it the first night. I'd use extreme caution... For one thing, if you're like me, you will quickly get attached to the new horse (and if it becomes sick, how heart wrenching) not to mention how much you love and care for your existing horses.

 

[Irish Hills Farm]

My own personal feelings, I would not even want a horse on my property that is coming from a farm that continuously has sick horses. I don't need the headache.

 

[SHANA]

Irish Hills Farm I find that statement very rude. This is the FIRST sick horse I had here this year. The only other horse I had that was sick was over a year ago and that was my stallion from Arkansas as he arrived in late August and was not use to our cold weather so got sick even though he did wear a blanket when he went out. I don't continually have sick horses. Having 2 mares lose foals this year is not considered a sick horse but happens to the best of breeders. Also the lady I am trading with knows me, we have bought and sold from each other on numerous occasions and not once did I send her a sick horse. She knows I would not send a sick horse as I am not that type of person. She also only lives about 4 hours from me and my husband and I have gone to her farm on numerous occasions with our truck and trailer.

 

[Irish Hills Farm]

Irish Hills Farm I find that statement very rude. This is the FIRST sick horse I had here this year. The only other horse I had that was sick was over a year ago and that was my stallion from Arkansas as he arrived in late August and was not use to our cold weather so got sick even though he did wear a blanket when he went out. I don't continually have sick horses. Having 2 mares lose foals this year is not considered a sick horse but happens to the best of breeders. Also the lady I am trading with knows me, we have bought and sold from each other on numerous occasions and not once did I send her a sick horse. She knows I would not send a sick horse as I am not that type of person. She also only lives about 4 hours from me and my husband and I have gone to her farm on numerous occasions with our truck and trailer.

Who said I was talking about you? Did I say Shana's farm? Nope, sure didn't. Just stated my personal opinion. IF you felt the need to feel that I was talking about you, well I don't know what to tell you.

 

[SHANA]

Irish Hills Farm, the way you wrote it made it sound like I always have sick horses.

Also so you all know I don't own a farm technically, my husband and I only have less than a acre of land. The farm where my minis are is my neighbors farm, who also happen to be my in-laws but it will be my husbands farm when my father-in-law decides to retire. My arabians are at my parents farm which is 30 minutes away. My parents supply the hay for my arabians and grain which is really nice of them as they grow their own hay. They enjoy having the horses there as they only have about 20 sheep and LOTS of pasture. I may send some of my minis there next summer. Here we also grow our own hay but did buy some nice horse hay in round bales to feed this past summer. We are now feeding square bales. We buy our shavings from the local sawmill for $25 a load. Two loads lasts me all winter. The sawmill puts my shavings seperate from shavings that cannot be used for horse bedding so no worries about that. They put all pine shavings in one shaving building.

 

[Brandi*]

Shauna,

So sorry things are coming out the way they are here

I'm sure you are doing everything possible to keep everyone healthy and we all know you don't constantly have sick horses. Having said that I still think it is in the best interest of all involved to postpone the trade. JMO What's the hurry right. It will be much better when both parties are comfortable with the circumstances

 

[Irish Hills Farm]

Again, SHANA, I never said I was talking about you.

 

[Genie]

Just a thought but......It may have been better for this thread to have not started in the first place, since it seems that both parties know each other quite well, and also likely know they are both forum members.

If I was having second thoughts about a deal, and especially when it was regarding a horse coming from a location where it was recently announced that there was some unknown sickness going on, I think common sense would just tell me to just put it off instead of asking a lot of people for opinions, which are only going to upset one, or maybe even both parties.

I think most of us who have had horses for some time, and especially those out there with large numbers of horses, are also the type of animal owner who would not need to wonder if a horse should be brought in from a farm where they were well aware of some sort of health issue going on.

This is only my opinion and just thinking out loud