Equestrian Sport Productions (ESP) has reported that a horse in Tent #17 presented with a fever in the late morning of Thursday, April 1st. The horse – Horse A – was isolated to the quarantine stalls immediately on Thursday for Equine herpesvirus testing and treatment. Nasal and blood tests were pulled and sent out for rapid testing. Friday night at 7 pm the results came back from the lab that the nasal test was positive for EHV-1 and the blood was negative.
At 7:30 pm a teleconference was held with Palm Beach Equine Clinic Veterinarians and the State Vet. The decision to place the single barn aisle where the horse was stabled in quarantine was made. Management met with the barn owner Friday night and established a barrier at the end of their aisle and went over biosecurity protocols.
The State Vet met with ESP management and the Horse A barn owner Saturday morning. At this point, two aisles in Tent 17 are under mandatory quarantine, and a third aisle is voluntarily quarantining. The rest of Tent 17 is considered not to be at risk.
Horse (A) remains isolated and is currently bright and not showing any neurologic signs. The owner made the decision on April 3rd to have the horse transported to the University of Florida for treatment.
ESP has been working closely and in direct communication with Palm Beach Equine Clinic and the State Vet to ensure they are receiving the most accurate information as quickly as possible since the fever was first noted in Horse A.
ESP’s long-standing strict protocols regarding rapid isolation and testing of febrile horses leads them to be confident these protocols will limit transmission and enable the shows to continue safely. The 12-week Winter Equestrian Festival concludes on Sunday, April 4th, and is immediately followed by the ESP Spring Series which commences on April 7th.
There have been 9 other new cases of EHV – Neurologic reported in the US since April 1st in Kentucky, California, Utah and Texas.
~ with files from ESP Management
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