Strangles outbreak in Aiken?

[SSS4]

I just spoke to my vet in Aiken who says there are 2 confirmed cases of Strangles at Buckleigh Farms where I was supposed to be bringing horses next week....does anyone there know about this? She also said a horse died there last week after impaling itself on a broken board!! Any suggestions on somewhere else I can bring my horses preferably with SAFE turnout and a good dressage and jumping arena??

[HandsomeBayFarm]

www.jbfarm.com

[Mach Two]

Whoa! you can be sure you won't be welcome at that barn any time in the future. Best not to name names on that kind of thing.

[coloredhorse]

Gotta agree with Mach Two. Have you spoken with the folks at Buckleigh? Any place that has horses in and out may have a case of strangles; it happened to me when I was running a boarding barn. Ditto the death by impaling. That is one incident, and horses can do stupid things. Is it possible that it was due to negligence? Yes, it is. But without the farm owner's or manager's perspective, how do we know. Remember Teddy O'Connor? Freak accidents happen at even the best-run facilities; there are no guarantees in life.

I understand not wanting to move into a farm that is quarantined if you are needing to get out and show and what-not, but the tone of your post seems rather ugly. Being concerned is understandable. Asking for recommendations for alternative stabling is reasonable. But airing unconfirmed "dirty laundry" and apparently damning a facility based on gossip ("my vet in Aiken" from a poster on an anonymous BB doesn't qualify as a confirmed report), with no reported attempt to speak to the people in charge there does not reflect well on you; you come off more as a gossip-monger than someone genuinely seeking information or assistance.

FWIW, if this farm is indeed quarantined with strangles, as responsible managers will do, they may well have a list of "safe" alternatives in hand for you ... I did when I was the barn manager in that situation.

[findeight]

Well, gee, why not CALL THE FARM and ask them? Instead of implying they are doing bad things as this post does.

Younger horses can get strangles despite the best care and precaution and you really have NO IDEA when they were diagnosed and what the time frame is for recovery, what the current situation is or if the farm has voluntarily quarantined themselves.

And horses can hurt themsleves and do all the time. We have no idea how that happened, for all we know, the horse broke the board going thru the fence.

Unless she is also that farm vet and has seen the diagnostics, your vet is unprofessional at best, a busy body at worst. All she should have done was say you needed to call that farm before you shipped in because there was a possibilty of a problem, not spread their misfortune around as news of the day. Which you then plastered on here without confirming it.

[msj]

OK, I do not know the OP or the farm and I'm not sticking up for either BUT not ALL farms that have strangles outbreaks quarantine as they should either. Several yrs ago a farm in this area was supposed to have had a strangles outbreak and was rumored to be planning on shipping into a local show that offered on grounds stabling. Since the stable would neither confirm or deny that they had several cases of strangles the manager of the show actually cancelled the show to avoid any problems.

Also, quite a few yrs ago I had my horse boarded at a small stable where the owner had one or 2 broodmares. Her vet knew she was planning on shipping her mare and latest foal to a certain farm to breed to their stallion. He was also the vet for the farm that stood the stallion. He was very much aware the farm where the stallion stood had several current cases of strangles. Not only did he not inform her of this, nor did the owner of the farm standing the stallion. She sent her mare and foal in to be bred and after the breeding, brought them home maybe a week or so later. Gee, guess what? Her entire barn came down with strangles! :( :eek: :( My horse included. :( :(

Had she been told that they had strangles on the farm after she had shipped in for breeding, she would have left the mare and foal there rather than have taken the chance of bringing strangles back to the barn and infecting the rest of the horses. As it was, she did pick up all the vet bills for the boarders as well as her own horses. Bless her heart.

I guess what I'm saying is that I wouldn't be so quick to condemn the OP. Even if she did call the farm in question, whose to say they would be honest about it in the first place.

[CarolinaGirl]

Would love to know about the strangles cases! If so were they by horses that stay there all the time or by horses that had just come in? We had three horses go (one from my barn, two from the barns next door) up for Paradise about two weeks ago and the stabling was at Buckleigh's. I haven't heard anything about any of them being sickly, but all three stabled overnight there.. I know the one from my barn was vaccinated within the last six months, not sure about the others. Just curious if anyone that had gone to the show and stabled there has seen any symptoms?