SAUGERTIES, New York – Thursday, June 6, 2024 – HITS Horse Show officials were made aware on the evening of Tuesday, June 4, that a horse in Permanent Barn 9 was under observation and treatment for a possible pulled muscle in a hind limb. Under further review of the horse, the HITS and trainer’s veterinarian proactively had the horse removed from the grounds on the evening of Tuesday, June 4, and referred to Cornell University for testing, isolation, and observation. The horse did not have and still has not presented with a temperature or any nasal discharge.
The HITS management team, our on-site veterinarians, and state animal health officials have been communicating together and Permanent Barn 9 was placed under immediate quarantine pending the results of the horse’s test. Horses in Permanent Barn 9 under the care of the trainer with the indexed horse were voluntarily allowed to return home to begin a state-issued quarantine with isolation measures approved by state animal health officials. Those vacated stalls were immediately cleaned and disinfected.
At this time, the exposed horses have been identified as only those residing in Permanent Barn 9. The horses under the care of other trainers that remain in Permanent Barn 9 are under quarantine under the direction of the state animal health officials with enhanced monitoring and other restrictions in place. While under quarantine, these Permanent Barn 9 horses are prohibited from competing and will be restricted to supervised exercise in a designated area.
HITS management exceeded the expectations and requirements of state animal health officials with the immediate installation of a perimeter fence around Permanent Barn 9 with full-time security staff, and biosecurity measures, such as hand and foot sanitation, having been installed and will be enforced by the HITS Security team.
As of Thursday morning, the removed horse is walking around his stall at Cornell University with no fever or any nasal discharge and tested positive for EHV-1.
At all times, HITS management has been in contact with Dr. Katie Flynn, USEF’s Equine Health and Biosecurity Veterinarian. Dr. Flynn recently visited the HITS Saugerties horse show grounds and is familiar with the layout of the barns and grounds and HITS management’s biosecurity procedures.
At this time, under the guidance of USEF and the state animal health official, horse showing will continue as scheduled. The health and wellbeing of all horses on the grounds is the priority and the situation will continue to be monitored.
We ask that every barn continue to take the situation seriously and enforce biosecurity measures within their own stable.
- Take temperatures of all horses twice daily and maintain a log. Temperature logs are available at the horse show office. Horses presenting with a temperature of more than 101.5 degrees F or any signs of respiratory or neurological disease should be reported to the show veterinarian and HITS management immediately.
- Isolate any horse exhibiting symptoms or illness and report any cases to the show veterinarian and horse show management. Horses with symptoms will be moved to an on-site isolation area.
- We recommend no sharing of equipment between horses including tack, accessories, and feed and water buckets.
- Handlers should wash hands in between handling horses and maintain proper biosecurity protocols in the barn and at the rings.
- Maintain distancing between horses at the ring and in the barn. No nose-to-nose contact between horses.
- To exit the show grounds to other facilities, all horses must have their temperatures checked twice per day and not exhibit any fever or neurologic symptoms for at least 48 hours.
If you have questions, please contact horse show manager Vinnie Card () and updates will be posted on hitsshows.com and distributed via email.
