Here from the EHV article Archy

[skydy]

@LazyA1

Respectfully disagree. There is the type reporting that sows distrust and the type that doesn’t. Whether the horse was grey or bay, or in the class or in the next stall does not detract from THIS article. Nor is this author running for president. Nor is this author on the staff. She is a guest writer. Do we really want to pay $200 per issue of the Chronicle so we can be assured that every little word is correct?

Admittedly I am older and came from a time when the profession of journalism was respected, because they were meant and expected to be accurate and have command of their native language.

Guest opinions or letters to the editor are/were often edited for spelling, and if they contain serious accusations the magazine has a duty to at least nominally research the accusations if they are going to publish.

So, letters from viewers aside, COTH is not an investigative magazine, however they need to start being an accurate source of equestrian news since they are reporting on some very serious subjects in the horse world today

When COTH sees fit to publish an article from one of their writers about an EVH-1 outbreak, you can bet that I expect them to be damn sure they are accurate about the facts and that they follow up when they have more accurate information. It does not take a Journalism grad from Northwestern to write a competent article for COTH to make sure that “every little word is correct”.

If COTH can fly their employees around the world to cover International competition, they can hire someone to take the time to research, get the facts straight and cover in a competent manner a serious outbreak of EVH–1 and other issues while being able to write properly.

I have no desire to see COTH become a tabloid, it’s a horse show magazine.

I don’t see lack of resources as an excuse for COTH tolerating sloppy language usage from its writers.

And for god’s sake, an amateur writer let alone a professional, needs to learn the proper usage of “less” and “fewer” in a sentence. It is misused on a regular basis by the general public. However, there is no excuse for “journalists” (whom I would expect to have a degree in their chosen profession) to speak on newscasts, write in newspapers or magazines and make this grammar school mistake.

Sorry for the rant about the less and fewer issue. Difficult evening for me , but professionals screwing that up are like nails on a chalkboard to me.

[riot]

At this point everyone saying anything, other than expressing their disgust, should just come out and say that they support Archie Cox.

[Bristol_Bay]

@riot

At this point everyone saying anything, other than expressing their disgust, should just come out and say that they support Archie Cox.

That’s just nonsense.

[TheJenners]

That’s an interesting take.

[Peggy]

I’m a scientist. Not a journalist. I was taught that, if something was presented as a fact (“the gray horse” or “the mass of the product was 6.23 g”), it was a verifiable fact. I instilled in my students that their work should stand on its own (not requiring them to be present to help me interpret their work) and not cause the reader to think “huh, this doesn’t make sense” as that will weaken their entire argument.

So, IMHO, if one is not sure it was a gray horse or not sure that a particular horse passed the virus to yours or don’t want to name names, then don’t mention the gray horse. At all. It would be a much stronger piece of journalism if you left it with the known facts that there was EHV at Thermal, people defied protocol by bringing horses to LAEC from Thermal, and that your horse got EHV at LAEC.

Disclaimer. I am neither condemning or supporting Archie or anyone else by making the above statements.

[trubandloki]

@Tha_Ridge

as a journalist, you are expected that every little world is correct.

I am glad there is one person in this field that feels this way, because my experience is you are rare.

Close enough seems to be the theory to many/most now days. Well really, always, not just now days. I remember, back forty years ago, a news article about a vehicle crash that I knew the one party of, got almost nothing accurate. It was hard to believe one was reading about the same crash.

[Tha_Ridge]

Truly.

[TheJenners]

@Peggy

Disclaimer. I am neither condemning or supporting Archie or anyone else by making the above statements.

Apparently you are, there isn’t enough disgust in your post.

[Tha_Ridge]

Very well-said and exactly the point I was going for. It doesn’t defend Archie, nor does it diminish the absolutely unconscionable heartbreak the author went through.

[Tackpud]

From a different perspective:

I was one of the stewards at a show a couple years back when a report of a febrile horse came to our attention. The show vet was extremely pro-active getting the horse into the quarantine stalls as there were neuro symptoms. The owner/trainer/home vet were not happy with her decision. The vet also couldn’t treat the horse until we got results because she would have put all other horses on the grounds at risk.

This was a Saturday morning and all labs were closed. The vet drew blood and contacted a friend of hers who worked at the lab to beg her to run the necessary tests. Meanwhile, we were stuck between a rock and a hard place. The horse was dehydrated which could have been the cause, or the horse could have contracted EHV and we were facing an outbreak.

What do you do? Put the entire show under lockdown for an unproven issue? Local horses were coming in and out all day and many people were done showing and packing up. USEF has no provisions for what happens on a weekend the labs are shut. People have lives to lead. The horse show had an emergency preparedness plan, but nothing about what to do if the lab is closed and results of testing aren’t available. Do you make all horses and people stay extra days until the labs come back? How do you monitor that?

It is different when results of testing are clear, but this illustrates an issue that we don’t think about. Luckily all turned out ok and the horse was fine after receiving fluids, but this could have been a nightmare.

