Equine biosecurity - Gustavo Mirabal Castro

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When it comes to breeding and reproducing horses, these are spaces that are used for resting and sleeping these mammals. Therefore, the ideal is to maintain hygiene and equine Biosafety measures that provide security to them. Therefore, we will expand more deeply in this installment based on this important issue, such as equine biosecurity.

This guarantees the welfare of the horses as well as the personnel in charge of these spaces.

Biosecurity is a word whose meaning is a word whose meaning is to protect life.

Currently, people who have horses should pay special attention when it comes to disease risks in horses. Therefore, the corresponding measures must be taken to avoid a fatal outcome. Well, this means that it can be lethal and therefore bring great losses to the agricultural producer.

For this reason, owners as well as state institutions can do to improve biosecurity in the space where these equines remain, as well as their surroundings. Most of the time the horse lives in an environment in which the owner or the personnel in charge of these spaces manage to maintain equine Biosafety. Therefore, they are well protected against infectious diseases with consistent management and surveillance practices.

However, when the horse is directed to an event, a race, they take it out of that inspected environment and display it to unknown horses. This is why it is important that the immune system of the horse is as resistant and strong as possible.

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Disease prevention through equine biosecurity

Ideally, to avoid infectious diseases in the horse it is advisable to follow the following guidelines with this to ensure that the spaces are as clean as possible.

As for the footwear that you use in your own spaces, it is convenient that you allocate them only for it. Additionally you must have a couple of extra shoes to visit other spaces where your horse has to go.
Clothing hygiene is essential as it should be washed after contact with horses as well as with other horses.
Avoid any gap with standing water near the environment where the horses remain.
The water troughs of the horses must have a rigorous control in the physical and chemical bacteriological aspects
As for the feeding of the horses, the ideal is to distribute the individual feeders.
When the horse is in public spaces where it must share with other horses, care must be taken that it has its own water and thus avoid using a public water trough
Sterilization of cleaning tools before and after use for an assigned horse. This also applies to equipment of another establishment, since the ideal is to keep the levels of equine Biosafety to the maximum.
Purify your equipment and cars before entering the stables and pasture spaces. This should apply with greater reason if they have been manipulated offsite or in sick animals.
An element of the utmost importance and that you don’t want to lose sight of is the vaccination and deworming calendar. In addition to rigorous health strategies to maintain equine Biosafety.

Equine biosecurity at the horse farm

As in most breeding and breeding farms, visitors attend either by knowing the spaces or closing a business. Therefore, it is very important to maintain strict rules of equine Biosafety that we will mention below:

Provide plastic covers for pull-on boot protection before entering the spaces where the horses are.
Provide antibacterial hand gel or a washing area as they have to clean their hands both at the entrance and at the exit of these spaces
On the other hand it is vital that visitors remain without permission to drive cars or devices in their stables.
In case of entering new horses to the farm it is necessary that they have a current negative Coggins.
Then it is convenient to isolate new animals 2 to 6 weeks before the introduction to the herd.
These horses must be accessed after having attended all the other horses on the farm. It is also necessary to allocate halter, feeders and water tanks for them.
Ideally, before these horses enter the isolation phase, the corresponding vaccines and deworming are administered.
With these preventive measures fully fulfilling them in relation to the entry of people to the spaces. As well as the acquisition of new horses, equine biosecurity will be guaranteed.

Veterinarians in free exercise with Equine Biosecurity

For those veterinary medicine professionals who practice in the field and at home, it is of the utmost importance that you take into account Equine Biosecurity. Since these present specific risks for the transmission of the disease.

The factor involved here is decisive because the veterinarian must attend appointments in different places on the same day. Here there is a latent risk of transmitting infectious diseases. Therefore, one of the preventive measures that the veterinarian must take into account are the following:

Veterinarians who travel at home must sterilize their vehicle’s steering wheel continuously.
One of the options that the veterinarian must take into account is to treat horses with a possible infectious disease at the last appointment of the day.
You should disinfect your hands with alcohol based antibacterial gel for hand cleaning. After having dry hands should proceed to put on sterile gloves. This procedure must be performed in each of the different visits to the patients.
If the veterinarian has his own horses. He must arrive at his home after his work. In this sense, you should shower and change your clothes and apply all the equine Biosafety measures in your own stable.

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Management of sick horses with Equine Biosecurity

To make a good management of horses that present an infectious disease, isolation measures must be taken. So the horse is removed from the group and treated last after having attended the healthy horses

The person in charge of handling the animal should wash their hands before and after treatment. Also you should not put the clothes of sick horses with their other clothes. As for the tools and equipment used in the facilities where the sick horse is, they must be thoroughly cleaned.

These preventive equine biosecurity measures can greatly prevent the threat of disease outbreak being very real. The application and practice of equine Biosafety measures as their routine protect their horses

An ideal way is to stay alert for any outbreak that spreads in the town where you have the farm. Then activate with the necessary protocols. In the meantime, you should try as far as possible the preventive measures of equine biosecurity.

Keep up with current disease outbreaks and contact your veterinarian to identify the best policies to protect the health of your horses.

The best attack is a good defense (immunologically too)

The best medicine is preventive this applies to humans and animals. Biosecurity is essential to prevent diseases through vaccination by reducing the incidence of viral diseases.

This is why horse owners are urged to comply with equine vaccination schemes. This will represent lower costs in the long run and better quality of life for horses. On the other hand, if you apply equine biosecurity, it will result in the well-being of your horses and therefore improve your productivity. Protecting the health of your horse will also protect your investment and your pocket.