Portside Equestrian

Portside Equestrian Semi-private, all inclusive full service boarding facility overlooking 88 acres of equine perfection.

A few finishing touches left before our outdoor herd finds themselves some sweet new digs to call home!!This is just the...
04/06/2024

A few finishing touches left before our outdoor herd finds themselves some sweet new digs to call home!!
This is just the beginning, I can’t wait to see how the indoor paddocks turn out!!

Thank you SMART Contracting and Ashgrove Holdings - GTA Clean Fill Sites for knocking this out of the park! way to get ‘er done!

Pool Hall but make it 🤠YeeHaw🤠
04/01/2024

Pool Hall but make it 🤠YeeHaw🤠

Sunday sillies 🤪
03/31/2024

Sunday sillies 🤪

03/23/2024

Jumping up on my soap box for this one

As of today, March 22nd, I have made the decision to re open my barn and get my horses back outside tomorrow.

I will leave the two positive cases isolated as our risk of transmission is minimal and continue to monitor them.

The frustration lies in the lack of support and communication all around. I understand updating sciences but the baseline hell I just went through to be told contradictory opinions on how to proceed, if at all, was nothing short of abusive.

To summarize on my decision:

Nasal shedding of S. equi bacteria usually begins 2-3 days after onset of fever and often persists for 2-3 weeks. The only horse to make contact with the infected horse during this window was the only other horse living in the paddock

I have barricaded the only section of fence (luckily a corner) with spare panels to maintain a quarantine at least 10 – 25 metres away from other horses.

I have Incubated and monitored the non contact for 10 days since the “fever”, and 8 days since the second positive. 17 days without any issues since the first “barely positive”. Just to be sure.
This first positive horse is going to continue its isolation in a facility better equipped to help. I am not set up for prolonged isolation.
I will continue to monitor my herd for the inclusive 21 days post initial positive.

I will disinfect the surfaces of this paddock to allow a safe start for our horses tomorrow and again once we leave for the next business moving in.

I have two barely positive horses with no symptoms, full isolation of them both, and caught the low grade “fever” before 24 hours went by.

I will continue with all applicable biosecurity after tending to the affected horses, as will their owners.

If you are not a “text book” case your prognosis is “ultimately up to you.”
This is why we have consistent cases in our area. The wellbeing not to mention the livelihood of others is left to your individual discretion. The stigma around strangles comes with a mile long rap sheet. So when cases like this arise, there are no answers.

More often than not the horse gets a finger over the mouth and handed off instead of isolated and treated. Why any one would let this walk out their front door to potentially take down the next farm is something I will never understand. So all we can do is tell our stories, and try to give the next farm a leg up.

Lucky for me, my routine allowed me to notice and get control of this quickly. Lucky for the rest of our horses the owners of the two affected horses stepped up and emptied their piggy banks to get this sorted out ASAP as best they could with the information they had. And for that I endlessly thank you both.

I have an incredible community of people behind and beside me who made this as easy as possible. We all have a horse shoe up our hind ends for this one for sure. But I know the next farm may not be so lucky. Transparency in these situations is the only key to success we have. Argue facts, not opinions.

My inbox is always open, my phone number is easily accessible. Feel free to contact me if you have any questions at all.

Advocate for your horses, advocate for your clients, advocate for you. This industry is difficult enough.

Thank you for reading,
Cheers, I know I need one,
Mackenzie

03/15/2024

Update ( Thursday March 14)

We have tested positive for Strangles.

Please bear with me, this is a long post.

Our end goal was to move our business by April 1st. This move has been put on hold and all horses will be asked to remain on the property until further notice.

As of today (March 14th) we have full biosecurity in effect.

As of Tuesday (March 12th) we had a horse receive a PCR for Strangles in preparation for moving to their new barn.
The following day that horse presented with a lack of appetite, and a fever of 38.8. That morning I made the decision to delay turn out for the rest of our herd while I waited to hear back from the vet who preformed the test. I made the decision to immediately set that horse and its paddock mate in a voluntary quarantine. The horse’s fever was treated with banamine by me and had subsided within 14 hours. The horse continues to not present any further symptoms of at this time.

With the property set up of our facility ultimately all horses are faced with a possibility of having contracted this. All of our fences touch, all of our stalls touch, all of us use the same riding rings.

Since then I have checked temperatures in the herd, and monitored for any further symptoms. Currently I do not have any further issues with any horses to report.

Our plan of attack is as follows and will be updated tomorrow after I get the opportunity to consult the treating vet for more details but for now here is what tonight and tomorrow holds
-Horses will be restricted to their stalls or paddocks to keep transmission as contained as possible
-Absolutely no horses or humans in or out.
-The affected horse(s) will continue to be on isolation until further notice.
-Foot baths and disposable clothing will be used when tending to the affected horse(s)
-Temperatures will be taken twice daily on all horses, owners will hear from me directly should anything be of concern. And, will continue to be done two weeks after the last negative test.
-Virkon will be used to clean all supplies and will be present as the cleaning agent of the foot baths as well
-Test horses that have recovered from disease at least twice at one week intervals using throat swabs or nasal wash samples to confirm they are negative

Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions.

Thank you for your cooperation
I will keep you all updated

Update (April 10)

Update
Of the two horses who lived together one left to continue isolation at their new farm. As for the horse still with me; it continues to remain completely isolated and we will have the final test results tomorrow. The remainder of the herd (touch wood) never displayed any symptoms during their quarantine period and were allowed to get back to normal!

Dolly is absolutely rocking her new dapples!! 😮‍💨😍
03/12/2024

Dolly is absolutely rocking her new dapples!! 😮‍💨😍

02/17/2024

Congratulations to Colton Jackson of CJ Equine Training & Farrier Services and Reliable Horses Gallery on expanding their operation and gracefully taking over our facility! 🥳🥳Excited to see all of the wonderful things that come from their new adventure!

01/20/2024

Portside has entered a voluntary quarantine as we share the driveway with HD. We are following the same protocols and give them all of our love and support (from a distance)💕

Jack the (mouse crunching) reindeer
12/26/2023

Jack the (mouse crunching) reindeer

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Middletown Road
Hamilton, ON

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Monday 8am - 10pm
Tuesday 8am - 10pm
Wednesday 8am - 10pm
Thursday 8am - 10pm
Friday 8am - 10pm
Saturday 8am - 10pm
Sunday 8am - 10pm

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