26 February 2025

Become an Ambassador for Strangles Awareness Week!

Vets, horse owners and yard owners are encouraged to get involved with this year’s Strangles Awareness Week (SAW), by signing up as Ambassadors and promoting the campaign’s important BEST practice messaging to help prevent spread of the disease.

The acronym, which stands for ‘Boost immunity with Strangles vaccination’; ‘Engage with trusted information’; ‘Separate unfamiliar horses’ and ‘Temp check routinely’, is at the centre of the campaign.

SAW 2025 takes place at the beginning of May (5th – 11th) and aims to get everyone in the horse world working together to reduce the spread and impact of Strangles infections, which can be financially and emotionally costly. 

The contagious respiratory illness is the most diagnosed equine disease worldwide. Signs vary, but can include a high fever, laboured breathing, difficulty eating, depression, thick nasal discharge and painful abscesses. In severe cases Strangles can pose a risk to horses’ lives.

Ambassadors will be sent a suite of social media assets ready to download and share during SAW, their own digital Ambassador badge and updates about the campaign.

SAW messages are developed from the very latest research and advice from world-leading experts, crafted into practical, accessible resources for horse owners and yard managers.

Now approaching its sixth year, SAW has achieved international recognition, bringing together leading equine welfare charities, educational institutions and research organisations.

Redwings coordinates the SAW collaboration. Helen Whitelegg, our Campaigns and Policy Manager, said: “We are better placed than ever before to reduce the risk and number of cases seen each year, but the risk posed by Strangles remains real for all UK horses and their owners.

"There were over 260 lab-diagnosed cases recorded last year by the Surveillance of Equine Strangles scheme, with many more cases going unrecorded. More than 40 diagnoses have already been made this year. It really can happen to anyone.

“We must all work together to tackle this disease, everyone who is involved in the sector has a part to play.”

Rhi holding a SAW ambassador sign next to her horse Harley

SAW supporters

Several well-known riders and equestrian influencers have lent their names to the campaign since it began, including eventers William Fox-Pitt, Lucinda Green and Piggy March, dressage rider Richard Davison and equestrian influencer Riding with Rhi.

View image gallery

Vet Ambassadors

Vet Ambassadors will be sent a suite of social media assets, ready to download and use during SAW, their own digital Ambassador badge and updates about the campaign, as well as a link to a special PowerPoint presentation, which can be edited and used to plan and run client events.

Helen added: "We know vets have a crucial role to play in tackling this devastating disease, and have worked with them since the campaign began.

"Over 80 vet practices have already signed up to become SAW Ambassadors, with many organising successful events to share information with their horse-owning clients.

"Those who have signed up previously will automatically receive the pack and don't need to sign up again.

"We hope that even more practices will join us and take an active role in spreading SAW's important messages this year."

“The SAW collaborators have created so much content to inform and inspire people to protect horses from Strangles since the inception of SAW in 2020, and this year we’re encouraging horse and yard owners to create some of their own, with our support.

“If we all used BEST practice, we could make a real difference to how this disease impacts our horses, and us."

Helen Whitelegg

Campaigns and Policy Manager

There is a comprehensive SAW web page and SAW pages on all the social media platforms, which we’d love people to share from and tag us.

To sign up and join more than 750 existing Ambassadors who helped the campaign reach more than 2.8 million people in 2024, click here.

Visitors to this year's National Equine Show (1st – 2nd March) can also find out more about SAW and sign up to become an Ambassador by visiting Redwings on stand B63.