This message is from: Starfire Farm <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Greetings All,
Now this is interesting. I guess that all of the years we have gone to
Libby, I thought that everyone had both their Health and Coggins. I
remember people checking us in, with downpours, cold and no horse
unloaded ( was that Brian ? ) with a flashlight in the middle of the
night. We had to have paperwork in hand. I guess that we have never
competed in WA. but are very used to getting both a Health Cert. and
Coggins before we headed out to most states.
Yes, this was true for us as well, regarding attending Libby. In fact,
for us, in addition to the Coggins (EIA) and Health Cert., for the past
few years, we were only able to obtain our Health Certs 48 hours prior
to leaving for the event due to outbreaks of Vesticular Stomatitis. Our
veterinarian had to check the horses for any signs of this disease and
certify that we did not have the disease on our property OR in our
county prior to leaving. Now THAT caused some concern for actually even
being able to attend only two days prior to our departure date. Talk
about stress. And that was after sending in all of the entry fees for
the evaluations as well as the show!
In Colorado, many boarding stables require a negative Coggins report in
order to be able to board. All of our dressage show entries require
submission of a negative Coggins form within 6 months. If you cross the
state line with your horses, you have to carry a current health
certificate, which requires a negative Coggins test within 6 months, and
a Brand Inspection, which is considered your proof of ownership/right to
possession/transport of the horse.
Because it was a requirement of the NFHR evaluation system (and has been
for several years) all of the horses entered in the Greeley, CO
evaluation were required to present a negative Coggins test. Even those
who were only traveling a few miles to the event location.
EIA is considered a very dangerous disease in the equine industry. I
don't know all of the medical particulars, but if a horse tests positive
for the disease there are two options for the future management of the
horse. 1.) It can be housed at least 200 yards (I could be wrong
regarding the distance...it may be greater) from any possible contact
with any other horses/livestock for the remainder of it's life or 2.) It
can be euthanized. The vector for the disease is biting insects, mainly
flies, so it is difficult -if not impossible- to control.
I have a friend who had to have her horse euthanized after it tested
positive for the disease. Because it is controlled so well, and because
of the horse's history, it seemed virtually impossible that the horse
could test positive, but it did. They isolated the horse and took a
number of further tests to rule out any chance of a false positive, but
all of the tests came back positive. My friend did not think it was
humane to house the horse away from other horses for the remainder of
it's life, so had the horse euthanized. It broke her heart.
Under the circumstances, accepting that the test is required to attend a
show, especilly considering that horses might be attending from out of
state, seems prudent to me.
Beth
--
Starfire Farm
Beth Beymer and Sandy North
http://www.starfirefarm.com
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