by Nancy Jaffer | May 20, 2023
The Essex Horse Trials is a celebration as much as it is a competition; a time for friends and families to get together and enjoy New Jersey’s countryside while watching a special sporting event.
A fixture that dates back 55 years, Essex gets under way at the U.S. Equestrian Team Foundation in Gladstone on June 3, with the dressage phase in the morning, followed by show jumping in the afternoon and early evening. The venue changes on June 4 to Moorland Farm in Far Hills, less than 10 minutes away, where the cross-country phase will take place all day over the hills and through the water. There are new tracks for the Beginner Novice, Novice and Training levels.
The water obstacle at Essex always draws a crowd. (Photo © 2022 by Lawrence J. Nagy)
Eventing fans will recognize many of the riders competing. They include Buck Davidson (whose parents, Carol Hannum and Bruce Davidson, also rode at Essex), Hannah Sue Burnett, Erin Sylvester Kanara, Caroline Martin and some local favorites, among them Meg Kepferle and Elle de Recat. There actually may be some more boldface names by the time entries close May 23.
Essex is a revival of a very adaptable event that has developed as required over the years.
It began out of necessity. When Essex was founded, the U.S. didn’t have much to offer in the way of three-day events That meant those who wanted them on the calendar had to do the staging. In the case of the first Essex, it involved clearing land, assembling jumps and digging ditches to develop a cross-country course.
It all happened during the spring of 1968 on the Haller family farm in Bedminster–not that anyone believed at the time they were building a project for posterity.
“We were more thinking about fulfilling a need,” Roger Haller remembered in an interview 24 years ago, referring to the fact that when the Essex event debuted at his family’s Hoopstick Farm on Lamington Road, there were few horse trials in America that could develop competitors in the European-dominated sport.
Sally Ike remembers going to the farm to help put things together, along with other members of the 1968 Olympic team, who had gathered in Gladstone before their departure for Mexico. She was at Hoopstick on the evening before the first Essex was scheduled to start, while Roger still was working on one of the fences. When she asked whether the course would be finished on time, he reassured her.
Sally Ike on Roxboro at the 1984 Essex Horse Trials. (Photo courtesy of Sally Ike)
” `Oh yeah, it will be ready,'” he told her, “and it was, and it worked fine,” she said.
Sally remembered that Jill Slater, a joint master of the Essex Foxhounds, rode in the first Essex on Knockbawn, a horse who also competed in the Maryland Hunt Cup.
“It was a very different group of people,” Sally reminisced. It was also a very different event. Essex at that time was a three-day event that ran “long format,” with miles of roads and tracks and a steeplechase in addition to the three phases that remain today. It was quite an endurance test.
Sally went on to win it herself in 1984 with Roxboro, one of her many links to Essex, which she also has served as a trustee and show jumping course designer.
Essex in its heyday could rightly be called an occasion. It had moved to the USET after it outgrew Hoopstick. but. the event was held at the Team for the last time in 1998, after much of the land needed went for a golf course. Its absence stretched for 19 years, until the revival at Moorland in 2017 generated excitement in the eventing ranks. Co-organizers Ralph Jones and Morgan Rowsell are devoted to improving it every year, adding the USET Foundation venue to the equation in 2022.
Guests in the VIP section at the USET Foundation during the Essex Horse Trials can watch showjumping as they party. (Photo © 2022 by Lawrence J. Nagy)
Shelley Page, a well-known eventing organizer, has never forgotten riding at Essex in its heyday.
“I did my very first three-day event at Essex in 1980-something and I won it,” recalled Shelley, who was aboard an Appaloosa named The Magic Dragon in the Preliminary section.
“It was huge. It was the event to go to, to do a three-day event,” she observed.
“I think it is so exciting that it is back at Gladstone and its roots. Morgan and Ralph and that team have done such an amazing job to bring that event full circle. They brought it back to life and brought it back home, so to speak.”
Essex is produced with the help of 100 volunteers, part of the community spirit that energizes the event as it evolves annually. This year, there’s a new Intermediate division, a notch above the Preliminary section that was the top segment last year. Running S Equine Veterinary Services has put up $10,000 in prize money for the Intermediate. Other major ESsex backers are Peapack-Gladstone Bank and PURE Insurance.
Additional sponsors include Turpin Realty, Sotheby’s and Open Road. Essex benefits the Life Camp in Pottersville, which provides an enriching summer day camp experience for 300 youths daily for six weeks during July and August. Campers between the ages of 6 and 13 come from the greater Newark public school system, as well as from Newark Charter School Programs. After orientation on June 4, campers will be coming to Essex for a picnic, sponsored by Aon insurance. The occasion will offer the kids and their families a chance to watch the cross-country.
