Fonner Park in Nebraska, too.
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Read the facebook link about the XP ride, and this was posted regarding concern over EHV:
āA holistic horse vet that I use gave me her perspective: āNothing to worry about unless your horse is over vaccinated, stressed and housed in tight quarters in draft free barnsā.ā
Oh. Okay then. 
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Yes, I read that tooā¦sighā¦Iāve also seen plenty of FB posts in various places basically saying āI guess people donāt vaccinate in Californiaā¦if they did they wouldnāt have this problemā - there are a lot of uneducated horse people in the world! 
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In Connecticut now. https://cvmdl.uconn.edu/2022/03/11/confirmed-diagnosis-equine-herpesvirus-ehv-1-in-connecticut/
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āThere are measures you can do to discourage pigeon nesting and rat infestation. You have to be diligent though.ā
Yes , and I agree that the more rural barns in Orange County that are protected by raptors donāt seem to be having as many issues.
The āhorse feedlotā type barns in the more urban areas are having a harder time, it seems.
@PonyPenny So I think weāve actually met a long time ago when your daughter was showing your black horse in the Hunter Derbies in Huntington Beachā¦ glad to hear heās doing well! Iāll PM you. 
@leheath people are saying EHV-1 started at Thermal because people in California donāt vaccinate? Have these people ever entered an FEI level event (or any rated USEF competition??!) and understood the veterinary care it takes to campaign a horse on a winter USHJA rated circuit (or any rated circuit)?!
Iām so insulted that itās kind of funny TBH
I guess weāre all just hippies in California and so are our poor horses <is there some emoji for extreme eye roll sarcasm?>. Iām not even interested in correcting that level of ignorance at this point. Thanks for NOT posting the source for that.
Off to take care of my horses and ignore social media.
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Itās likely a variety of factors with the more rural barns as it it likelier that there will be fewer horses per acre, or whatever your desired unit of area. Also those horses are likelier to be outside more and the virus is killed by UV light. Could rodent and avian vectors aid in spread? Yes. But my understanding from conversations with several vets is that the majority of transmission is equine nose to nose, or nose to to surface to (fairly quickly) nose.
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During the cutting/cow horse outbreak that impacted Arizona a couple of years ago, our local vet and my old SoCal vet with whom I consulted, both said pretty much the same thing. Both of them also mentioned wash racks at horse shows and long distance, commercial haulers. Wash racks at shows because thereās constant moisture, sharing of hose and buckets, and one horse after another comes in and slobbers and sneezes, then rubs their nose upon and licks the metal railings. The haulers, who are off loading and re-loading different horses along a route, arenāt typically doing much disinfecting. So again: slobbering and sneezing upon common walls, feeders, mangers, etc. Add to these scenarios the stress of showing and traveling and itās kind of a perfect storm for spreading a virus.
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I would blame horse population density before I woul laud predator population as the reason for disease incidence and spread
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Wouldnāt those places also be less likely to have horses coming and going from the property to pick up the virus and bring it back? I guess it depends on your definition of rural.
I think itās human nature, when you learn of something awful happening to others, to assemble a list of distinctions between you and them (whether true or not) - reasons that this wonāt happen to you. Itās a way of reassuring oneās self and gaining a sense of control.
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Just bumping to say this outbreak really isnāt over.
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I think the distinction is that people donāt understand the vaccine does not protect against EHV 1, so the assumption is horses arenāt vaccinated. Iām oftentimes stunned by people.
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Well, so many assume the covid vax doesnāt work because people who were/are vaccinated still got/get sick, soā¦ yeah, understanding of how vaccination works is woefully inadequate.
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āWouldnāt those places also be less likely to have horses coming and going from the property to pick up the virus and bring it back? I guess it depends on your definition of rural.ā
Not necessarily. At least in Southern California, many rural stables are in the mountains where there are few flat areas for arenas (since flat land has usually long ago been developed for houses). So most rural horse people in the Southern California mountains actually trailer their horses a lot if they enjoy manicured flat arenas, and if they donāt they often do big group trail rides. And many of these types of horse people are a bit isolated and donāt compete and are not up to date on current info, especially if they have a really healthy horse thatās never been sick and theyāve never been a boarder at a barn with a big strangles or EHV outbreak.
Not everybody has time nor inclination to be on horse bulletin boards or read lots of books or news about horses. Not everybody that enjoys horses is a professional or competes or boards at a big stable. At least in rural California anyway.
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Same here in Arizona. Iām at a training/show barn, but those are few and far between. Not a lot of big horse properties due to the mountains. So yes, lots of trail riding groups. Their monthly rides look like a cavalry troop or a massive parade. They think nothing of sharing a communal water tub. And we do get the occasional strangles or EHV outbreak, with resultant quarantines, and people are left wondering, āHow did that happen?ā
(I do not belong to any of these trail riding groups and I rarely trail ride with anyone).
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Me neither @Paint_Party. And I really donāt understand not bringing your own water and buckets if youāre trailering anywhere. But maybe Iāve been in the horse world too long.
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You would be surprised the number of people who give it no thought to go out on an adventure with their horse in the trailer and they bring no water for their horse.
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But they probably always have a cooler full of water/soda/beer for themselves.
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Interesting, thanks. I guess I was thinking ārural propertiesā would mostly involve people who kept their own horses at home and rode them on site there.
