Equine Herpes Virus (EHV-1) infection in horses can cause respiratory disease, abortion in mares, neonatal foal death, and/or neurologic disease. The neurologic form of EHV-1 is called Equine Herpes Virus Myeloencephalopathy (EHM). While EHV-1 and EHM are only officially listed as reportable diseases in some states, private veterinary practitioners are encouraged to notify their State Animal Health Officials of any suspected or confirmed cases, regardless of current official state reporting requirements. Cases of EHV-1 and EHM have been identified recently in horses that attended the National Cutting Horse Association (NCHA) Western National Championship event in Ogden, Utah held from April 29 to May 8, 2011. The NCHA has notified State Animal Health Officials of horses from their states that were entered in the event and may have been exposed to the virus. State Animal Health Officials have contacted the owners of potentially exposed horses. Standardized recommendations were developed by state and federal officials and are being followed to isolate exposed horses, monitor them for clinical signs of EHV-1, and work with private veterinary practitioners to test and treat horses affected with the disease. Biosecurity procedures have been recommended for premises with suspect and confirmed cases to mitigate further disease spread. Read or download the report here:  Equine Herpes Virus Definitions for This Report Exposed Horses: Horses that attended the Ogden, Utah event from April 29 to May 8 and horses that subsequently came into contact with horses that attended the Ogden, Utah event (secondarily exposed). Exposed Premises: Premises with exposed horses. Suspect EHV-1 case: A horse exposed to EHV-1 that develops fever (rectal temperature above 101.5 oF), but has no neurologic signs at this time. Confirmed EHV-1 case: A suspect EHV-1 case with laboratory confirmation of EHV-1 infection, but has no neurologic signs at this time. Suspect EHM case: A horse exposed to EHV-1 that develops neurologic signs. (Posterior incoordination, weakness, recumbency with inability to rise, and/or bladder atony are most commonly seen in EHM cases.) Confirmed EHM case: A suspect EHM case with laboratory confirmation of EHV-1 infection. Summary Information on Current Situation • Owners of horses known to have been exposed in this incident have been contacted by State Animal Health Officials. • Suspect and confirmed cases are reported to be under voluntary or state quarantine. • Known exposed horses are reported to be under either voluntary or state quarantine. • A total of 33 confirmed EHV-1 or EHM cases have been reported in 8 states (CA, CO, ID, NM, OR, TX, UT, WA) • Of the 33 confirmed EHV/EHM cases, 32 cases are horses that were at the Ogden, Utah event. • There are 7 horses associated with this incident that are dead or have been euthanized. Add Comment Tips for Cold Weather Feeding and Horse Care 10/28/2010
Tips for Winter Feeding of Your Horses
Common plants can be hazardous to horses. 06/16/2010
One of the many items we look for in evaluating an equestrian property before certifying in "Horse Safe" is the available vegetation and foliage. A recent article by Sue Perry; "Did He Eat Something Poisonous?" in the Horseman's Yankee Pedlar outlined many of the common plants that pose a threat to horses. Among those outlined were:
The article was short and informative but in the limited space allotted they did not delve into more information. One of the items not mentioned in the story is probably one of the most common grass types found in North America. Tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea) is the most important cool season grass in the United States. It provides the primary ground cover on some 35 million acres. Discovered In 1931 Dr E.N. Fergus of the University of Kentucky. It was introduced to the public as Kentucky 31, in the 1940's and 1950's it was extremely popular and was introduced to provide forage in areas where other grasses simply did not do well. The problems with Fescue were later discovered and varied from foot ailments to weight loss, increase heart rate, increases in body temperature and lack of milk production in livestock who fed on Fescue; A fungus or (Fescue Endophyte) was found to be the culprit. Since this discovery numerous studies have been done evaluating the threat potential of Fescue, it is widely understood that pregnant or nursing mares and young foals should not eat Fescue because of the potential for Fescue Toxicosis in Horses! Another toxic plant not mentioned was White Snakeroot (Ageratina altissima) a highly toxic herb found mostly in Eastern North America. While this information is important it is not a complete list of known hazards to horses.    NY State Horse Health Assurance Program 03/11/2010
Click to set custom HTML The New York State Department of Agriculture’s Division of Animal Industry has implemented The New York State Horse Health Assurance Program (NYSHHAP) . The NYSHHAP, a voluntary certification program, is designed to promote and to teach a pro-active approach (or “an ounce of prevention” theory) to equine health, care, and welfare through the use of certain “best management practices” or standards. The program addresses equine health and equine facility management issues. The farm must be in 100% compliance with these basic equine management standards to be certified and once certified must pass an annual inspection to maintain their enrollment in the program. The Standards and Certification Manual is provided free to anyone requesting a copy as well as an Addendum of Sample Guidelines which provides written protocols for implementing some of the standards. Certification Process: The certification process involves the evaluation of each equine operation against the standards outlined in the Standards and Certification Manual. Steps to certification include the following:
As Equestrian Real Estate Professionals we are focusing on the real estate and the facility not the animals housed in that facility. New York's program is a great idea as long as it remains voluntary, but as we all know; government usually seeks to force mandates once it has its foot in the door. The program also requires micro-chipping your horses, a practice that offers some hope for horse theft prevention. With this they also provide the farm with signage noting that animals on the premises are electronically identified. Certified farms are required to undergo annual inspections to maintain their certification; they are listed on the New York Department of Agriculture and Markets website. While the program does include some examination of the property, it's primary focus is more on the management practices, health practices and horse care. The program was established in 2002 and was featured in an article in Equss Magazine in 2005 (see file below); and now has certified over 75 facilities including several New York City Mounted Police Units. It is our belief that the certification will be an asset to our certified Equestrian Real Estate Professionals in helping them market and sell equine property in the state of New York, and it will go hand in hand with our Horse-Safe© certification process.  