For those who appreciate horsepower as much as (or maybe more than) horses, the Peter Chesson Memorial Car Show will run from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. June 4 at Moorland.
Admission is $20 per car. There will be vendors on the grounds at both the USET Foundation and Moorland, as well as four food trucks. A VIP cocktail party at the USET Foundation will be held during the show jumping. Tickets for the party are $100.
For more information, go to www.essexhorsetrials.org.
by Nancy Jaffer | Jun 1, 2023
It was a marathon.
The $38,700 Mainline Challenge lasted two hours, with 47 horses competing in the two-phase competition at the Devon Horse Show Wednesday night, as the four-in-hands waiting for the next class cooled their heels for more than an hour.
The class, an update of the old Power and Speed format, involved jumping six fences as a preliminary to fences seven through 12, taken at a fast clip. The route, designed by Anderson Lima of Peru, had nearly half the starters finishing without jumping faults.
Laura Chapot, who is known for being quick, set the pace to catch on Chandon Blue, 10th to go. Clocked at 31.09 seconds, she looked unbeatable for the next 35 rounds. Then McLain Ward came into the ring with First Lady, a mount who has been developing ove the last three years for owner Robin Parsky, who also has horses with world number one. Henrik von Eckermann.
McLain’s mark of 30.69 had staying power. The only entry that came close was British rider Jessica Mendoza on Changing Tatum, third from the end. But she took her horse back at the final fence, a sturdy dark green oxer, which meant she missed the mark. Her time of 30.73 seconds put her second.
McLain is understandably excited about the elegant First Lady, an Oldenburg displaying a refined thoroughbred look.
“The mare has super quality and is a wonderful type horse, a beautiful model. She had to learn the ropes a little bit,” McLain said.
“She always was a spectacular jumper. Now she’s really figuring the sport out and the results are starting to show that.”
by Nancy Jaffer | May 24, 2023
Want to be part of an important competition’s success?
Dressage at Devon is offering many opportunities Sept. 26-Oct. 1 at the Devon showgrounds in Pennsylvania.
Opportunities involve being a scribe for judges at the breed and/or performance show, serving as a ring steward or assistant steward, becoming part of the show manager’s crew and a variety of other options.
There’s always a crowd to watch top riders during Dressage at Devon. (Photo © by Nancy Jaffer)
In addition to the job experience, benefits include free admission (obviously) and parking, a collectible pin and mug, meals and snacks, training and supervision.
It’s always a good show. Think of being able to meet so many interesting trainers, riders and horse owners–not to mention horses!
For more information, or to register, click on this link.
by Nancy Jaffer | May 29, 2023
There will be an emergency summit meeting at Churchill Downs on Tuesday under the auspices of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA) in the wake of 12 horse deaths at the home of the Kentucky Derby this spring.
Veterinary teams from Churchill Downs, the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission and HISA will gather to review all veterinary information available and conduct additional analysis, seeking to determine what caused the tragedies at the Louisville, Ky., track that have gotten worldwide attention.
“HISA’s highest priority is the safety and well-being of the horses and riders competing under its jurisdiction,” according to a HISA statement. “We remain deeply concerned by the unusually high number of equine fatalities at Churchill Downs over the last several weeks.”
Meanwhile, HISA is asking for an independent analysis of the facility’s racing and training surfaces from experienced track superintendent Dennis Moore. At the same time, HISA is seeking more veterinary opinions and on-site obeservations from its director of equine safety and welfare, Dr. Jennifer Durenberger.
Churchill Downs issued a statement about the situation, saying,”Our team members mourn the loss of these animals as we continue to work together to discover cause and determine appropriate investments to minimize, to the degree possible, any avoidable risk in this sport and on our property. We do not accept this as suitable or tolerable and share the frustrations of the public, and in some cases, the questions to which we do not yet have answers.
“We have been rigorously working since the opening of the meet to understand what has led to this spike and have yet to find a conclusive discernible pattern as we await the findings of ongoing investigations into those injuries and fatalities.”
by Nancy Jaffer | May 27, 2023
Is Greystone Park Psychiatric Hospital the best place to provide treatment for Michael Barisone, found not guilty by reason of insanity in his 2022 trial on a charge of second-degree attempted murder?
