Jockey Club, Kentucky Department of Agriculture issue guidelines to farms on COVID-19

Nature dictates that the Thoroughbred bloodstock industry proceed with its business, even as the world grapples with the coronavirus pandemic. In the Northern Hemisphere, the breeding season was well under way as various jurisdictions began to declare states of emergency, and this week, both The Jockey Club and the Kentucky Department of Agriculture issued additional guidelines to help the season continue unabated and with as little chance of spreading the virus as possible.

The concerns of those in the industry are for the possible spread of the virus among farm staff, veterinarians, van drivers, and other individuals working in the breeding industry – not for the horses. Horses can be affected by a type of coronavirus known as equine enteric coronavirus, which is a gastrointestinal disease. This is a distinctly different strain than COVID-19, which causes respiratory symptoms, among other effects, and is affecting people worldwide. There is no evidence that either equine enteric coronavirus or COVID-19 are transmissible between species, and there is no evidence that horses could contract COVID-19.

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The Jockey Club, in a release issued Wednesday, recommended that all stud farms in North America follow, at a minimum, the Kentucky Department of Agriculture guidelines for COVID-19 regarding breeding shed activity, which were distributed to equine veterinarians in Kentucky in a memo by Rusty Ford, the equine programs manager for the Kentucky Office of the State Veterinarian. The guidelines begin with a reminder of basic protocols being pushed forward to combat the pandemic, such as staying home if an individual or a person in their household feels sick, and a reminder to maintain social distancing between individuals.

The memo also outlined practices that address the daily realities of working at a farm and how to minimize the transmission of illness, such as keeping equipment, such as buckets or pitchforks, specific to one barn rather than it being passed around among individuals working in other barns, and to keep barns as open as possible to allow the circulation of fresh air. The department also recommended that veterinarians limit their number of assistants as much as possible, and that vets and assistants traveling to various farms should take their temperatures twice daily. Veterinary staff should wear gloves, coveralls, and a mask when necessary, and these should be changed regularly to prevent the possible transmission of infection between farms. When possible, it is suggested that the vet’s assistant be the one to hold the horse for a procedure, rather than an employee from the farm of residence, thereby limiting the number of people mixing in a small area.

With vans and individuals from broodmare facilities perhaps visiting multiple stud farms each day in order to comply with The Jockey Club requirement that all registered Thoroughbreds be conceived by live cover, the breed organization has suggested other standard practices to manage people and horses visiting sheds. As one point, the submission of documents for mares booked to be bred should be done electronically, as reports support that contagions are easily transferred to and from paper.

The Jockey Club also recommends that outside individuals, such as van drivers and broodmare attendants, avoid entering the preparation area and breeding shed, with an employee of the stud farm instead handling the mare after she is offloaded, to minimize contact between the groups of people. The organization also noted that shanks and equipment used on outside mares, such as boots and capes, should be disinfected before re-use.

“Implementing these practices, and any other action you can take to eliminate people from congregating in common areas, will be beneficial and could be critical in our ability to continue transporting horses to [and] from sheds,” The Jockey Club said in a release.

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Several individual stud farms had already begun implementing portions of the practices that The Jockey Club has now consolidated. For example, Airdrie Stud in Midway, Ky., which stands 10 stallions, announced modified booking and breeding shed policies to limit interactions last week. The farm cut down on its paperwork, making it possible to send essential booking and breeding shed forms by email, fax, or text. Airdrie also limited farms to sending only one person to the breeding shed with a mare.

Pleasant Acres Stallions in Morriston, Fla., has rapidly become one of the largest stallion operations in that state, with nine on the 2020 roster. The farm has announced that, to limit the contact between people, drivers and mare handlers must remain in the van as horses coming to the farm for breeding or boarding are removed.

“This protocol limits the amount of contact between people,” Pleasant Acres said in a release. “Our staff is fully trained and suited to remove the horses and take them to the appropriate place on the property – the breeding shed, the foaling barn, or the pasture.”