The dictionary definition of BIOSECURITY is simply: “security from exposure to harmful biological agents.” With equine travel what it is today, most horse owners have probably thought at least briefly about biosecurity. It’s something that comes to mind when headlines appear about active disease outbreaks, but it can be easy to forget how important it is day-to-day. This is where I would like to focus this blog: How to make biosecurity a HABIT.
Everyone has different ways to create habits in their lives and whether you think about it or not you likely have plenty of habits when it comes to caring for your horses, whether at the boarding facility or in the barn out back. The same can likely be said of traveling with your horses. Whatever those habits are, my challenge to you is to think about how you can incorporate biosecurity measures into those habits in order to improve your horse’s security from exposure to harmful biological agents.
Being intentional about what those biosecurity behaviors or habits are can make a significant difference in your horses’ potential exposures to disease.
Biosecurity At Home:
Vaccination – First and foremost is prevention in the form of vaccines. Working with your veterinarian to develop the right vaccine protocol which includes not only what they are vaccinated with, but also the timing of those vaccines. For example, there is no sense in vaccinating for vector (mosquito) transmitted diseases here in Colorado in December!
Cleanliness – Keeping spaces tidy and clean is critical to not attracting the types of things that spread disease in the first place. Minimizing the “extra” residents in the barn (think birds, rodents, and insects) is particularly important.
You can start to build your habits by asking questions, such as; How often do you move the feed cans and clean up the grain that inevitably spills, and how often are the water tanks cleaned? Manure management is especially important. How often are you cleaning stalls, pens, and pastures? Is manure being hauled away, and if so, what is the frequency?
You will come up with many of these questions as you look around your horses’ living space and start to develop a plan. Then, once you have asked the questions, part of the answer should include how to make it a habit. Different things work for different people, but examples could include a chores list, a white board, or an app on your phone.
Sick horses – Whether your horses live in the backyard or at a boarding facility, have a plan for what happens when someone gets sick. Is there a quarantine area (or a least somewhere you can split one away?) What is the quarantine plan? This is more important in a boarding facility, but could come into play even in a small herd at home.
In your quarantine plan, feeding and cleaning and disinfecting routines will have to become new habits to manage the potential spread. Sick horses should always be taken care of last and the human should at minimum be washing hands, but could go so far as a full change of clothes and shoes, plus or minus a disinfecting foot bath.
Biosecurity On the Road:
Biosecurity risk is inherently higher when travelling, for obvious reasons – there are simply more horses to come into contact with. Horses being massed into show grounds creates a petri dish situation that resembles something like a kindergarten classroom. Horses, like children, love to share their germs. In order to keep your horse as healthy as possible under these circumstances, practice good travel biosecurity and make the following into habits:
- Prevent all direct contact between your horse and others (no nose-to-nose!)
- Avoid sharing equipment with others, including; tack, grooming supplies, wheelbarrow, pitchfork, etc.
- Avoid communal water sources/sharing hoses between horses. Dropping the end of the hose into multiple water buckets can transmit disease.
- Wash your hands frequently and after touching any other horses.
- Pack your horse’s thermometer. If your horse appears “off” a fever may be present before he is contagious to others.
- Clean and disinfect your trailer regularly
What happens if you are travelling and you discover an outbreak began at the facility you were just at? Whether your horse is showing signs of illness or not, the first step is to implement your quarantine area and quarantine plan at home. There’s no need to expose any additional horses if there is a chance your horse could be carrying something.
The next action might be at least a conversation with your veterinarian to make sure that they don’t have any particular recommendations for the boarding facility or your barn at home.
Again, the intention of this blog is to get you as a horse owner thinking about how to make biosecurity protocols an integral part of your everyday habits and planning, and not just something to consider in the event that an outbreak occurs. These habits are an important way to care for and protect the horses we love.
