photo © EQUUS Magazine

I’ve been around horses long enough to know that I don’t want to mess with equine strangles. Because my two horses travel often and far, I regularly vaccinate them against this highly infectious disease, which is caused by the Streptococcus equi bacterium. After all, if we come across just one horse with equine strangles in our travels, I might be in for weeks of nursing my horses through the fever, nasal discharge and abscessed, draining lymph nodes produced by the disease. Although it’s not typically deadly, strangles can make a horse and everyone who cares for him miserable for some time. That’s enough incentive for me to do whatever I can to avoid it, including regular vaccination.

About a year ago, however, my efforts to protect my horses from equine strangles set into motion a very different, yet equally miserable, chain of events centered on an unusual reaction to the strangles vaccine.

Last fall, I left my two Arabian-Quarter Horse crosses, Remy and Monty, in the care of friends in South Dakota while I took a backcountry wilderness medicine class in Missoula, Montana. The plan was that, once my class ended in early November, I would pick up my horses as I drove home to New York for college.

In mid-October I called my friend and asked her to schedule an appointment for Remy and Monty’s fall shots well in advance of their early November departure. I gave her a list of my horses’ typical vaccinations and, knowing we would be staying at unfamiliar barns while driving back east, I added the strangles vaccine. I usually have my horses vaccinated against strangles in the spring, before the show season, but this was a “why not?” moment. I had never had any problems with the strangles vaccine, so what could it hurt? I thanked my friend, hung up the phone and didn’t give it another thought.

Injection reaction
Weeks later, just days before I was supposed to leave Missoula, I received a phone call from my friend. She told me that Remy had suddenly developed a swollen mass on the right side of his neck a few inches above his shoulder. She thought that Monty might have kicked him, and she told me she had given him phenylbutazone and would keep an eye on him. The next day, the swelling had gotten worse, and he was off his feed because it was too painful for him to reach down to the hay feeder.

I called my veterinarian back in New York, Emily Harrison, DVM, to ask her opinion. She was not terribly alarmed until I mentioned that Remy had been given his vaccines three weeks earlier. She asked which specific vaccines were given to my horses, and when I mentioned strangles, she quickly followed up with another question: “Was it given intranasally?” Yes, I told her. “On the same day as the intramuscular shots?” Yes, it was.

Harrison explained why that mattered. The strangles vaccine is available in two forms: an intramuscular injection that uses a killed vaccine, and an intranasal spray that delivers modified live bacteria directly onto the surfaces of the upper respiratory tract.

The intranasal version of the vaccine confers a higher level of immunity against strangles and is generally safe but carries a risk. If the horse objects to having the vaccine squirted up his nostril and pulls away as it’s administered, or if he snorts immediately afterward, some of the live bacteria can be ejected back out into the environment. If those microorganisms contaminate the horse’s skin or the veterinarian’s hands, or even if they just remain suspended in the air, and then if that horse or any other in the barn receives an intramuscular injection, the strangles bacteria can “hitch a ride” on the needle and be inserted directly into the neck muscles.

Unlike typical systemic strangles, which enters through the nose and causes signs such as high fever, depression, swollen lymph nodes and a snotty nose, an S. equi infection that enters the body via an intramuscular injection is walled off into an abscess---an internal pocket of pus that will continue to grow in size. If Remy had localized strangles, he wasn’t currently contagious, but if the abscess reached the skin and ruptured through the surface, it could drain a massive amount of pus filled with live bacteria that could infect any horse in the vicinity.

This complication is rare, but it is a very real threat. In fact, Harrison had seen a case just a few months earlier. To reduce the risk, it is recommended that the intranasal vaccine be administered on a different day than any intramuscular injections. If that’s not an option, then the intranasal vaccine needs to be done last, only after every horse in the barn has already received his injections. Because I wasn’t present when my horses were vaccinated, I’m not sure exactly what happened.

Of course, without actually seeing my horse, Harrison couldn’t know for sure that he had a strangles abscess. “I don’t want to cause any unnecessary hysteria,” she said, “but I am very concerned. We need to get the veteri-narian back out there to ultrasound the area and see if there is a deeply buried pocket of pus. If there is, she’ll need to draw it out with a needle and send it off for a culture before that horse goes anywhere.”

