Sunland Park Horsemen Urged to Keep Up Biosecurity Practices

New Mexico’s acting state veterinarian Alexandra Eckhoff, DVM, offered tips to horsemen at two Feb. 1 meetings.
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More than a week after the first case of equine herpesvirus-1 (EHV-1) was confirmed at Sunland Park Racetrack, in New Mexico, horsemen and women at the track are being urged to continue practicing basic biosecurity measures to help end the outbreak so quarantines can be lifted and the track can return to racing as soon as possible.

New Mexico’s acting state veterinarian Alexandra Eckhoff, DVM, was among those who spoke to owners, trainers, and grooms who gathered on Feb. 1 for a pair of meetings—one in English, one in Spanish—hosted by racetrack officials.

Eckhoff urged horsemen and women to continue to:

  • Wash their hands before and after working with a horse;
  • Disinfect their clothing and footwear before and after working with a horse;
  • Wash and disinfect any items—feed/water buckets, grooming gear, saddles, other tack, etc.—that horses have touched or might touch;  
  • Avoid walking through barns where they have no horses; and
  • Take the temperature of their horse(s) twice a day, then record and report that information daily by order of the New Mexico Racing Commission (NMRC). Fever is often the first indicator of EHV-1.

The NMRC last week said horsemen and women who fail to take and report the temperatures of their horse(s) risk being fined $250 and/or having their license suspended

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