The dressage trainer’s legal team contended in court yesterday that he can’t get the therapy he needs at the state facility, maintaining he should receive it on an outpatient basis from a private hospital.
The Morris County, N.J., Prosecutor’s office, meanwhile, maintains Greystone is the venue that minimizes risk to the patient and society as Barisone gets treatment.
Those viewpoints were expressed yesterday in a daylong Krol hearing before Superior Court Judge Stephen Taylor, who heard testimony from a psychiatrist and psychologists as each side presented its case. In New Jersey, Krol hearings are held periodically to judge the progress of a criminal defendant who has been confined to a psychiatric institution following a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity.
Barisone, the alternate for the 2008 U.S. Olympic dressage team, was tried on attempted murder and several other charges in connection with the shooting of Lauren Kanarek, a tenant on his Long Valley, N.J., farm. The two and Kanarek’s fiancee, Rob Goodwin, had a long-running dispute that erupted into gunfire on Aug. 7, 2019.
Kanarek, a rider who came to the farm to be trained by Barisone, took two bullets in the chest and was rushed to Morristown Medical Center’s intensive care unit after the incident, which Barisone says he doesn’t remember. Kanarek’s parents, Kirby and Jonathan Kanarek, were in the courtroom monitoring Friday’s proceedings.
Following the April 2022 verdict, Barisone was sent to the state’s Anne Klein Forensic Center in West Trenton before being transferred to Greystone in Parsippany, N.J., six months later.
Citing the voluminous amount of testimony presented during Friday’s court session in Morristown, Taylor reserved decision until Wednesday, when the next steps for Barisone will be determined as he meets with lawyers for both sides, Morris County Supervising Assistant Prosecutor Christopher Schellhorn and Chris Deininger on behalf of Barisone. Meanwhile, the outcome of the last Krol hearing in September, which kept Barisone at Greystone, is being appealed.
Michael Barisone and attorney Chris Deininger. (Photo © 2023 by Nancy Jaffer)
Attorney Edward Bilinkas, representing Barisone, noted in court that individual treatment for his client at Greystone did not get under way until March 2023, even though the defendant entered the hospital in October 2022.
Initially, Barisone was in group sessions where patients listened to music and filled in coloring books, according to Bilinkas. Barisone filed 15 requests to get the treatment that would help him. After the threat of a lawsuit, individual treatment began.
Dr. Sarah Pachner, a Greystone psychologist, stated from the witness stand that there were “significant delays” at the hospital across the board because the department is “considerably short-staffed, we are down a number of positions in the department, making it difficult to keep up with demand.”
Bilinkas told the judge that in regard to Greystone, his client was “being punished here. It has nothing to do with recovery.”
Schellhorn, citing comments from Greystone’s treatment team that Barisone often went off on tangents bringing up the “index crime” of the shooting and trying to “relitigate the case” instead of focusing on efforts to heal his mental health issues, suggested another Krol hearing should be held in six months “to see how the therapy treatment is going.”
He said the Greystone doctors “testified their goal is not to keep Michael Barisone at Greystone Hospital any longer than it needs to, but he has to participate and cooperate, and he has to understand these things before they are going to be able to make a recommendation to the court that it would be appropriate for him to go out into the community safely.”
Schellhorn stated that based on the testimony from Greystone team members, Barisone has “overall a lack of insight with respect to what is necessary for him to cope.”
The defense psychologist, Dr. Charles Hasson, characterized Barisone as narcissistic, which he described as a personality disorder, stemming from feelings of inadequacy dating back to his childhood and “a lot of trauma.”
According to Hasson, Barisone felt he was defective. To fight that, “he worked hard,” and was driven to become a perfectionist, the psychologist continued.
Psychologist Dr. Charles Hasson testifies. (Photo © 2023 by Nancy Jaffer)
“It drove him to prove he was halfway decent.”
While feelings of shame occasionally surface and Barisone has struggled with depression, “he’s not a danger,” Hasson contended, taking issue with the type of the specific type of assessment tests used by the hospital.
“There’s a difference between mental illness and mental health,” he added, saying Barisone definitely needs therapy but could get it on an outpatient basis five days a week at a private treatment center if he lives with a friend in New Jersey. That dovetails with a previous recommendation by a defense psychiatrist.
Hasson advised that Greystone staff needs to listen to Barisone, but at the same time, “not react to the BS.”
Comments by Hasson and others who testified indicated there was frustration on the part of both therapists and Barisone. Hasson said narcissists can “turn off the therapist, make the therapist angry.”