Still in Missoula, I arranged for the original veterinarian to return to the farm and investigate. Unfortunately, she did not have a portable ultrasound machine, but she did insert a hypodermic needle into the site to see what she’d retrieve. I waited anxiously on the other end of the phone as the procedure was done.

I was told the needle drew back only blood, a finding which suggested that it was not an abscess after all but just a nasty hematoma, a blood-filled pocket that could have formed after a trauma such as a kick. Hematomas may look alarming, but they generally do little harm, and veterinarians prefer to leave them alone. Eventually, the body resorbs the blood and the swelling goes down. Opening them to drain creates an opportunity for infection to enter.

Relieved to hear that news, I made the decision to pick up my horses as planned and head back across the country. If Remy’s problems continued, I’d feel better addressing them with Harrison at home in New York.

Heading east
When I arrived in South Dakota a week later, I was surprised at how uncomfortable Remy was. The swelling, which looked like half a cantaloupe stuck to the side of his neck, was clearly causing him pain when he moved or ate. Still he was a total champion traveling. It was obviously painful for him to step in and out of the trailer, despite the bute I was giving him, but he did so without resisting or complaining. The swelling worsened a bit over the four-day trip, but otherwise we made the journey without incident.

The day after we were safely back at our boarding barn Harrison came out armed with her ultrasound machine. In the grainy images she found what she was looking for: a pocket of pus, a good two inches deep under the muscle. She and I were both amazed at how deep the abscess was. Using a syringe with a long needle, Harrison drew a sample of pus from the abscess and sent it to the lab for a PCR, a test that determines the presence of a disease-causing organism by identifying its DNA. The results came back the next day: they were positive for strangles.

Remy couldn’t stay at the boarding barn. If the abscess were to break open he could infect dozens of other horses and subject everyone to weeks of strict quarantine. But now we had to race to find a barn that would let us open and drain the abscess on their property before it ruptured on its own.

Harrison called around and found a farm in upstate New York that specializes in rehabilitating sick and injured horses. They were familiar with quarantine protocols and were willing to take Remy in for the procedure. We arranged to haul him there the next day.

Relief at last
A little more than a month after the initial vaccinations, Harrison cut a slice down the middle of the abscess, and pus poured out for 15 minutes in the safety of a sterile and isolated environment. The release of the pressure within Remy’s neck gave him obvious and immediate relief from the pain, and I simultaneously felt the tension and stress that had been building in my own neck for the past month slowly start to dissipate.

Harrison inserted a catheter in Remy’s neck for the heavy doses of antibiotics he would receive twice daily, and she left the incision open to drain and ultimately heal from the inside out. She explained that if she sewed it shut, any lingering bacteria would just be trapped again, and the hole would refill with pus. The wound would have to be flushed with saline daily, and the drainage would be carefully contained to avoid infecting other horses. Fortunately, the staff at the facility were very skilled at all of this.

Remy remained at the rehab farm for six and a half weeks, until PCR tests confirmed that the tissue and fluids in his wound no longer contained any traces of the strangles bacteria, and the incision was allowed to close. During that time he remained in complete isolation from other horses, with a friendly cow named Peanut and some sheep as his only companions on the other side of his stall door.

When we brought Remy home in January, a scar on his neck was the only lingering sign of his medical ordeal. He was thrilled be to reunited with his human and horse family, and as I watched him race around in his field with Monty, I pondered just how many lucky breaks we’d gotten. If I’d known about the pus in his abscess back in South Dakota, I would have had to quarantine him there and deal with his care from the East Coast. We’re also extremely fortunate that the abscess didn’t open on its own, which would have exposed Monty, my friend’s horses, and those on every farm we stopped at on our trip across the country to strangles.

Of course, I also have a little nagging guilt that all of this could have been prevented, and we might have spared Remy months of discomfort. But in the end I realized that, as much as we try to protect our horses from every little risk, sometimes the freak events will still happen. All we can do is be prepared, as best as we can, to deal with them when they do.

This special report on the EHV outbreak in several Western states comes from The Jurga Report: Horse Headlines blog. For the latest information on the EHV outbreak, please go to The Jurga Report.