[IPEsq]

While I also get that part of the point was that the author felt badly for milling around in the usual hurry up and wait in close proximity to other horses, it’s also not a great message to convey that horse-to-horse contact is all we need to care about with something like EHV. The people are also a factor. And with insects and whatnot, all of the horses that came to the showgrounds put the author’s horse at risk. Why not lay the blame on everyone collectively? Versus one horse who may or may not have been made up and may or may not have been the actual reason OP’s horse got sick. That would have made a stronger impact and also explained why the rule change is necessary–if you’re going to ignore the rules put into place by the show management, then you get sanctioned, even if no one can prove that you or the horses you brought or your equipment or your grooms or whatever caused the outbreak to spread.

Why is this article being printed now? Presumably because of the rule change proposal, as winter circuits are already wrapping up. How many people got to that part of the article? Aren’t you supposed to front load the point in journalism because a lot of people don’t read to the end? Instead we read a 2 year old story of heartbreak before ever (loosely) getting to the point.

[LazyA1]

Why do so many think it’s an old article? Reading skills people, please!

“”“Hours earlier I fed him apples, nuzzled his sweet face, kissed his cheeks. Two days earlier, on Feb. 20, 2022, we rode in our first show together. He carried me through the courses with generosity and knowledge. Low fences for him, monumental fences for me.”"""

Says it’s 2024 and you’re writing about a show in 2022. You’re writing about a day at the show. How then would you refer to two days earlier? Wouldn’t you say “two days earlier” just as the author did?

[EmilyM]

I read this to be more of an opinion piece than an article. whenever people write about themselves it doesn’t strike me as objective in any way.

I can surmise perhaps it took her two years to publish this in order to get the strength and have enough 20/20 hindsight to put her thoughts into words.

I think it’s a lot to call out the irresponsibility and entitlement to violate state vet guidelines for quarantine under an outbreak. Who else is doing so? Also, it shows that your trainer isn’t always right when it comes to whether it is safe or proper to show a horse. Shows are how they make money. You have to advocate for your horse and yourself when the situation is grey.

Also, I think this story brings home the severity of EHV-1-how devastating it can be and how quickly it can spread. I think that is a worthwhile message as well.

[anon6923113]

@EmilyM

Also, I think this story brings home the severity of EHV-1-how devastating it can be and how quickly it can spread. I think that is a worthwhile message as well.

That was my takeaway. The speed at which this horse went from no symptoms to profoundly neurological… that was very frightening and informative to read about.

[trubandloki]

@EmilyM

I can surmise perhaps it took her two years to publish this in order to get the strength and have enough 20/20 hindsight to put her thoughts into words.

Great post (all of it). This line (quoted) was my thought too. It had to be hard to write that piece.

[skydy]

@Tha_Ridge

as a journalist, you are expected that every little world is correct.

I agree, and before publishing, the editor proofreads. I wonder where the editors have gone.

[Peggy]

@Tackpud

What do you do?

There are rapid tests for general infection. While a negative result could still have you worried that you missed something somehow and a positive test still doesn’t tell you what you have, it’s better than nothing. Noting that this may or may not have been available during the incident you were involved with. And that situation is definite a “damned if you do and damned if you don’t.” https://www.zoetisus.com/products/horses/stablelab

During one of the follow-up webinars after the Thermal incident, I think they said something about a more rapid test now being available for EHV, but I could have heard wrong and it might just be local to Thermal.

[Tackpud]

@Peggy

There are rapid tests for general infection.

Unfortunately a rapid test doesn’t detect what status the infection is - EHV or just a general infection from a cut. Obviously the horse had something going on because of the elevated temp and the neuro signs, but there is no way to identify EHV without that particular test. It was a tough situation.

[IPEsq]

Sounded like the vet probably ran a SAA test stall side given the description of the numbers as a result.

[173north]

I also ride down the street from Archie, and just across the street from Hansen Dam, which is the home barn of the euthanized horse. Horses from my barn were at HDHP at the same time as horses coming from the LAEC show where the horse was infected so we were VERY on top of what was going on.

I never heard that the infected horse was in a class at LAEC with a horse who came directly from Thermal. I feel very sure that would have been noted by the LA horse community, as everyone was in close contact during the outbreak trying to determine how this horse was infected and monitoring what was happening at our separate, locked down facilities. I did hear from multiple people, including my vet, that the euthanized horse was stabled at LAEC across from or in the same aisle as a group that came straight from Thermal.

That’s only hearsay, but it was the main narrative in LA at the time, and I believe some people confirmed it with stall assignments from the LAEC show.

If the euthanized horse was in a class at LAEC with a horse straight from DIHP, that would have been clocked immediately and could have easily been confirmed via show records, as people are trying to do now. But that was not the story going around at the time, and cannot be confirmed via show records.

I’d guess the author and COTH tweaked or fabricated the details of how the euthanized horse encountered a febrile horse, maybe to anonymize the identity of the horses/trainers from Thermal. This does us all a disservice by not clearly laying out the exact path of infection.