We know that diseases can be harmful to horses and can cause great impact on their health and welfare. They can also be costly, so any unexpected costs for vets bills and loss of income can be devasting to an equestrian business. If the equine disease is impactful on more than one horse, or it spreads around your livery yard – it can cause closures to riding schools or competition centres. In some cases, you may be advised to lockdown your whole yard until the infection has completely gone in order to protect other visitors or guests.

Taking steps to avoid equine disease

At Ravenhall Rural, we work closely with our equestrian clients and form close relationships with them. Many equestrian clients rely on income from shows, competitions, breeding or are riding schools with regular visitors. Within this article, we have suggested some routine steps that you could take to encourage good biosecurity and ways to prevent the spread of disease:

• Step 1 – Ensure your equines are vaccinated and up to date
• Step 2 – Try to avoid sharing water sources/ troughs away from your own yard
• Step 3 – Be cautious of your horse’s temperature as an increase in normal temperature could indicate your horse isn’t well
• Step 4 – Try to prevent contact with other horses that don’t belong to your yard
• Step 5 – be over cautious, as some horses may not show signs straight away. For example, will infections such as Strangles disease. (Find out more about Strangles in our blog).
• Step 6 – Provide each horse with their own tack (equipment)
• Step 7 – Disinfect boots and other riding equipment if you have visited another yard as well as after any events.

Strangles disease

Strangles disease is relatively common, and your horse can look healthy on the outside but carry a bacteria which can be infectious to others. To prevent the spread of Strangles, communicate with your vet to have a full screening of all new arrivals.

Business interruption insurance

Business Interruption insurance is a type of insurance that aims to cover the loss of income that a yard may experience when having no alternative but to temporarily close due to a claim on your property policy – Ravenhall’s Equestrian property policy automatically covers Equestrian Notifiable Disease Extension such as strangles or other equine diseases.

At Ravenhall we offer a dedicated service with extensive equestrian knowledge of matters from equine first aid to business management, horse riding and instruction to show preparation and competing in all disciplines. Our Rural team are experienced and qualified within the equestrian industry with a passion for all things equine and are always happy to offer advice and guidance on all of your equestrian business insurance needs.

Contact our team on 0345 216 3000 to ensure that you’re ready to deal with / recover from an outbreak and that your business doesn’t suffer.