Keeping Clients Safe: Impact Of COVID-19 On Equine Vets And Farriers

Though equestrian competitions were halted and many boarding barns were shuttered during the COVID-19 pandemic, equine veterinary and farrier care have been considered essential services, allowed to carry on throughout lockdown. However, it has been a challenge to continually provide care for client horses while keeping customers and caregivers safe.

In order to continue to work, vets and farriers were mandated to establish protocols that followed state and local distancing, quarantine and decontamination guidelines. During lockdown, many equine clinics were able to continue to see emergency cases, but were unable to perform elective surgeries for multiple weeks.

When lockdown lifted, most clinics still didn't return to “normal”; many are unable to allow clients into waiting rooms or pharmacies, so workers meet their clients in parking lots to either take the horse from the owner or to deliver medications.

Many farriers are now unwilling to have clients or trainers hold horses while they are being shod, electing instead to have their assistants hold or to place the horse in crossties. Between clients, all tools are disinfected. Even when stay-at-home orders are lifted, may vets and farriers will keep their biosecurity practices in place to keep staff and clients safe.

Though the pandemic has changed the way equine professionals must interact with their clients, requiring much more interaction from a distance or via phone or text, equine professionals still strive to give their two- and four-legged clients the best of care.

Read more at Horse Illustrated. 

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‘Worth Sacrificing’: Ireland-Based Jockey Colin Keane Faces Quarantine By Partnering Siskin At Goodwood

Ireland-based jockey Colin Keane will face 14 days of quarantine after reuniting with Siskin at Glorious Goodwood – but the red-hot rider says that's a sacrifice he was willing to make in a heartbeat.

Dual Classic winner Keane piloted Ger Lyons' cracking colt to a brilliant victory in the Tattersalls Irish 2000 Guineas last month, toppling Vatican City at the Curragh to extend Siskin's flawless record to five wins from five.

Lyons confirmed that Goodwood's Qatar Sussex Stakes will be next for the 3-year-old, as the trainer targets another Group One glory following Even So's triumph in the Juddmonte Irish Oaks this weekend.

The coronavirus restrictions mean Keane will face two weeks of quarantine upon returning to Ireland after Goodwood, however, severely jeopardizing his chances of usurping Shane Foley's lead at the summit of the Leading Jockeys table.

Keane has partnered Siskin in all five of his trips so far and while this time may all but end his chances of regaining his Champion Jockey crown of 2017, he says he simply couldn't pass the opportunity to team up with the speedster once more.

“It's definitely worth sacrificing the two weeks,” Keane told Nick Luck's Daily Podcast. “There are not too many like Siskin that I've got to sit on before, so when a horse like that comes around you want to be on him everyday – especially on the big days.

“Hopefully there'll be other championships in the future, but there might not be another Siskin for a very long time, so I want to take every opportunity.

“He's been great since the Guineas, he looks a million dollars and we couldn't be happier with him. We'll keep him wrapped up and it's about getting him there in one piece.”

The Keane-Lyons axis banged in their second Classic winner of the season on Saturday as Even So followed in Siskin's glittering footsteps in the Juddmonte Irish Oaks.

The fabulous filly reeled in Jessica Harrington's Cayenne Pepper – with Foley on board – as Keane delivered a red-hot performance of his own to make things spicy in the Leading Jockeys table.

The 25-year-old has now ridden 28 winners this season, one behind Wayne Lordan but still 11 triumphs adrift of Foley's table-topping 39 efforts.

Foley and Harrington remain without a Classic victory this campaign, however, with Aidan O'Brien landing the other two races with wins for Peaceful and Santiago in the Tattersalls Irish 1000 Guineas and Dubai Duty Free Irish Derby.

Keane, the 2014 Champion Apprentice, is a man for the big occasion and while both his Classic triumphs have come behind closed doors, it's done little to diminish his joy.

“It was a brilliant weekend – it's still surreal, and one we'll remember for a while I think,” he added.

“Anytime I've ridden a Group One winner there's been nobody there, so it's strange but we're not going to complain.

“There was a lot of pressure for Siskin, but not so much on the filly, so we were just hoping for black type. To go and do what she did was surreal, she was very good.”

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Lyons Hoping Siskin and Keane Partnership Continues in Sussex

Ger Lyons is increasingly hopeful Colin Keane will opt to maintain his partnership with Siskin (First Defence) in the G1 Qatar Sussex S. at Goodwood on Wednesday week–with Frankie Dettori “waiting in the wings” should he opt to stay in Ireland. Former Irish champion Keane has ridden the unbeaten G1 Tattersalls Irish 2000 Guineas hero in all his career starts, but current rules in Ireland surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic mean he would have to spend 14 days in quarantine on his return home, should he travel to Goodwood.

Lyons, who teamed up with Keane for a second Classic success of the season on Saturday night with Even So in the Juddmonte Irish Oaks, told Racing TV’s Luck on Sunday programme: “I’m looking forward to it–the negative is the isolation that we have here in Ireland, but it became very apparent to me last night that these races matter, and matter hugely.

“So I’d be dubious to think Colin won’t partner him. I think, subject to discussing it with Colin and without putting pressure on him, I’d like to think he’ll stay with him and we’ll go to Goodwood together, take a two-week holiday together somewhere green and sunny in Ireland and concentrate on the big races for the rest of the season.

“You’ve got to understand Colin is a young man and is being led by an old trainer with a young head, who hasn’t been here. We’ve to do the right thing, but it’s become apparent, and we’ve a lot of good people advising us, that Siskin is the horse of a lifetime.

“That’s not to say he’ll win the Sussex . by any stretch, he has to beat at least three horses to finish in the three that are rated above him. He’s a long way to go to beat the horses that are lining up in the race, but I wouldn’t swap him.”

On the high-profile substitute if Keane does not ride, Lyons said, “I think they need to stick together, but there’s a very good replacement waiting in the wings if something else happens. It would have to be Frankie [Dettori]. He has a huge association with that outfit [Juddmonte] and he’s the best in the world. He’s there in the wings if we needed him and that would be fantastic too.”

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Prairie Meadows Joins List Of Tracks Implementing Jockey Restrictions

Prairie Meadows Racetrack and Casino in Alttona, Ia. is updating its jockey policies as of Friday, July 17, 2020 at 6:00 p.m.

The following restrictions will be implemented:

  • No new jockeys will be allowed into the current jockey colony at Prairie Meadows.
  • Any rider in the current jockey colony that accepts a mount at another track must self-quarantine for a 14-day period. The quarantine period will start the day following the jockey's most recent mount outside of Prairie Meadows. Once the self-quarantine period is over, the jockey must provide proof of a negative Covid-19 test within 5 days to be allowed to ride again at Prairie Meadows.

This protocol is in effect until further notice.

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