Biosecurity guidelines for equine events

Alberta Agriculture and Rural Development

With the goal of keeping horses healthy, the Alberta Equestrian Federation (AEF) and the Alberta Veterinary Medical Association (ABVMA) have partnered to create biosecurity guidelines that aim to limit the risk of horses contracting diseases at horse events.

“We all want to keep our horses healthy,” says Mikki Shatosky, project manager for the AEF equine biosecurity outreach program. “Disease outbreaks not only risk the health and lives of individual horses, but also cost owners emotional and financial stress. Horse events have high traffic areas, which means steps need to be taken to reduce the chances of an infectious disease being carried onto the grounds or spread within the facility and beyond.”

Horse Events: Biosecurity guidelines for organizers and competitors provides practical recommendations for both competitors and event organizers. By following some simple steps, the horse community can reduce the spread of infectious diseases like strangles, equine herpes virus and ringworm.

“As veterinarians, we often treat horses that have diseases that are preventable. By following the basic principles of biosecurity that are outlined in the guidelines, we can not only reduce the potential for spread of common equine infectious diseases during our day to day activities but also do our part to prevent an outbreak occurring during an event in our province. I'm proud to have worked with the AEF in creating these guidelines,” said Dr. Krista Howden from the ABVMA Equine Committee.

The guidelines can be downloaded from the AEF website here.

Funding for the Equine Biosecurity Outreach program is provided through the Growing Forward 2 (GF2) Animal Health Biosecurity Producer Program. GF2 is a federal-provincial-territorial initiative.