Biosecurity: When and How to Isolate

Isolate Sick, New & Travelling Horses Checklist

Your isolation plan involves both physical structures and your management practises.

A sign is located at the entrance of the farm/barn area that identifies horses are in isolation

Access is restricted to official visitors

Sign in & sign out sheet for personnel

A stall is ready that has been cleaned, disinfected & filled with fresh bedding

A separate barn or paddock with shelter is used (best practice)

If the end of an aisle in main barn is used (not ideal),
then there needs to be several empty stalls between the isolated horse and other horses

All equipment, tack, buckets, grooming tools, medication and other tools are labelled (i.e. with red tape) & kept in a separate area

Isolated horse is worked with last each day & hands are washed before & after

Separate manure pile for isolation area & is not spread until well composted

All personnel are educated on biosecurity protocols & visitors are made aware of protocols
(limit number of personal & only necessary visitors should be allowed, such as the isolated horses’ owner or veterinarian)

Disposable examination gloves, disposable shoe covers & protective clothing are available for personnel & necessary visitors

Pets & wild animals are prevented from entering the isolation area

New & travelling horses are isolated for 2 weeks

Equine Guelph would like to extend thanks to Dr. Josie Traub-Dargatz and Dr. Alanna Kirby, Colorado State University for input and content review of this infosheet.

To learn more about equine biosecurity, register for Equine Guelph’s online course and visit the biosecurity risk calculator online tool. Isolate Sick, New & Travelling Horses

This article originally appeared on Equine Guelph The University of Ontario, Canada, and is published here with permission.

You can DOWNLOAD a PDF of this checklist.

You can find more informative articles in our section on Health & Education.