2010 OUT OF STATE HAULING

BE PREPARED! NEW TEST REQUIRED FOR HAULING YOUR HORSE

OUT OF STATE

Thanks to Peggy Donelan and Pam Rangel for these important updates.

So far, Canada and 10 states (CO, FL, GA, HI, KY, MT, NM, OK, PA, and WA) require the blood test.

Equine piroplasmosis was detected in TX late last year. I believe there are now ten states that require any horse from TX to be tested and have a negative result to enter their boundaries. You have to have a certain blood test done, and it takes a few days for the results. A friend of mine was going to FL for the new year, and I forwarded her the article. She had the testing done, and the FL officials did indeed stop her at the border. They inspected the health cert, coggins, and the test results and inspected her horse to make sure it was the horse on the documents. It is very serious.

Here is the link to the TX Animal Health Commision website:

http://www.tahc. state.tx. us/

You can also click on "Animal Health Links" from the left-hand column to go to each state's website. Check before you haul out of state.

Additional information on Equine piroplasmosis in the article below:

King Ranch was the origin of an outbreak of deadly horse disease
Rare horse disease affects horses in 12 states
>By Jaime Powell
>Originally published 05:53 p.m., January 28, 2010
>Updated 06:11 a.m., January 29, 2010
>KING RANCH — King Ranch is the epicenter of a months long outbreak of a
>deadly horse disease rarely seen in the United States that kills as many
>as 20 percent that it infects.
>As of Jan. 20, 364 cases of equine piroplasmosis had been confirmed. Of
>those, 289 are on King Ranch. The rest are scattered across Texas,
>Alabama, California, Florida, Indiana, Louisiana, Minnesota, North
>Carolina, New Jersey, Tennessee, Utah and Wisconsin, according to the
>World Animal Health Information System.
>A South Texas ranch, identified by the Texas Animal Health Commission as
>the outbreak’s source, has sold horses with equine piroplasmosis in 15
>states since 2004.
>Jack Hunt, the CEO of King Ranch, confirmed the outbreak started on the
>ranch.
>Horses, donkeys, mules and zebras are susceptible to the disease, which
>is caused by two parasitic organisms. More severely affected animals can
>have fever, anemia, jaundiced mucous membranes, swollen abdomens and
>labored breathing.
>“It will kill a horse,” said Mike Vickers, a Brooks County veterinarian
>and commissioner on the Texas Animal Health Commission. “It’s very, very
>serious.”
>No horses have died, officials believe. The ranch’s 300-plus horses have
>since been quarantined.
>Piroplasmosis had never been seen in Texas and rarely had been found in
>the United States, according to the Texas Animal Health Commission, the
>state’s livestock and poultry health regulatory agency. It is prevalent
>in 90 percent of the world and commonly found in Mexico.
>Once a horse is infected, the parasitic organisms remain in the horse’s
>system permanently, making the horse a potential carrier. It does not
>affect humans or other non-equine mammals.
>Ticks usually transmit the disease to horses, but it also has been
>spread from animal to animal by contaminated needle. There is some
>concern that it might be spread by biting horse flies, Vickers said.
>Hunt, who has been in the ranching business for 35 years, said he had
>never heard of the disease when it was discovered in October.
>Eight other ranches in Jim Wells, Kleberg and Brook counties have been
>quarantined and tied to the initial outbreak, said James Lenarduzzi, a
>veterinarian with the Texas Animal Health Commission. Horses from
>ranches adjacent to King Ranch will be tested in coming weeks to
>determine if they are infected.
>The 825,000-acre King Ranch includes most of Kleberg and Kenedy counties
>and portions of Brooks, Jim Wells, Nueces and Willacy counties. It is
>renowned for its horses, including 1946 Triple Crown winner Assault and
>1950 Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes winner Middleground.
>Though the ranch still has a horse breeding program, no horses have been
>sold since the quarantine, Hunt said.
>The Texas Animal Health Commission issued its first directive on the
>South Texas-based infection Oct. 20, noting that the disease had been
>confirmed on an undisclosed ranch. Canada promptly banned imports of
>Texas horses, though later relaxed the restrictions. Ten states have
>stringent restrictions in place that call for testing and other controls
>before a horse can be imported from Texas.
>State Rep. Yvonne Gonzalez Toureilles, D-Alice, who chairs the House
>Committee for Agriculture and Livestock, got involved this week after
>several South Texas ranchers complained that King Ranch has kept its
>name away from the outbreak, which started in October.
>Hunt said King Ranch self-reported the infection, which was required by
>law, and has worked openly with state and federal agencies since.
>“We are putting a lot of resources and energy into trying to figure out
>a way to take care of the problem,” Hunt said. “What we don’t do is
>cover up stuff, which we have been accused of in this case.”
>The state has 1 million horses. Owners, family members and volunteers
>spend $3 billion per year attending competitive events with more than
>250,000 horses, according to a Texas A&M University report. And horse
>owners have more than $13 billion invested in barns, towing vehicles,
>trailers, tack and related equipment and spend more than $2.1 billion
>annually to maintain their horses.
>Some South Texas ranchers are angry that the state and federal
>government have been tight-lipped on the disease’s origin, said Lavoyger
>Durham, who manages the 13,000-acre El Tule Ranch near Falfurrias for
>Brown & Root heiress Nancy Brown Negley.
>Lenarduzzi met with Durham and about 25 fellow South Texas ranchers
>Thursday to discuss the disease but would not say where it started,
>which Lenarduzzi said is standard operating procedure.
>Gonzalez Toureilles said she will meet with Texas Animal Health
>Commission officials by Monday to make sure the outbreak is being
>handled correctly.
>King Ranch also is working with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and
>some of the nation’s top epidemiologists on experimental procedures to
>remove the parasite from a horse’s system, Hunt said.
>“They have sent great people to work on this project, and we have had
>lots of interaction,” Hunt said. “It’s just a process we are all going
>to have to go through. It’s not pleasant for anybody affected by it.”
>
>© 2010 Scripps Newspaper Group — Online