Greystone psychiatrist Dr. Anthony Gotay said Barisone has “a sense of grandiosity and self-importance,” as well as a preoccupation with “success and power.”
Grandiose people think “rules don’t apply to them” and “they’re better than other people.”
He said Barisone also has obsessive/compulsive personality disorder, which is approached with therapy, rather than medication.
Psychiatrist Dr. Anthony Gotay. (Photo © 2023 by Nancy Jaffer)
The doctor expressed skepticism when he recounted how Barisone mentioned a movie may be made about him, and insisted he had hosted late night comedian Stephen Colbert’s show.
Bilinkas pointed out to the doctor in his cross-examination that Barisone, the subject of a 48 Hours documentary on CBS, had been approached about a book and a movie–“I’m not aware of that,” Gotay replied. Bilinkas also noted that Barisone had done a show with Colbert in which he gave the comedian a dressage lesson. Gotay said he had not seen it.
Gotay mentioned Barisone is smart, but “keeps getting in his own way.”
He said Barisone should continue individual and group therapy so Greystone can “ease restrictions and see how he does.” If it goes well “we can give him more freedom.” That could include outings and overnight visits.
“He needs the safety and structure of Greystone or a 24-hour hospital. He needs to be able to go into the community and come back and be reassessed.”
If you missed last month’s story about the settlement in the civil lawsuit involving Barisone, here is a link.
by Nancy Jaffer | May 25, 2023
I’ve said it before, and I’ll warn you again–always remember there are eyes on you when you’re working with horses.
Actually, the eyes are the least of it. Videos, the livestream of competitions and photos can do plenty of damage when they’re posted, and that’s not just if you’re doing something questionable.
Those who don’t know anything about horses have their own interpretations of what goes on around the animals.
Perhaps they see horses “as prisoners in tiny stalls,” U.S. Hunter Jumper Association President Mary Knowlton suggested this week at a Town Hall Zoom meeting, the second in a series of four.
She added practices that feel normal to those involved with horses “might not seem that way to people without knowledge of the sport.”
Mary advised that we have to “get our story out there early and explain what we do.”
This is all about Social License to Operate, the hot catch phrase summing up the type of “permission” needed to pursue horse sports in the era of social media, and in the view of people in the larger community who are always watching.
She warned that if those involved in horse sport don’t make sure that the picture of how they operate can withstand widespread consumption, there is always the possibility the federal government will step in as it did with racing. The Federal Trade Commission has oversight of HISA, the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority. The program includes racing and training safety standards, as well as injury and fatality analysis, as well as evaluation and accreditation.
As one person on the Zoom call pointed out, the phrase, “I’m from the government and I’m here to help you” is not synonymous with good news.
“I think we can police ourselves,” Mary emphasized.
It’s up to everyone to report when they see something that isn’t going right; a horse being longed to exhaustion, a pony being whipped, a syringe where it doesn’t belong.
“There’s much more policing of each other. People are watching now and some are speaking up,” said Mary.
Steward Sheila Murphy, who was among the 98 people on the Zoom meeting, cited an instance where “just my presence,” stopped abusive longeing after she had been told what was going on.
At the same time, steward Cricket Stone noted that while informing stewards or the U.S. Equestrian Federation about misbehavior is important, “videos and photo evidence go a lot further than hearsay” when it comes to calling out perpetrators.
The USEF board next month will consider several rules pertaining to horse welfare, including requiring horses being longed or ridden in a schooling or warm-up area to have a show number attached, or have the number on the rider or handler. Attachments to longe whips, such as flags or bags, would be forbidden, along with cracking the whip while a horse is being longed.
Also to be discussed is penalizing by elimination if a horse has raw or bleeding sores on its sides, as that would be considered cruelty and abuse. The current rule only covers competing with raw or bleeding sores around the coronets, pasterns or legs.
While it’s unfortunately common for a horse to be longed far too long to get it ready for an amateur rider or a child, the same thing can happen to horses competing in other divisions. Is a happy bounce of a horse’s head after a fence something that should be penalized if that joyful expression goes no further? Or do horses really have to be dead quiet to pin in a big class?
Perhaps, it was suggested during the Town Hall, “We need to change what we’re judging for.” And Mary suggested that if a rider can only compete if their horse is longed for too long, perhaps the trainer instead should focus on training the rider to perform more competently.
