Disease Control Yearly Planner

Guard against diseases on your farm year-round by employing these seasonal tips

For a horse to perform to his utmost capacity, he must be healthy and sound throughout the year. The smallest details of farm management often

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Guard against diseases on your farm year-round by employing these seasonal tips

For a horse to perform to his utmost capacity, he must be healthy and sound throughout the year. The smallest details of farm management often have the greatest impact on a horse’s general wellness, and such strategies provide a critical template for minimizing the risk for contracting disease. By being proactive and implementing disease-reducing programs based on risk, season, and climate, a horse owner can make a major difference in controlling horse health on a farm.

Contagious Disease Issues

As winter thaws and the days lengthen into spring, owners are preparing and conditioning horses for competitions and events that take them off the property. This places them in proximity to other horses, with increased likelihood of exposure to disease. Spring immunizations are an essential part of any disease control program, particularly against mosquito-borne viruses (West Nile virus and other types of encephalitis) and contagious respiratory viruses (influenza and rhinopneumonitis due to equine herpesvirus). Annually, owners should vaccinate against tetanus and rabies in endemic areas.

In addition to the incentive to travel more with your horse in the spring, there is more activity around the farm as well. Josie Traub-Dargatz, DVM, MS, Dipl. ACVIM, a professor of equine medicine at Colorado State University’s College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences, has been instrumental in developing prevention and recognition programs to protect against contagious equine diseases. Traub-Dargatz recommends segregation of new arrivals and monitoring for disease as critical elements of disease control on a property. She stresses that additional biosecurity efforts should include disinfection of all equipment that might have been contaminated with disease-causing agents. One such example (and only one of many possibilities) would be the inside of a horse trailer, particularly one in which horses from other farms have been hauled

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Written by:

Nancy S. Loving, DVM, owns Loving Equine Clinic in Boulder, Colorado, and has a special interest in managing the care of sport horses. Her book, All Horse Systems Go, is a comprehensive veterinary care and conditioning resource in full color that covers all facets of horse care. She has also authored the books Go the Distance as a resource for endurance horse owners, Conformation and Performance, and First Aid for Horse and Rider in addition to many veterinary articles for both horse owner and professional audiences.

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