Biosecurity Begins at Home

What you need to know and do to keep your horse safe, even if you don’t compete

By Colleen Scott

The text of this article is reprinted from the July/August 2025 issue of USDF Connection.

When horses gather, so do germs. In fact, you could liken traveling with your horse to sending a toddler off to day care for the first time. So whether you’re headed to a schooling show or a high-stakes competition, biosecurity should be as much a part of your preparation as packing your tack trunk. With horses traveling from different barns and regions, the risk of disease transmission at equine events is real and can have an impact on your wallet—and on your horse’s long-term health.

Think it can’t happen to you? That’s probably what the people attending shows at various venues around the country thought too. But scroll through the Equine Disease Communication Center’s website, and it tells a different story entirely (see “Stay Informed” below). In fact, not only does disease hit at events, but it also impacts private facilities. Here’s how to keep your horse safe.

Potential Impact: A Look Back

Why is biosecurity so important? Let’s recall one of the most serious equine disease outbreaks in modern history.

In 2011, equine herpesvirus (EHV-1) wreaked havoc on the equine community following a cutting-horse show in Ogden, Utah. By the time news of the outbreak spread, the competing horses had all returned to their respective homes or were en route to their next shows—which of course spread the virus even further.

As a result of the outbreak, a total of 13 horses died or were euthanized, with 90 testing positive for EHV-1 and an estimated 2,000 horses put at risk through exposure to infected animals.

The outbreak had serious financial consequences, as well. In California, one of the 19 states with confirmed EHV-1 cases, 142 of 520 registered shows were cancelled. It was in part because of the EHV-1 outbreak that horse-industry leaders pressed for the development of a national disease-reporting system through a trusted source.

Understanding the Risks

Since that outbreak, the importance of implementing disease-prevention measures both at events and at home has become better Understood. Here’s a look at some common infectious diseases that vaccination, robust biosecurity measures, or both can help prevent:

• Equine herpesvirus (EHV, sometimes referred to as equine rhinopneumonitis): There are nine known herpesviruses in the world, with EHV-1, EHV-3, and EHV-4 posing the highest risk to horses in the US, according to the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS). EHV is spread primarily through nose-to-nose contact, shared equipment (such as water buckets), or respiratory secretions.
• Strangles: This highly contagious bacterial disease is caused by Streptococcus equi and infects the lymph nodes, often resulting in abscesses, usually in the head and neck. It is spread in the same manner as EHV, according to the University of California, Davis School of Veterinary Medicine’s Center for Equine Health.
• Equine influenza: Also highly contagious, equine “flu” is transmitted in the same manner as EHV and strangles. Although some horses may not develop clinical signs of disease, they can still shed the virus, potentially infecting other horses, according to UC Davis.
• Salmonella: A bacterial infection, salmonella usually affects the gut and can cause severe diarrhea. Horses ingest the bacteria by eating contaminated grass, feed, hay, or feces. Contaminated equipment and unwashed hands can transfer the bacteria from an infected horse to a healthy one, according to the University of Minnesota Extension.

The additional stresses of travel and competition may make dressage horses and other show horses more susceptible to these and other diseases.

Pre-Show Preparation

Have a show on the horizon? The best biosecurity plan starts before you pull out of the driveway.

First, protect your horse with the appropriate vaccinations, including those required for entry to a USEFlicensed/USDF-recognized dressage competition. (See “Sport Horse: Vaccines for Dressage Horses,” May/June.)

Limiting exposure to new horses in the barn should always be a biosecurity protocol, but it becomes even more important prior to travel. Avoid nose-to-nose contact between horses.

Use your gear and your gear only for your horse. Water and feed buckets, grooming tools, tack, muck forks—anything that comes into contact with your horse or his stall should be yours only.

If you’ll be traveling across state lines, you’ll likely need to obtain (and should carry, just in case) a Certificate of Veterinary Inspection (a “health certificate”) from your veterinarian; many competitions require them, as well. In this document, your vet asserts that your horse has a current negative Coggins test (proof that he doesn’t have Equine Infectious Anemia) and that he had no signs of disease on the date examined. Check with your vet, with state laws, and with the show’s prize list to determine within what pre-travel time frame the certificate must be dated.