Other abuses mentioned included showing horses too many times at one competition. The example given was a 23-year-old horse doing 20 classes in a week. Perhaps that is something that should be regulated, it was mentioned, since it’s less arbitrary than trying to judge whether a horse has been on the longe line too long.
On another topic, Mary explained the difference between Channel I and Channel II shows, which many USEF and USHJA members still don’t understand. Channel I is a combo of the former Premier and National Shows; Channel II shows are what used to be called, B, C and Local Member shows, and subsequently, Regional. Outreach, at the lowest level, doesn’t have to be run at a USEF licensed show.
“Outreach is growing huge and the federation’s Regional is a little bit stagnant. Part of the reason for that, I think, is because Outreach is an overlay on an unrecognized show and we don’t have a lot of rules they have to follow,” said Mary.
“It’s more of a `Hello, come in, meet USHJA, see that we’re not scary, get introduced to what we do. Compete, have fun.’ ” An Outreach Festival, at the next level, is held at licensed shows. That gives participants a chance to see what goes on in other rings.
She said Outreach shows may consider becoming licensed, but noted “We’ll see about that. That’s uncertain to me at this moment.”
On the topic of saving the Regional horse show, Mary said, “California got some new Channel II shows.” but at the same time, “Zone II (New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania) has lost some for sure. Some other zones don’t really have Regional shows. I think Outreach has helped a lot to introduce people to being within USHJA’s umbrella. Hopefully, that will translate into people actually wanting to run Regional shows.”
by Nancy Jaffer | May 26, 2023
by Nancy Jaffer | May 17, 2023
The wonderful folks at Equiratings, whose analysis always reveals new angles on horse sport, have a take we all should have come up with–but didn’t. They put all the statistics together and found that every major eventing championship since 2021 has been won by a woman. Oh, and all the reigning winners of Grand Slam 5-stars (Kentucky and Britain’s Badminton and Burghley) are women.
Julia Krajewski became the first female eventing gold medalist at the Olympics in 2021.
Start with Germany’s Julia Krajewski (Amande d’Bneville) taking individual gold at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, the first woman ever to earn that title.
Then the unheralded British rider Yasmin Ingham (Banzai du Loir) ended up as World Champion last year. (And while it’s not in the same time frame, I remembered the 2018 and 2014 world champions, Ros Canter (Great Britain) and Sandra Auffarth (Germany) were also female.
World Champion Yasmin Ingham and Banzai du Loir. (Photo © 2023 by Nancy Jaffer)
Great Britain’s Nicola Wilson (JL Dublin) won the European Championship in 2021 as the third female titleist in a row (Ingrid Klimke is numbers one and two). Sadly, as we know, Nicola was badly injured in a fall at Badminton last year and “Dubs” has been taken over by Tom McEwen, second place at Kentucky last month.
Speaking of Kentucky, Tamie Smith (Mai Baum) became the first American since 2008 (and the first woman since 2011) to win there last month.
Tamie Smith was saluted by the fans at Kentucky last month. (Photo © 2023 by Nancy Jaffer)
Britain’s Piggy March (Vanir Kamira) took Burghley last September, the second female winner in a row (Pippa Funnell, another Brit, won in 2019, the last time the event was run before Covid.)
This month, we had Ros Canter (Lordships Graffalo) become the fourth female Badminton winner in a row, after Jonelle Price, Piggy March and Laura Collett.
by Nancy Jaffer | May 21, 2023
People keep asking me about the tragic situation involving nine thoroughbreds who were euthanized at Churchill Downs, the home of the Kentucky Derby, beginning during in late April up through May 20.
More hard questions at another venue came yesterday, when Havnameltdown was put down after incurring a non-operable left front fetlock injury during a race on the Preakness undercard at Pimlico in Maryland, where the second leg of the Triple Crown was being contested. Ironically, this is happening as racehorse deaths in the country are at their lowest level since tracking them began in 2009.
Lisa Lazarus, who the sport horse world remembers as general counsel and later chief of business development and strategy at the FEI (international equestrian federation), now serves as CEO of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA). She pointed out an important factor toward addressing the issue of horse deaths at racetracks is the fact that the Anti-Doping and Medication Control Program resumes May 22 under the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit (HIWU).
On May 12, Lisa issued an open letter explaining what HISA is doing about this heart-breaking situation. This is what she wrote:
“Our first priority is to support efforts to better understand, to the degree possible, the root causes of the deaths last week at Churchill Downs.
