dressagetraks
Jun. 27, 2009, 02:38 PM
Back in May, I got a certified letter from the USDA hunting two of my mares. Apparently, the stallion they were bred to ONCE unsuccessfully last year was boarded for a month in 2007 at a stallion place where another stallion at the same time was later found to have CEM. The stallion who bred my mares died early this year, so he wasn't available for testing. So they moved on to the next contact level.
The speed of this was a bit eerie. I got the certified letter on a Thursday stating I must call. I called. State vet was at my place at the beginning of the next week with quarantine forms in triplicate. Mares must be tested and then must be treated (regardless of what the tests showed). I did ask if we could skip testing in that case and advance directly to treatment, but nope, the government must have their statistics. They assured me that the chances of my mares having this disease from one AI breeding were extremely small, that it was quite treatable if they did have it, and that testing and treatment were required regardless, with me footing the bill. Sigh.
I don't have a trailer at the moment. I have discovered a fast way to get use of one: Tell the USDA, who wants your mares, that you don't have one. A trailer will appear. No doubt I'm billed for that, too, but at least hauling was provided.
So the mares were picked up just over a week after the initial contact, would have been sooner but testing had to start on Monday for some reason, and off they went to a quarantine place for testing, with transport papers filled out since they were under quarantine. I was given a 4-hour window of time for pickup a few days in advance, which later turned out to be by far the best notice of the whole process. The mares were cultured several times, with the state vet witnessing the local vet do this. One of the people at the clinic said she almost expected a team in hazmat suits to show up.
I was mowing in the pasture a week later when lo and behold, in pulled the trailer. Huh? No notice, no call, no schedule. I even checked the answering machine later in case I'd missed it being outside. Nope, they were returned on no notice. Since I was paying by the day, it was decided to bring them home between cultures and treatment. Treatment could not be started until the cultures were all in (although remember, it didn't matter what the result on the cultures was; we would treat anyway). I appreciated the opportunity to save a few days of board, but a call up front would have been nice. I'm just glad I happened to be home when they arrived.
Fast forward to last Sunday afternoon. I was sitting here working, and the phone rang. They were coming to get the mares for testing, be here in about 20 minutes. On Sunday afternoon??? Again, glad I was here, as I certainly wasn't expecting them that day. At least I knew that my mares now were officially negative, not that that mattered for treatment. I just had time to put my document at work on hold, run out, throw a bale of hay, and whistle to get the herd up.
Soon as the trailer arrived, the two mares in question immediately broke away from the hay and ran off about 100 feet. Nobody else moved. Anybody could have picked out the two suspects from that lineup. I caught the big boss mare, walked down the silly mare, and into the trailer they went. Bye, horses. See you after 5 days of antibiotic treatment.
Yesterday being over 5 days, I figured the mares would come home, so I delayed the usual Friday visit to Mom at the nursing home until later in the afternoon. Sure enough, a call came about 10:30 that they would be here imminently. The trailer pulled in, and the driver opened the back gate and let down the slant partition while I was still coming over. "Wait a min . . ." was as far as I got. My silly mare, who was predictably excited at being home, jumped back and hit her rope, which hadn't yet been untied. The rope snapped, and the mare nearly fell backwards out of the trailer. Had this been the other mare, she would have made good on the escape, but the silly mare's brain floats gently somewhere above her ears, like a Macy's parade balloon. She stood there loose with 6 inches of rope dangling and with an expression of, "Huh? What happened?" We caught her before she realized she was loose and got her into the pasture.
Then the big bay mare was unloaded, the limits tester, and you'd better believe she was untied before the slant gate was let down. She walked off fairly nicely, but soon as I took off the halter once she was through the gate, she departed at an EXTENDED trot. Did not stop to sniff noses, did not drop for a roll, did not pass go or collect $200. Nope, she was getting outta Dodge. She had officially had ENOUGH of all of this. She didn't stop until she was several hundred feet away from the evil trailer of the USDA. My sentiments exactly, Kate.
http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/kk8/dressagetraks/KateGettingOuttaDodge062609.jpg
The whole time, the driver had been apologizing for opening the gate without untying the silly mare first. She said she'd buy me a new lead rope and send it. I nearly laughed at that. A lead rope? I get a lead rope? They mandate thousands of bucks for testing and treatment for a disease that they themselves said my mares almost certainly didn't have, and they're going to send me a lead rope? On second thought, I'll take it. Might as well get something out of this. It might be a good candidate for most expensive lead rope ever.
CEM testing and treatment for mares: About $2000.
minus
New lead rope: About $8.
=======
Cost of getting the USDA out of my hair again. Pretty darned expensive, though not priceless.