Best Biosecurity Practices at the Show

The biggest biosecurity challenge, says USEF senior staff veterinarian and biosecurity expert Katie Flynn, BVMS, is “ensuring horses are healthy upon entry to the competition grounds and remain healthy until they return home.”

It was Flynn who created the Biosecurity Toolkit after the 2011 EHV-1 outbreak in Utah. Since then, the materials have been distributed throughout the US and in 12 other countries.

“Viruses and bacteria are in the environment, so horses traveling are always at risk for potential exposure,” says Flynn. “However, the risks are reduced by ensuring that only healthy, vaccinated horses are loaded on the trailer and that their health is monitored at the event.”

Here are Flynn’s top five tips for keeping horses healthy at shows or other gatherings:

1. Limit horse-to-horse contact.
2. Minimize horse-to-human contact to include essential personnel only.
3. Avoid allowing horses to drink from communal water sources.
4. Use only your equipment on your horse unless it is cleaned and disinfected between uses.
5. Monitor your horse’s health by taking his temperature twice a day.

People Matter, Too

Humans can inadvertently spread disease from horse to horse. If possible, assign one handler to each horse. If that’s not an option, have handlers use fresh gloves or hand sanitizer with each equine encounter.

Doing so can be a challenge at some shows, but keeping visitors at bay will help avoid casual “drive-by” petting.

Last, in addition to monitoring your horse’s temperature, watch for any abnormal behavior, such as lethargy, depression, hesitance to work, coughing, nasal discharge, or reluctance to eat. If you think your horse may not be feeling well, contact the show veterinarian (ask at the show office if you don’t know how to get in touch).

Show Management’s Role

“Show managers and show staff can lead by example,” says Flynn. “It starts with publishing and following biosecurity protocols, ensuring the competition grounds are routinely cleaned and disinfected, posting biosecurity signage, promoting biosecurity messages on the competition’s social media and website, and implementing measures to ensure only healthy horses enter the competition grounds.”

Flynn reminds show management that “enforcement starts as soon as the horses enter the show grounds. If vaccination and health papers are required to enter the grounds, they should actually be inspected and reviewed for accuracy and completeness.”

Cindy Clinton, of Dayton, Ohio, a show manager at various venues around the country for more than 25 years, views biosecurity as one of the most important aspects of the job.

“Keeping horses healthy, able to compete, and returning home ready to compete again is critical,” Clinton says. She points out that “show managers must submit biosecurity plans to USEF before shows, and we must have plans in place that include where we will house any horses that become infected and what measures we will take should an outbreak occur.”

Flynn recommends that show management make competitors aware of the following biosecurity protocols:

• Report any horse with a temperature over 101.5 degrees F to competition management and to the official veterinarian (as of December 1, 2025, this will be a USEF rule, GR 873).
• Any horse with an unexplained temperature over 101.5 may be required to move to isolation or be removed from the premises if the show veterinarian recommends.
• If the examining show veterinarian suspects that a horse has an infectious disease, sampling and testing may be required at the owner’s expense.

Stay Vigilant After the Show

It’s not really over once you and your horse return home—because he could have been exposed to a disease but hasn’t yet presented clinical signs. Here are some post-show tips:

• Isolate your horse from the rest of the herd for seven to 14 days.
• Continue daily temperature checks and monitor for signs of illness.
• Clean and disinfect all gear, tack, and trailers thoroughly.

Biosecurity Is a Community Effort

By taking simple precautions before, during, and after the show, we can keep our barns—and our sport—healthy and thriving.

To make biosecurity measures work, all of us in the dressage community need to do our part. And there’s no single measure that trumps the rest.

“That’s like asking, when preparing for a natural disaster, what one thing would you focus on in your plan,” says Flynn. “All pieces of biosecurity must work together to protect your horse, your farm, or the show grounds.”

Colleen Scott is a freelance writer based in Kansas City, Missouri, where she loves and rides her purebred Arabian gelding, Raad Beni Hashim, in the hunter pleasure division.