A highly contagious bacterial disease has swept through a dozen North Island horse properties, forcing the country’s thoroughbred industry to bring in some of its strictest health rules in years and postpone at least one round of race trials.
Strangles has now been confirmed on 11 properties in the Waikato and one in Auckland, with the Auckland case directly linked to the Waikato outbreak. Vets have described it as the worst outbreak of the disease seen in New Zealand in recent years, although they stress it remains contained to one part of the horse population.
Strangles is caused by the bacterium Streptococcus equi and mainly attacks the upper respiratory tract of horses, ponies and donkeys. Infected animals typically run a fever and develop a thick nasal discharge, a loss of appetite, coughing and painful abscesses in the glands around the throat and jaw. It is rarely fatal, but it spreads easily through direct contact, shared gear, clothing, footwear and even people and pets moving between animals.
Holly Blue, head of veterinary services at the New Zealand Veterinary Association, said the spread had so far stayed within a single group. “At this stage, the outbreak remains confined to the thoroughbred population and is largely restricted to one regional area,” she said, according to Farmers Weekly. The young horses that have tested positive are being kept in isolation, and the current risk to the wider Auckland horse population is considered very low.
Even so, the industry is not taking any chances. New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing has introduced additional health requirements for every horse accepted to race or trial. Trainers must now take each horse’s temperature twice a day, in the morning and the evening, and record acceptable readings for five straight days before a horse can be accepted. Horses based in the greater Waikato region must also return a negative Serum Amyloid A blood test, taken within 48 hours of the meeting, before they are allowed to start.
The fever threshold has been set at 38.5 degrees Celsius. Owners are required to complete health declarations on official forms, stewards can inspect horses on request at meetings, and any runner that does not meet the rules is scratched on the spot. Transport operators have brought in their own safety measures to stop the disease travelling with the horses.
Sam Fursdon, a spokesperson for New Zealand Thoroughbred Racing, set out the core of the new regime. “For a horse to be able to race or attend a trial, they must take temperatures for five straight days,” he told RNZ. Tuesday’s trials at the Te Awamutu track were postponed as the rules took effect, a step Blue said was highly unusual. “We certainly normally wouldn’t see race meets postponed,” she said.
Blue’s central message to owners has been to watch temperatures closely and act early. “Ultimately, a thermometer is your best friend right now. If you notice a fever especially after movement, travel or contact with unfamiliar horses, treat it as strangles until proven otherwise,” she said in guidance published by the New Zealand Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association. Alongside temperature checks, owners are being urged to isolate any suspect cases, use protective equipment when handling horses, disinfect gear and talk to their vet about vaccination, which can reduce the severity of the disease.
One of the reasons the outbreak is hard to stamp out completely is that strangles can linger quietly. Around 10 percent of infected horses go on to become silent carriers, showing no obvious signs while still able to pass the bacteria on. That is part of why the disease is considered endemic in the New Zealand horse population rather than something that can be eradicated in a single sweep.
There is also a longer-term worry sitting behind the immediate response. Strangles is not a notifiable disease in New Zealand, which means there is no legal requirement to report it to authorities. Australia, the main export market for New Zealand thoroughbreds, does treat it as notifiable. Vets have raised concerns that an outbreak like this, if it were seen to spread unchecked, could dent New Zealand’s reputation as a source of healthy horses and complicate the export trade.
For now the focus is on holding the line. Isolation, twice-daily temperature checks and the extra testing are aimed at keeping the disease penned inside the affected properties while the young horses recover. The industry will be hoping that the caution shown this week, including the rare step of calling off trials, is enough to keep strangles from moving beyond the Waikato and into the wider horse population heading into the busier racing months.
Have you dealt with strangles or another biosecurity scare on your property? Share your experience in the comments below.
This article was written by AI, briefed to report the facts, hopefully without some of the bias people bring to the job 🙂
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