11/20/2025
⚠️ IMPORTANT EHV NOTICE FOR OUR CLIENTS AND ALL HORSE OWNERS⚠️
(For our non- horse clients, welcome to COVID shut down, horse edition!)
There is an active Equine Herpesvirus (EHV) outbreak in Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana traced to a recent event in Waco. This strain is believed to be highly aggressive and has been fatal, and we are taking it extremely seriously to protect your horses and our community.
At this time, 5–10 horses are known to be sick, but the true number is likely higher as many cases go unreported. EDCC will update as they have true confirmed cases.
🐴What Horse Owners Should Do Right Now:
1. Keep all horses at home! 🛻
Please avoid hauling, clinics, lessons, shows, or mingling horses for the next several weeks until more information is available.
Movement is the #1 factor that spreads EHV-1.
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2. Check temperatures twice daily 🤒 Morning and evening.
* This is especially important if your horse has been to any show or event in the last 14 days.
* A re**al temperature ≥101.5°F is a concern. Call us if you see fever, nasal discharge, coughing, or any stumbling/neurologic signs.
Fever is usually the first sign (often before nasal discharge or neurologic symptoms).
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3. Notify your veterinarian immediately if your horse exhibits: ☎️
• Fever
• Weakness or incoordination
• Standing with hindlimbs wide
• Tail tone changes
• Difficulty urinating
• Lethargy or decreased appetite
Early intervention improves outcomes.
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👉🏻 How Horses Get EHV-1 👇🏼
Horses pick up EHV-1 when they’re exposed to the virus from another infected horse or from a contaminated environment. The virus spreads in a few main ways:
1. Nose-to-nose contact
This is the most common route.
An infected horse sheds the virus in nasal secretions, and another horse can inhale or come into contact with those droplets.
2. Aerosolized particles
When an infected horse coughs or sneezes, tiny droplets carrying the virus can travel through the air and be inhaled by nearby horses.
3. Shared equipment
Anything that touches an infected horse’s nose or mouth can carry the virus:
• Water buckets
• Feed tubs
• Halters/lead ropes
• Grooming tools
• Tack
• Thermometers
This is called fomite transmission.
4. People spreading it and transfer it to another horse without realizing it.
Humans can carry the virus on:
• Hands
• Clothing
• Jackets
• Boots
• Equipment
5. From infected mares to foals.
Pregnant mares infected with certain forms of EHV-1 can pass the virus to their unborn foal, leading to abortion or weak newborns.
👀 The tricky part
Horses can carry latent EHV-1, meaning the virus goes “silent” in their body. Stress (hauling, showing, illness, weather changes) can reactivate it, and the horse may start shedding virus again—even if they don’t look sick.
Biosecurity matters.
• Do not share water buckets, hoses, tack, grooming tools, or stalls.
• Disinfect trailers, thermometers, and crossties.
• Isolate any horse with fever immediately.
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About Vaccination. 💉
Current evidence shows vaccines do not prevent EHM, but they can reduce viral shedding and shorten viremia, which lowers barn-wide spread and is important to the community.
Boosters are helpful when:
• A horse was vaccinated > 90 days ago, or
• You are preparing for high-risk environments (events, hauling, mixing populations).
• Boosters are most effective in younger horses, previously vaccinated horses, and non-pregnant horses.
Vaccines do NOT stop a horse already incubating EHV-1 from developing signs, and they do not eliminate the risk of neurologic disease. For horses already exposed or febrile, do not vaccinate until cleared by your veterinarian.
Please call or text us to schedule vaccine boosters.
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Thank you for your diligence to keep your horses healthy and the equine community.
There are a lot of rumors flying, so please get your info from reliable sources such as these below.
Link to Equine Disease Center EDCC: http://www.equinediseasecc.org/
Link to BVEH documents regarding EHV-1:
http://www.bveh.com
Link to ACVIM consensus statement: https://www.acvim.org/research/consensus-statements
Link to AAEP EHV documents:https://aaep.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/EHV1-4-guidelines-2021.pdf