Watching the girls roll after being kept in the horsepital all week made me smile, though. But I, like Kate, don't ever want to see these people or their triplicate forms again. Adios, folks.
The speed of this was a bit eerie. I got the certified letter on a Thursday stating I must call. I called. State vet was at my place at the beginning of the next week with quarantine forms in triplicate. Mares must be tested and then must be treated (regardless of what the tests showed). I did ask if we could skip testing in that case and advance directly to treatment, but nope, the government must have their statistics. They assured me that the chances of my mares having this disease from one AI breeding were extremely small, that it was quite treatable if they did have it, and that testing and treatment were required regardless, with me footing the bill. Sigh.
I don't have a trailer at the moment. I have discovered a fast way to get use of one: Tell the USDA, who wants your mares, that you don't have one. A trailer will appear. No doubt I'm billed for that, too, but at least hauling was provided.
So the mares were picked up just over a week after the initial contact, would have been sooner but testing had to start on Monday for some reason, and off they went to a quarantine place for testing, with transport papers filled out since they were under quarantine. I was given a 4-hour window of time for pickup a few days in advance, which later turned out to be by far the best notice of the whole process. The mares were cultured several times, with the state vet witnessing the local vet do this. One of the people at the clinic said she almost expected a team in hazmat suits to show up.
I was mowing in the pasture a week later when lo and behold, in pulled the trailer. Huh? No notice, no call, no schedule. I even checked the answering machine later in case I'd missed it being outside. Nope, they were returned on no notice. Since I was paying by the day, it was decided to bring them home between cultures and treatment. Treatment could not be started until the cultures were all in (although remember, it didn't matter what the result on the cultures was; we would treat anyway). I appreciated the opportunity to save a few days of board, but a call up front would have been nice. I'm just glad I happened to be home when they arrived.
Fast forward to last Sunday afternoon. I was sitting here working, and the phone rang. They were coming to get the mares for testing, be here in about 20 minutes. On Sunday afternoon??? Again, glad I was here, as I certainly wasn't expecting them that day. At least I knew that my mares now were officially negative, not that that mattered for treatment. I just had time to put my document at work on hold, run out, throw a bale of hay, and whistle to get the herd up.
Soon as the trailer arrived, the two mares in question immediately broke away from the hay and ran off about 100 feet. Nobody else moved. Anybody could have picked out the two suspects from that lineup. I caught the big boss mare, walked down the silly mare, and into the trailer they went. Bye, horses. See you after 5 days of antibiotic treatment.
Yesterday being over 5 days, I figured the mares would come home, so I delayed the usual Friday visit to Mom at the nursing home until later in the afternoon. Sure enough, a call came about 10:30 that they would be here imminently. The trailer pulled in, and the driver opened the back gate and let down the slant partition while I was still coming over. "Wait a min . . ." was as far as I got. My silly mare, who was predictably excited at being home, jumped back and hit her rope, which hadn't yet been untied. The rope snapped, and the mare nearly fell backwards out of the trailer. Had this been the other mare, she would have made good on the escape, but the silly mare's brain floats gently somewhere above her ears, like a Macy's parade balloon. She stood there loose with 6 inches of rope dangling and with an expression of, "Huh? What happened?" We caught her before she realized she was loose and got her into the pasture.
Then the big bay mare was unloaded, the limits tester, and you'd better believe she was untied before the slant gate was let down. She walked off fairly nicely, but soon as I took off the halter once she was through the gate, she departed at an EXTENDED trot. Did not stop to sniff noses, did not drop for a roll, did not pass go or collect $200. Nope, she was getting outta Dodge. She had officially had ENOUGH of all of this. She didn't stop until she was several hundred feet away from the evil trailer of the USDA. My sentiments exactly, Kate.
http://i276.photobucket.com/albums/kk8/dressagetraks/KateGettingOuttaDodge062609.jpg
The whole time, the driver had been apologizing for opening the gate without untying the silly mare first. She said she'd buy me a new lead rope and send it. I nearly laughed at that. A lead rope? I get a lead rope? They mandate thousands of bucks for testing and treatment for a disease that they themselves said my mares almost certainly didn't have, and they're going to send me a lead rope? On second thought, I'll take it. Might as well get something out of this. It might be a good candidate for most expensive lead rope ever.
CEM testing and treatment for mares: About $2000.
minus
New lead rope: About $8.
=======
Cost of getting the USDA out of my hair again. Pretty darned expensive, though not priceless.
Watching the girls roll after being kept in the horsepital all week made me smile, though. But I, like Kate, don't ever want to see these people or their triplicate forms again. Adios, folks.