IEREP membership applications. 10/12/2009
Thank you so much all of you who have asked to become part of our organization. We are still working with our web designers on a few details and with our staff and adviser's on some educational details. As these final elements come together we will be moving forward with scheduling our first classes and seminars. We appreciate your patience and look forward to getting to know all of you much better in the near future. IEREP. Dear Member of congress; As a real estate broker who specializes in equestrian ranches and farms, I can tell you the devastating effect that the horse slaughter ban has had on the value of real estate. As a horse breeder I can tell you the catastrophic effect the horse slaughter ban has had on the horse industry. I’ve been to many auctions where the sellers are asked to pay to bring a horse in because they won’t sell and they often leave them at the auction house. I’ve seen many well trained, well bred horses pass through an auction house and not bring a single bid. I have never sold a horse to slaughter, but by eliminating an entire industry the United States government as put thousands of people out of work. All too often people come to Washington and start drinking from the Potomac and forget that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Those of us out here in the real world are still trying to survive while you take our freedoms and our money! Horses are being turned loose and abandoned all across the country. The Bureau of Land Management is no longer able to find buyers for the wild horses they take care of and have drastically exceeded there budget. The BLM has even approached congress for permission to kill many of the horses! The BLM has estimated the rising cost of caring for these animals will climb from $37 billion in 2008 to a staggering $72 billion in 2012. Some are calling for the release of these animals into the wild where they will breed more and add to the problem. This solution also will result in environmental damage as well as a health and safety risk to humans. I have spoken with people who work in horse rescue shelters, who tell me they have no room to take anymore horses. A short time ago I tried to get several shelters and to help with a negligent horse owner, his horses were starving and in terrible condition. I called multiple rescues and they all told me they were overwhelmed. Before the August recess, Senator Sam Brownback offered an amendment to the Senate Agriculture Appropriations bill, which would provide for a Government Accountability Office (GAO) study of the status of horse welfare as it relates to the closing of horse processing plants in the United States. This amendment passed the Senate’s version of the Ag Appropriations bill. The GAO study would specifically examine issues such as: 1) How the horse industry has responded to the closure of U.S. horse slaughter facilities in terms of both the numbers of horse sales, exports, adoptions, or abandonments 2) The implications these changes have had on farm income and trade; the extent to which horses in the United States are slaughtered for any purpose 3) Any impacts to State and local governments and animal protection organizations; 4) How the USDA oversees the transport of horses destined for slaughter in foreign countries such as Canada and Mexico; and, 5) General conclusions regarding the welfare of horses as a result of a ban on horse slaughter for human consumption. The Committee language directs the GAO to issue its report by March 1, 2010. I urge you to support this study and find out exactly the cost of this tragic decision. A GAO study of the closure of horse processing plants and the effect on horse welfare is widely supported by the horse industry and horse owners. Currently, there is little hard data on this issue. Such a study could provide valuable information to Congress and the horse industry as it deals with the unwanted horse issue before passing legislation further burdening horse owners and any unfunded mandates on states or local municipalities to enforce new laws. D. Ben Edsall Broker – Accredited Equestrian Real Estate Professional The Institute of Equestrian Real Estate Professionals New featrues are coming to our website 07/10/2009
As our membership has grown we have struggled to keep up with updates to our site. We are working with our web developers now to design a better search engine for clients looking for Equestrian Realtors®. The new page will have a clickable map that will allow visitors to locate agents by area. The Institute of Equestrian Real Estate , Equestrian Experts.com and Equestrian Agents.com have recently become affiliated. This exciting news will help buyers and sellers of equestrian real estate to find truly qualified equestrian agents and real estate professionals to assist them with their transactions. Exciting news for IEREP members 06/24/2009
IEREP is working with some well known veterinarians to help us put together our next Horse-Safe© course. If you have any suggestions or know of other equestrian service professionals who may be interested in working with IEREP as we continue to develop more courses and training please send us the information. IEREP© is the first organization of its kind, an organization dedicated to educating and improving the real estate professionals knowledge and understanding of equestrian real estate. Our organization seeks to build relationships with equestrian real estate agents, brokers and service providers throughout the world. |
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