You’ve heard it before, but here it is one more time: An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. With this in mind, it’s time to take a serious look at disinfecting barns and equipment where horses are housed. When it comes to disease, and the spread of disease, prevention in the form of disinfecting equipment and barns is as important as vaccinating horses. And in some instances, as with strangles, disinfection ranks higher than vaccination because there is not an effective vaccine available for strangles. But with proper disinfection, the spread of that disease could be reduced drastically.

Disinfecting is important in reducing the spread of disease because, “It reduces the level of bacteria and viruses present in the environment, particularly in the stalls and barns housing horses,” said David Powell, BVSc, MRCVS, FRCVS, of the Gluck Equine Research Center at the University of Kentucky