11/20/2025
For those who do not know, there is currently a strain of equine disease, Equine Herpesvirus or EHV-1; that is spreading quickly and posing a huge risk to our equine partners.
This disease does Not pose any risk of human contraction- But it can be spread by people. What this means is that we ask that anyone who is in contact with horses at another facility, property or residence please make sure to change, disinfect, even shower before going from property to property. Brushes and tack should not be used on different horses. We are not currently concerned that this virus is on our yard, new horses who have been purchased or have moved into the yard have been quarantined and monitored before integrating in with the other horses. Resident horses have only left the yard once in the last two months for an event with horses from different locations and are being monitored. So far the closest reported infected horse is in Red Deer AB and this horse is isolated and reportedly recovering.
What this means is that currently the risk is low, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t do our part to help limit the spread and cross contamination. We don’t want this to get closer to us, we don’t want this disease to spread. Scott’s Barn and Equi9 have elected to close our doors to haul ins and haul outs for a minimum of two weeks as per the recommendation from vets combating this disease on the front lines. The neurological effects of this disease affect horses who have received vaccinations and are devastating and deadly. Many of our horses are at higher risk due to their age - a large majority of our lesson horses are seniors- and we have five pregnant mares on our property at risk of abortion or increased risk of difficulty for the mare and foal. We stand ready to do our part to protect not just our horses but the horses of our friends and loved ones and fellow competitors and horse lovers, by altering our plans to ensure that no one else has to watch their equine companion suffer.
Our pony days on November 28th will be rescheduled for December 13th at 5pm.
Our Cowboy Challenge December 13th-19th is currently a go. Any lessons that people currently haul in for can be rescheduled to a later date or can take place at your residence or at Scott’s Barn with a horse who resides on property.
We look forward to hearing news that this virus is no longer spreading widely, that horses are healthy and strong and can’t wait until we can ride together again at community events.
