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Developing Story: Three Barns At Laurel Under Quarantine Due To Equine Herpesvirus

The Maryland Jockey Club alerted horsemen on Tuesday that three barns at Laurel Park — Barns 4, 10, and 11 — have been placed under quarantine due to equine herpesvirus.

Horsemen are asked to take horses' temperatures twice daily and monitor them for signs of the disease. Equine herpesvirus is a highly transmissible respiratory illness which can spread through nasal discharge or aerosol droplets. It can also be spread passively on surfaces such as human hands, shared grooming tools, and tack. There are several strains of equine herpesvirus, with the most common being EHV-1 and EHV-4. EHV-1 presents as a mild respiratory illness with fever, lethargy, and nasal discharge, but some strains of the virus can cause severe neurological disease and death. EHV-4 can also present with similar respiratory symptoms but can also cause abortion in pregnant mares as well as severe neurologic disease.

During equine herpesvirus outbreaks, horsemen and staff are typically encouraged to minimize traffic of people and horses between barns and to practice good biosecurity protocols to avoid transmission of the disease.

Laurel officials are awaiting instructions from state animal health officials on movement of horses and Tuesday morning's announcement stated that all horses at Laurel are required to stay on the grounds until further guidance is provided. Horses shipping into Laurel will also be required to stay there until more guidance is issued. Horses at Pimlico are not subject to those restrictions at this time.

A Zoom meeting has been scheduled by the Maryland Thoroughbred Horsemen's Association for 2:30 p.m. Tuesday to allow the Maryland Office of the State Veterinarian to field questions from horsemen about the outbreak.

It remains unclear how many horses have tested positive, whether there are positive cases in all three quarantined barns, or whether the neurological strain of equine herpesvirus is involved. This story will be updated as those details are confirmed.

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Updated: Four Barns At Laurel Under Quarantine Due To Equine Herpesvirus

Four barns at Laurel Park — Barns 1, 4, 10, and 11 — have been placed under quarantine after one horse developed neurological symptoms over the weekend and subsequently tested positive for equine herpesvirus.

According to a video conference call held Tuesday afternoon, one horse developed neurologic symptoms over the weekend and was quickly removed to the Marion duPont Scott Equine Medical Center in Leesburg, Va., where the horse is responding well to treatment. Test results later indicated the horse was positive for the “wild type” strain of EHV-1.

There are two closely related strains of EHV-1 that may be indicated in testing, and they're commonly called the “wild type” and the “neuropathogenic type.” Both can cause neurological symptoms and are handled basically the same way by animal health officials.

Read more about EHV-1 in this Paulick Report explainer from 2016.

Contact tracing on the horse later revealed it had potential exposures in the now-quarantined barns. Horses from those barns were not permitted to train Tuesday, but track management is working on a plan to allow them to train Wednesday morning. Those horses will not be permitted to gate school, and Maryland's equine welfare and medical director Dr. Libby Daniel indicated they would likely not be permitted to race.

The initial quarantine is expected to last 14 days, but a new positive will restart the quarantine length for the barn in which the new case is found. The 14-day period started March 8.

Dr. Michael Odian, Maryland state veterinarian, and Steve Koch, senior vice president of racing operations at The Stronach Group, emphasized that diligence by all personnel will be key to minimizing disease spread and getting the quarantine orders lifted as scheduled.

“The trick is we have to be super diligent throughout that 14 days, make sure there is no cross contamination or exposures that cause further barns to be quarantined,” said Koch. “All horses need to be asymptomatic during that period.”

Horses can continue to enter Laurel during this time, but will not be permitted to leave. The same rules will apply at Pimlico, except that horses who leave Pimlico to run at Laurel may return to Pimlico. The two facilities are being treated as one property for the purposes of the outbreak.

Horses that are symptomatic (those that have a fever of 102 degrees or higher or those showing neurological signs) should be tested as soon as possible. Crews have cleaned out Barn 29 on the Laurel backstretch and horsemen are encouraged to remove horses from their shedrows at the first sign of potential illness and take them to Barn 29 to reduce the amount of time the virus could be passed to horses in neighboring stalls. Horses should be tested for the virus only if they show symptoms, and will be tested twice — once when they become symptomatic, and once 72 hours later. The goal of the second test is to catch horses who may show symptoms before actually shedding enough of the virus to be picked up on the first test.

Staff working in quarantine barns should not go from quarantined areas to non-quarantined areas. They should save their work in quarantine barns for the end of the day, and leave the facility after working in those barns. Staff are encouraged to keep a change of shoes to be used only in quarantined barns, or to use pull-on rubber galoshes over existing boots. Ideally, staff should also wear coveralls over their clothes when working in a quarantined area. All equipment should be wiped down with disinfectant at the end of each work day to prevent disease transmission.

EHV-1 outbreaks have been in the headlines in the equestrian world in recent weeks. A large outbreak in Europe has frozen international competitions there, and an outbreak connected to the World Equestrian Center in Ocala, Fla., saw its third suspected case over the weekend after two horses tested positive. All three horses exhibited high fevers, one nine days after leaving the Center. Odian confirmed the strain of the virus at Laurel is not the same as the strain in the European outbreak, and said he did not believe it was the same strain connected with recent positives in Florida or one in Pennsylvania.

