Best Practices for Healthy Horsekeeping

Abstract

Biosecurity Basics: A New Perspective Post Pandemic. Whoever imagined that a worldwide pandemic would help highlight the value and importance of horse disease prevention processes/practices and biosecurity? Some have compared our covid pandemic experience to “The Great Epizootic”, an equine disease outbreak that brought our nation to its horse-drawn knees in 1872 (Moates, 2020). Previously, biosecurity education in the horse world was often met with the “teenage eye roll” reaction, or comments, such as “It will never happen to me”, but since COVID-19, knowledge and understanding of disease prevention has improved. Many people have been directly or indirectly affected/impacted by illness, loss of loved ones, canceled events, and quarantines. Regardless of personal views on the response to the pandemic, very few people would not be able to rattle off “wash your hands, don’t touch your face, and social distance”. One key difference between humans and horses is that horses don't have the ability to make their own decisions about biosecurity. Human caretakers can help set horses up for success or failure.