11/19/2025
Sharing info to help keep everyone informed and our horses safe.
There is a lot of current worry about the EHV outbreak in Texas. This is a real diease and real issue, but there is no need to panic. The outbreak is fairly geographically far away from us here in Michigan, and with outbreaks like this they tend to spread within a discipline because of shared facilities and shared show circuits. In this case the outbreak is affecting mainly Western perfomance horses and barrel racers.
Things to remember:
1. EHV-1 and EHV-4 are viruses that is spread from horses to horse. Most of the time they cause respiratory disease, but sometimes they causes pregnancy loss. EHV-1 can also mutate and cause neurological disease, which is life-threatening.
2. There is vaccine against EHV-1 and EHV-4. Your horse probably is already vaccinated, but you might know it as "rhino" or "rhinopneumonitis." Ask your vet if you are unsure.
3. Unfortunately, the vaccine is not effective against the neurological strain. It does help prevent the respiratory strain, and if fewer horses are passing around the respiratory strains there will be fewer chances for the virus to mutate on a population level.
4. The virus can be spread by direct contact between horses, by aerosolized respiratory droplets, and sometimes by fomites (ie equipment, tack, people, etc).
5. Your best defense is biosecurity! This means quarantining any horses arriving to your facility, isolating any sick horses immediately and contacting your vet, not sharing tack/equipment between horses, and using good hygiene if you travel between barns. If you have horses returning from a show, ideally they should be separated and monitored for 10-14 days after they return.
6. Use common sense if you are out and about with your horse. Don't have close contact with other horses, don't use a communal trough, if your horse is sick stay home!
7. The Equine Disease Control Center (https://equinediseasecc.org/alerts) is your friend! This website is updated daily with cases that have been confirmed via state departments of agriculture.