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Webinar: Tips For How To Train When Riding Isn’t An Option

Winter weather often limits training for horses of all kinds, and although much of the country is now experiencing warmer temperatures, spring rains could continue to create headaches for equestrians.

With this challenge in mind, the Retired Racehorse Project recently hosted a webinar titled, 'How To Train When You Can't Ride' to offer tips for riders of all sports to keep horses physically and mentally engaged when the ground is icy, rain-soaked or snow-covered.

A few key takeaways:

Dr. Shannon Reed, associate professor of equine surgery at The Ohio State University and off-track Thoroughbred advocate, said that even for a horse in rehabilitation from an injury, there are ways to keep things from being monotonous. If a horse is limited to hand walking, check with your veterinarian to see if it's ok to hand walk outside rather than in the barn aisle, whether tack walking or trailer loading practice are acceptable forms of exercise. Stall-bound horses may still be able to work on vocal cues and lateral work (“Move over”) in the stall. Walking over ground poles or under saddle may also be an option for some horses.
“You should come out of six months of rehab with a better horse than what you went in with,” said Reed. “There are a whole lot of things that you can do with your horse that have nothing to do with being under saddle, which is someplace we sometimes put ourselves under pressure.”

Always check with the veterinarian when brainstorming things that could fit within the guidelines – don't ask the Facebook peanut gallery.
Hand walking, especially a brisk walk, can be a surprisingly good way to get a horse (and rider) fit. Reed recommends hand walking in whatever environment you safely can. While walking the roads of her neighborhood, Reed was able to introduce her OTTB to ditches, mailboxes, driveways, trash cans, and other items. The horse learned to stop and wait for people to pass, and to turn on the forehand when required.
Reward curiosity in your horse. It's better for a horse to encounter something new in a low-pressure, non-time sensitive situation than at a competition.
Hand walking is a safe way to begin teaching herd bound horses that they will return to their friends eventually, and that it's ok to trust and focus on the human handler despite separation anxiety. That trust will likely translate to under saddle work.
Lateral work can be done in hand with the help of a dressage whip to help direct a horse's haunches. Lateral movement from the walk is a good way to help a horse stretch and stay limber without putting stress on joints and soft tissues.
Walking through puddles is another easy lesson that doesn't require a perfect surface. Water can reflect light and movement in unexpected ways, and even if you don't plan to run your horse cross country and encounter water on a routine basis, odds are that he will encounter a puddle at some stage that must be crossed safely.
Standing and ground tying are underestimated skills. Horses, especially young or high-energy horses, need to become comfortable with some degree of boredom waiting for their class at a horse show, or waiting by a trailer. Standing by the mounting block is also a challenge for many horses, since they don't realize the significance of the block and may be used to being mounted while in motion.
Ask your local farm supply shop for old sale banners that you can add to your arena so your horse has experience with something bright that may flap in the wind.
Trailer rides don't always have to be about going somewhere for competition. Those who have a truck and trailer have the opportunity to not only haul horses to schooling shows as non-competitors to stand and watch the proceedings. They also have the chance to take horses on short errands, like running to the grocery store for 10 minutes and taking the horse back home. This will make traveling less of an “event” and keep horses relaxed about the process – especially if they have a hay net to munch on.

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Is That You? Study Shows Horses Can Learn To Identify Photos Of Other Horses, Sheep

An Italian study has shown that horses can identify images of other horses and sheep when incentivized with food. Drs. Giulia Ragonese, Paolo Baragli, Chiara Mariti, Angelo Gazzano, Antonio Lanatà, Adriana Ferlazzo, Esterina Fazio and Cristina Cravana created an experiment that tested a horse's ability to discriminate between images of horse faces and headshots of other domestic species.

They used 10 Franches-Montagnes horses, six females and four males, that lived in Palermo. The team created a wooden testing frame with two trap doors that could hold printed images. The horses could push either side with their nose, revealing a treat on a shelf.

The research team used 20 life-sized, color images. Ten were of head-on views of horses and 10 were head-on views of cows, donkeys, sheep or a pig. All of the animals were unknown to the study horses. The horses were trained to use the boxes and the food reward (oat flakes) was placed on both sides so as not to influence the horse by smell. Only one side of the door was unlocked.

One session consisted of 10 different images and the horses completed three sessions for each phase of the experiment. Eight of the horses were able to distinguish between images of horses and other animals. In the next phase, the horses were asked to identify the sheep instead of the horse; results were the same. The horse was deemed “successful” if he picked the correct image eight out of 10 times in two consecutive sessions.

Though the horses got better at detecting the animal with each session, the time needed to make the decision increased as the trial proceeded. The team determined that the horses in the study were able to tell the difference between two-dimensional images of horses and other domestic animals. However, they were unable to identify individual horses or sheep within the images. The team concluded that the shape of the face most likely drove the recognition.

Read the full study here.