I love my yard. It is 5 minutes from home, has good facilities and is very friendly. And has onsite staff who can offer assisted or full livery 365 days a year on a week by week basis which is great for me as I have lots of other commitments. The closeness also means that I can ride early myself, then turn out. Then drop the girls there after school, then ferry my son around, then pick them up. I am often up there 3 separate times a day. Or more!
BUT.......
After the latest strangles episode the horses who were exposed to Oscar and Amber are not being blood tested. Their owners don't want the expense, can't see the need and it is not being enforced.So it seems a high probability that some horses on the yard will now be silent carriers. And I just don't think I can stay on a yard where that is the case. Or is that likely to be the case everywhere?
Interestingly there was another strangles outbreak on the yard 2 1/2 years ago and again no-one was screened afterwards. When I came to sell Cally she tested positive for exposure though then negative on the guttural pouch test. Vet said the outbreak we knew about was too long ago for her to still be testing positive on the blood test, so she picked it up more recently than that - presumably a silent carrier as she was never exposed to an ill horse as far as I know. My vet said that big yards like this one are notorious for having silent carriers and outbreaks tend to occur when a new horse moves on and gets infected by the carrier. Invariably the new horse is blamed! But actually the established herd has some immunity so does not show symptoms but the new horse is vulnerable so gets ill.
So 4 of my horses (if you include Cally) have had direct exposure to strangles strong enough to either make them ill or to trigger an antibody response. I don't want that to keep happening!
No other yard is anywhere near as convenient as this one. But would this be a deal-breaker for you. Would you move?
BUT.......
After the latest strangles episode the horses who were exposed to Oscar and Amber are not being blood tested. Their owners don't want the expense, can't see the need and it is not being enforced.So it seems a high probability that some horses on the yard will now be silent carriers. And I just don't think I can stay on a yard where that is the case. Or is that likely to be the case everywhere?
Interestingly there was another strangles outbreak on the yard 2 1/2 years ago and again no-one was screened afterwards. When I came to sell Cally she tested positive for exposure though then negative on the guttural pouch test. Vet said the outbreak we knew about was too long ago for her to still be testing positive on the blood test, so she picked it up more recently than that - presumably a silent carrier as she was never exposed to an ill horse as far as I know. My vet said that big yards like this one are notorious for having silent carriers and outbreaks tend to occur when a new horse moves on and gets infected by the carrier. Invariably the new horse is blamed! But actually the established herd has some immunity so does not show symptoms but the new horse is vulnerable so gets ill.
So 4 of my horses (if you include Cally) have had direct exposure to strangles strong enough to either make them ill or to trigger an antibody response. I don't want that to keep happening!
No other yard is anywhere near as convenient as this one. But would this be a deal-breaker for you. Would you move?