Biosecurity

Biosecurity is a set of preventative actions that are designed to reduce the risk of disease transmission. By following correct biosecurity actions, you'll reduce the likelihood of your horse catching a disease or passing it on to otherss. If we all carry out good biosecurity actions, the risk of infectious diseases spreading around the horse population reduces significantly.

It's therefore important to keep horses healthy and know the steps you need to take to minimise the spread of infection and disease. This is crucial because disease can put all horses' health and lives at risk (yours, as well as everyone else's) and can affect everything you do with your horse from ability to hack, compete, travel and generally enjoy time with your horses. We are all responsible for horse health, so play your part.

Reducing Risk

There are a few simple, inexpensive things every horse owner needs to do to reduce risk the risk of spreading...

Take your horse's temperature regularly and know what's normal. Any rise in temperature means extra care needs to be taken and ring your veterinary surgeon immediately if it goes above 38.5C.
Make sure that all horses that are introduced to your yard are kept away from other horses for a period of time (ideally in isolation facilities for three weeks). This may be varied in line with consultation with your local vet.
Make sure your horse is fully vaccinated against equine influenza (flu) and receives a booster at least every 12 months, even if they don't travel away from your yard. The more people who vaccinate their horses, the less likely it will be that we'll all be affected by disease.
Avoid sharing equipment such as water buckets and haynets between horses to avoid cross-contamination

More detailed advice, including guidance around transporting, attending events away from home and biosecurity containment, can be found in the section below.