Biosecurity on the Horse Farm

include what is expected of them in terms of cleanliness hygiene and biosecurity procedures. For those visiting such as delivery people service providers such as coaches and trainers visitors arriving for clinics and anyone who is boarding their horse the plan should include their access parking open access areas inside the barn access to arenas and offlimit or controlled access to areas you want to protect such as stalls for sick horses pregnant mares new arrivals still being monitored and horses with special needs.
Think of your plan as a work in progress. It is always up for review and improvement and is flexible to change especially when there is a new outbreak of a disease. Infections could be local issues or they could be widespread. The worldwide COVID19 pandemic is an extreme example of the need to take effective precautions for the protection of everyone. The same thorough approach to precautions should be applied for all those working and visiting the farm.
For biosafety and for tracking the possibility of disease the plan must stress the importance of keeping records. Every horse should have its own file with its record of vaccinations dewormings incidents of accident and illness names of everyone working with and around the horse names of the attending veterinarian and farrier and work done including summaries of pertinent discussions and general behaviour of the horse including most importantly changes in behaviour. Monitor what is normal in the horses eating and drinking habits some horses drink a lot more than others manure composition healthy formation compared to a sloppy consistency and alertnessactivity level a horse with the onset of sickness may be slower less eager to move and off its food. Knowing what is normal and what has changed helps identify new or potential risks. It could be a disease or it could be something obscure like an invasive plant that has shown up in the pasture that the horse has grazed on. Monitoring pasture grazing areas is part of monitoring horse health and any invasive plant or spreading weed should be removed.