27 January 2023

Yard’s tragic story of strangles outbreak

Horse owners at a well-established, family-friendly livery yard in Derbyshire have teamed up with Redwings to share their experience of a strangles outbreak. They hope to help others avoid paying the financial, emotional and personal costs of a ‘truly devastating’ disease.

When three horses developed snotty noses in June 2022, High Moor Livery immediately stopped all horse movements and called their vet. It took more than seven months for the last pony to test clear so they could finally put the outbreak behind them. And they’re already taking steps to ensure that’s where it stays.

In total, 27 of the 62 horses living at High Moor last summer tested positive for strangles, several were seriously ill and tragically four of those horses lost their lives, including Teddy (pictured above with his teenage owner Evie).

Also lost was young Welsh mare Fifi. “I had to tell my three-year-old that her first pony had died” recalls Alisha after they watched Fifi battling the infection for weeks before becoming so thin, sick and weak she could barely stand, and Alisha and vet Alex agreed there was nothing more they could do. “She had loads of character” says Alisha, “She fought so hard for so long, but there was nothing left. It broke my heart.”

Watch the liveries of High Moor share their story here...

Another pony, Martha, developed the severe immune-related condition purpura haemorraghica, most seen as a complication associated with strangles infection. The severity of her symptoms led to skin peeling away from her lower legs requiring intensive treatment and nursing care.

Kate is the owner of two horses at High Moor. “When we first had the diagnosis one owner who had seen strangles before told me we’d be locked down for months” she says. “I thought she was exaggerating. She wasn’t.

“We used the traffic light system and everyone was temperature checking twice daily for months. It was the best way to try and stop the disease spreading. Any horse with a fever was immediately moved into the red zone so they didn’t pass the bacteria to an uninfected horse. We got through a lot of thermometers!”

Kate and Alisha both want to emphasise the massive impact the outbreak had on everyone at the yard, whether or not their horses were infected, as well as all the horses. “The financial cost was huge” says Kate. “The vet and yard manager were fantastic. They both tried so hard to support us and keep bills down, but some people still ended up paying literally thousands. Some owners have more than one horse, a few horses needed to be scoped multiple times to help them clear the infection and two ponies needed to be hospitalised at one point so they could have intravenous fluids. I know it also had a huge impact on the vets, they worked so hard, were so supportive and we can’t thank them enough.

Kate also explains costs can also rise because other treatments are delayed. “One pony had some dental issues going into the outbreak and we’ve only just been able to tackle that. It’s possible that the tooth could have been saved if the treatment hadn’t been postponed because of the outbreak. He was managed so he wasn’t in pain, but the decay spread and he’s now had surgery to remove the tooth which is another big bill for the owner.”

“We’re also behind on hoof care” says Alisha. “The farrier came when we first locked down and scheduled the visit so that he wasn’t going anywhere else after us. We agreed he’d take all the shoes off and then start visiting routinely again once the outbreak was under control.”

“It’s affected us personally too” admits Kate. “People were stressed, tired and worried and long-standing friendships were severely tested. We’re a very social yard generally, we spend so much time together and have parties to celebrate special occasions. That all had to stop. Our kids love spending all their spare time up there in the holidays but some of them didn’t see their beloved ponies for months.

“Our grazing system is all messed up because horses have been on our summer grazing through most of the winter. We’re going be short of grazing this year and end up compensating with forage. Our forage supply also been affected as the yard owner produces his own hay and straw and has had to use extra land for horses because of the outbreak. Some of his other customers also haven’t wanted to buy from him. There’s still a lot of misunderstanding about the disease.”

“Although we’re almost at the end of the outbreak, we’re nowhere near back to normal” says Alisha. “Competition horses went for months without exercise and have lost so much condition. It’s going to take a lot of time to get them fit again. Strangles has affected all of us in ways we couldn’t have imagined.

“There are positives though” concludes Kate. “I have learnt so much about infectious disease and how to prevent or manage it. Importantly, we now know that all the horses on our yard are officially strangles free and we’ve already introduced testing for new horses to maintain that confidence. I know my horses’ normal temperatures and monitor them routinely, and I would jump on the first sign of fever or a snotty nose like you wouldn’t believe! We are definitely stronger as a yard because of the experience.

“We really want people to learn from our story rather than have to go through what we went through. We can’t bring back the four horses who died but we can use their stories to try and help other owners and yard managers protect themselves and their horses from a disease that can come out of nowhere and turn your life upside down in matter of hours. Never underestimate strangles. With what I know now, I definitely don’t.”

Kate is already making a difference by signing up to be a Strangles Awareness Week Ambassador. Strangles Awareness Week takes place in the first week of May each year and is led by a collaboration of organisations who are passionate about protecting horses from infectious disease. If you’re a horse owner, yard manager or equestrian professional, join Kate and hundreds of other Ambassadors by signing up for free here and help us inspire the small changes that can make a BIG difference to better horse health!