The American Horse Council and the American Association of Equine Practitioners issued an open letter to the horse industry March 28 regarding equine disease outbreaks in the United States. In their communication, the organizations outline current horse health issues facing the industry and seek equine community participation in developing a National Equine Health Plan and an Equine Disease Communication Center.

TheHorse.com will provide an update on the plan as more information becomes available.

Open Letter to the Horse Industry: Time to Be Proactive on Equine Disease Outbreaks

"The horse community is always just one step from a calamity and that calamity is a disease outbreak of such proportion as to widely imperil the health of our horses and threaten the economic viability of our industry. The ever-present risk is due to the equine industry’s reliance on the timely movement of healthy horses for sales, breeding, racing, showing, work, and recreation. In this environment an infectious disease outbreak can result in federal or state restrictions on horse movement to stop the spread of the disease