Since you are currently horseless, I suppose it doesn’t matter to you if people go to a horse show where they are potentially exposed to a deadly horse virus. Not just their horses, but their truck, trailer, tack, other animals, as well as themselves. It can live on surfaces including metal for over seven days. This virus is popping up on horses 20+days later. So taking temps and isolating for 7-10 days is not necessarily working. Being a knowledgeable/educated horseman or horsewoman is key in these situations. Staying home, not traveling, and practicing proper procedures is weeding out the real ones from the people just out to chase points, a ribbon, fame, etc. EHV-1 is showing us who genuinely cares about the horses regardless of some organization’s protocols telling us when we can compete. Thermal is testament to that. They were too late. We as owners, riders, and trainers have to also be able to make the decisions as well. I would like to hope people would have some basic common sense if they have been in the industry for the majority of their lives, but again, this virus has proved otherwise.
On February 24, USEF sent out an email that was a USEF Mandate on EHV-1 Restriction of Entries. For information on that you can go to EHVhelp@usef.org
You are a smart one! 
If you read the CDFA bulletins, under the Riverside outbreak, it mentions one horse that went from Thermal to a vet clinic in SD for some other reason and tested positive for EHV. My understanding is that it went directly from Thermal to the vet clinic, not to a barn.
A known trainer in Oregon posted on her Instagram that Oregon only reports positive neurologic cases and not EHV-1 as it’s not a regulatory disease. This made me wonder, do other states have different reporting requirements?
Since many thermal horses are from surrounding states, if those states’ laws, do not report like California, it is possible there are cases elsewhere we don’t know about yet and it could spread on.
Whoa, there. I agree absolutely that the authorities- DIHP, CDFA, USEF, show managers- were horrifically slow to take aggressive actions. For myself I would have avoided any risk, however small.
I’m just saying that I don’t think it’s fair to vilify a professional by name if she was following the protocols of the time. I thought the seven day recommended isolation was nuts at the time, since the incubation time can be up to 14 days.
As it stands, USEF has canceled Hunter jumper shows for 28 days and other shows for 14 days. That’s moronic. I wouldn’t risk my horse (if I owned one) at a show in 16 days if the organizers were reckless enough to hold it, but some people will.
The failure here is mostly the reluctance of the authorities to act quickly and broadly. Some trainers and riders violated the too-weak protocols, but that doesn’t change the fact that the main failure was at the level of the authorities. IMO, of course.
I did not use her name.
There are several other trainers who knew better that brought their horses to competitions within that timeframe that have also been mentioned.
Well, originally
Good grief. You named the name of her top horse.
After she had been named!
Yes, and that’s worthy of condemnation. But I still think the big failure was at the level of authorities in letting things continue because they thought they had it contained.
It’s the same. All the same. They are all in the same boat dear. Thermal management is to blame. But the professionals should have behaved better.
Saying she brought horses that had been at Thermal to FL is one thing. Saying that she had a vet falsify documents to do so (without providing any proof) is a completely different thing.
I disagree. It’s only the authorities that can issue blanket rules that have a potentially effective role. If trainer A individually makes the conservative, responsible decision, she has no control over trainers B, C, and D, etc. Contagion like this has to be addressed in a centralized manner, not in a decentralized manner.
Staying home and not traveling is better than spreading a virus.
We agree!
Common sense. Horsemanship. When there is a virus this deadly and this contagious and your horse could be exposed. Stay the f$@ck home. Educate yourself about the virus if you have to rely on an organization or horse show management to tell you what to do because they are not reliable.This is why it is spreading across California and will continue to do so. Incredibly sad.
I am talking about the pros that were at Thermal and knowingly showed up at MEC and LA
Posted on Tamie’s Facebook page:
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10224903921579400&id=1655977367
It’s an attack on someone to suggest that their competing somewhere violated any of the officially mandated protocols in place at the time, and it looks like a rumor to me to say that someone had a vet falsify paperwork to move horses.
And the unfounded personal accusation that I made is … what?
I agree with you that pressure should be brought to bear on the show organizers and venues to be much more transparent and more decisive in shutting things down when the earliest hint of a breakout occurs.