Here’s what you can expect from the team at HISA and our counterparts at the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission (KHRC) in the coming weeks:
The KHRC is leading an Equine Catastrophic Injury Review to investigate the circumstances of and potential contributing factors to each of the fatalities that occurred. The investigations are already under way, and involve, at a minimum, interviews with the horses’ connections and security personnel and review of the horses’ racing, training, veterinary and pre-race exam inspection records as well as video surveillance. This is in addition to the mandatory necropsies (the equine version of autopsies)that will be performed to further inform our collective understanding of the circumstances as outlined by HISA’s Racetrack Safety Program. All findings will be submitted to HISA upon the completion of the review.
HISA will conduct its own, independent investigation of each fatality to inform whether additional steps need to be taken. HISA’s investigation will include the following:
- A review of the records pertaining to each horse which died, including the necropsy report, Vets’ List history, past performances, exercise history, treatment records, pre-race inspection, and video records;
- A review of Churchill Downs equine fatality rates from the recent period, the same period the year prior, and the most recently concluded year; as well as training fatality data;
- A review of racetrack maintenance records, surface measurements, and testing data;
- Interviews with the Regulatory Vet, Attending Vet, track management officials, and other relevant third parties.
HISA’s findings, including the determination of whether any rule violations occurred to refer for potential enforcement proceedings, will be made public following the investigation’s conclusion.
The findings associated with these investigations will also be recorded and aggregated along with other industry-wide data for in-depth analysis to eventually establish a baseline for determining with greater clarity factors that may contribute to risk of injury.
While these changes take time and do little to address the immediate and pressing concerns we share as an industry, we have operational safety rules in place that by most accounts are making a difference. And soon, we’ll take another critical step toward an improved, more modern sport when the Anti-Doping and Medication Control Program (ADMC) resumes on May 22 under the Horseracing Integrity and Welfare Unit.
For the first time in the storied history of Thoroughbred racing, there will be one set of uniform, consistent rules across all racing jurisdictions. Under the ADMC Program there will also be greater efficiency for all participants and real consequences for those who seek to break the rules for their own benefit and to the detriment of the horses under their care. The rules also create a rational, fair system for adjudicating penalties and taking into account environmental and other accidental contamination.
There is no doubt that the combination of the Racetrack Safety Program and the ADMC Program will make our sport safer for the horses entrusted to our care.
As we move forward from this collective low, I hope it is together, united with a renewed commitment to what matters most: the safety of our horses and our riders. We owe it to them to get this right. And we owe it to them to do it now.”
by Nancy Jaffer | May 19, 2023
A property in Hunterdon County, N.J., has been quarantined by the state Department of Agriculture after one horse developed equine herpes myeloencephalopathy (EHM) and had to be euthanized.
The horse, an 8-year-old gelding, developed acute clinical signs of the highly infectious disease on May 12. EHM is the often-deadly neurologic form of Equine Herpes Virus (EHV-1) infection, however, it does not affect humans and other domestic animals, except for llamas and alpacas.
Temperatures of the quarantined horses are being taken twice daily to monitor them. The NJDA is tracing and notifying the appropriate parties regarding recent horse movement.
“The Department took swift action to prevent the disease from spreading to other horses by enacting a quarantine, which stops movement of horses in and out of properties and puts in place preventive measures to contain the virus,” state Secretary of Agriculture Douglas H. Fisher said.
The EHV-1 organism spreads quickly from horse to horse and can cause respiratory problems, especially in young horses, and spontaneous abortion in pregnant mares. The neurologic form of the virus can result in death. The incubation period of EHV-1 is typically 2-10 days.
Clinical signs include respiratory disease, fever, nasal discharge, depression, cough, lack of appetite, and/or enlarged lymph nodes. In horses infected with the neurologic strain of EHV-1, clinical signs typically include mild incoordination, hind end weakness/paralysis, loss of bladder and tail function, and loss of sensation to the skin in the hind end. The virus spreads readily through direct contact with infected materials.
The virus is endemic in the country and while highly infectious, it does not persist in the environment for an extended period and is neutralized by hand soap, alcohol-based hand sanitizers and sunlight.
The NJDA Animal Health Diagnostic Laboratory is available to assist veterinarians with the EHV-1 testing. For contact information, go to the lab website: www.jerseyvetlab.nj.gov. Concerned owners should consult with their veterinarian prior to taking any action as the clinical signs of infection with the neurological form of EHV-1 (EHM) are common to many other diseases. EHM is a reportable disease in New Jersey. If an owner has a horse exhibiting neurologic signs or suspects equine herpes, they are directed to call their veterinarian immediately.
