Courtesy of Penn State Extension
Prevent the possible spread of health risks by following these biosecurity measures:
- Minimize nose-to-nose contact between horses. Do not allow another horse to sniff your horse’s nose “to get acquainted”;
- Do not share equipment for use with other people’s horses. Alternatively, if you loan out any of you equipment, keep it away from your horses until it is properly disinfected;
- Do not use common water troughs. Bring your own water and feed buckets;
- Avoid common-use areas such as tack stalls used to groom and tack multiple horses. If these common areas must be used, use cross-ties instead of tying horses to a post, wall, or other nose-to-nose contact areas;
- Halters, lead shanks, and face grooming towels should be used on and restricted to one animal only;
- Wash your hands or use a 62% ethyl alcohol hand gel before and after handling or riding other people’s horses;
- Early disease detection is paramount, especially contagious infectious diseases. Take horses’ temperatures twice daily (morning and night) during the event and for two weeks after return to the stable;
- Quarantine horses when they return to the barn or training facility after an event; and
- Clean and disinfect horse trailers before they’re used by other horses.