Los Alamitos barn quarantined after pony found to have equine herpesvirus

A barn at Los Alamitos Race Course in Cypress, Calif., has been under quarantine since Wednesday after a pony at the track was euthanized and subsequently tested positive for exposure to the equine herpesvirus, the highly contagious disease that can prove fatal.

The California Department of Food and Agriculture said in a notice that the quarantined barn contains 11 horses and that “enhanced biosecurity measures” have been put in place to guard against the disease spreading. As of Thursday, the CDFA said that none of the horses in the barn was displaying symptoms of the disease or had elevated temperatures.

The 10-year-old Quarter Horse pony who was euthanized was displaying “severe neurologic signs” of the equine herpesvirus, the CDFA said. The agency is recommending that the barn be placed under quarantine for 21 days.

Los Alamitos stables both Quarter Horses and Thoroughbreds, and shippers from the track often race at Santa Anita in Arcadia. However, Santa Anita has no plans right now to enforce any restrictions on shippers from the track unless the situation changes, according to Robert O’Neill, the equine health and safety director for The Stronach Group, which owns Santa Anita.

“The [California Horse Racing Board] locks these things down, and they have been on it since it started,” O’Neill said Friday from Florida after returning from California to review the situation.

O’Neill said four horses who have shipped to Santa Anita from Los Alamitos to run on the Friday card were not displaying any symptoms of the disease. The specific type of equine herpesvirus found in the dead pony was the so-called wild strain, which is not considered as contagious or serious as the neurological strain.

“Usually, when a horse is exposed, you’ll get a flare in temperature within three or four days,” O’Neill said. “We’ve seen none of that.”