Posted on November 7, 2008 by Scott Weese

Stopping Show Sickness: Avoiding Infection at Horse Shows

Infectious disease risks increase whenever you mix large numbers of horses together, especially horses from many different farms. The risk is further increased if horses are allowed to have direct contact with each other, and indirect contact through people that touch many different horses. Add a little stress from shipping and you have a prime situation for infectious disease transmission.  Unfortunately, this very same situation is something that happens countless times every week, at horse shows and other events. Diseases associated with horses being at shows are very common. Some people think that horses getting sick is an unavoidable aspect of competing. While it is true that you can never completely eliminate the risk of infection, I think that our traditionally "accepted" degree of illness in show horses should not be considered "acceptable," and that we should be working harder to decrease the risks of disease transmission in these animals.

Here are some general recommendations to help do just that:

  • Avoid direct contact between your horse and other horse - don’t let horses touch each other. 
  • Make an extra effort to avoid going near any horses that appear to be sick, such as those that are coughing, or have nasal discharge or diarrhea.
  • Don’t share items like water buckets, feed bins and hay nets between horses.
  • Wash your hands or use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer after touching another horse.
  • Don’t take a sick horse, or a horse that might have been exposed to a horse with an infection, to an event. You don’t want your horse to get sick at a show, and you also shouldn't put other peoples’ horses at risk of infection.
  • Make sure your horse is appropriately vaccinated. Horses that go to shows or other events are at higher risk of exposure to certain infectious diseases. Your veterinarian should design a vaccination program that is appropriate for your horse.
  • Make sure events that you attend have strict rules for keeping sick horses off the property. If they don’t, or if those rules aren’t being followed, let them know that you think it is unacceptable.
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