Update Sunday May 15: From Sally Harrison's blog: "In a precautionary move to ensure the health and safety of horses, the Breeder’s Invitational board of directors has canceled their Breeder’s Invitational cutting event in Tulsa, Okla., from May 14-28, and the National Cutting Horse Association has also cancelled the Mercuria World Series of Cutting this weekend in Tulsa." For more information, read Sally Harrison's Blog. Sally is my go-to source for information on the sport of cutting.

On its Facebook page, the NCHA reported on Sunday that sick cutting horses had been reported in several western states and in western Canada, but that the only confirmed diagnosis of EHV-1 had been in the Colorado horses via Colorado State University.

I received a Facebook message on Friday morning from a farrier in Colorado who was concerned about having worked on a horse that was believed to be ill with the neurologic form of Equine Herpes Virus (EHV). A second horse at the farm had been euthanized and the diagnosis of EHV had been confirmed by the laboratory at Colorado State University. The farm had been quarantined according to the farrier, who was conscientiously concerned about spreading the disease to other horses at other farms.

Checking with disease outbreak alerts, I couldn't see any for Colorado, so I contacted the State Veterinarian's office there on Friday; a representative told me that not just one, but two farms in Colorado's Weld County, had been quarantined and the diagnosis had been the neurologic form of EHV. She said the state would issue a press release on Monday.

I sent a warning out via Twitter that EHV had been diagnosed in Colorado and more details would be forthcoming.

The vet's office must have received a lot of calls, because a press release appeared on the Internet on Saturday afternoon.

The release confirmed the facts that I had. “The Department is taking quick and appropriate actions to control and mitigate this disease,” said State Veterinarian Dr. Keith Roehr in the release. “We will continue to trace the movement of these horses and those horses they came into contact with in order to protect Colorado’s equine industry.”

Both diagnosed horses had recently attended the National Cutting Horse Association’s Western National Championships in Ogden, Utah. The Colorado Department of Agriculture is working with the Utah State Veterinarian to investigate the location as a point of interest for the infection.

This morning, Quarter Horse News posted an article suggesting that the source of the Colorado disease was the Utah event.

In addition, Quarter Horse News reported that "At the Kern County cutting in California on May 13, one horse allegedly died of the disease and another was rushed to University of California, Davis, according to one cutting horse person present at the event. The show was immediately canceled."

NCHA Announcement

An announcement on the National Cutting Horse Association web site alerts exhibitors from the Ogden event to be aware that two horses have tested positive for EHV.

Information from the announcement includes: "While we do not wish to unnecessarily alarm you, we wanted to get this information to you as soon as we received it. If you had a horse competing at the NCHA Western National Championships in Ogden, you may wish to consult with your local veterinarian on this issue. Any symptoms reportedly typically show within 4 - 6 days of exposure to the virus, and initially are in the form of a fever in the affected animal."

California Update

This afternoon I interviewed Peggy Biller, president of the Kern County Cutting Horse Association in California, who verified the basic facts that had been reported by Quarter Horse News. She said that her organization had planned a three-day cutting for this weekend. The event began on Friday as scheduled. However, a horse was euthanized on the grounds and another horse became ill. Both horses had been at the NCHA event in Utah. The body of the dead horse was transported to the state laboratory in Tulare, California. The second horse was transported to the equine hospital at the University of California at Davis.

"People basically panicked," Biller said. "They just wanted to get their horses out of there." She said that there was a mixture of horses that had and had not been at the Utah event present at her event. She didn't want to comment about how long the majority of horses had been on the grounds and already exposed to horses that had been in Utah or the sick horses themselves.

I was reminded of the shutdown of an Australian three-day event during the Equine Influenza outbreak there. When horses started to show signs of illness, no horses were allowed to leave the showground and were forced into a lock-down quarantine for three weeks rather than allow them to return to their home farms and possibly spread disease to more horses.

"Everybody panicked and ran," said John Ward, vice-president of the Kern County Cutting Horse Association on the telephone today. "You'd have thought there was an earthquake. It was just like someone yelled, 'Fire'!" Ward said that he felt very sorry for the owner of the two sick horses.

Ward commented that he thought people would follow the advice of veterinarians to monitor the horses' temperatures twice a day. "These horses are worth a fortune," he said. "And in the future, they will pay much closer attention when a horse acts different or is lethargic."

A little web investigation revealed a memo dated both May 8 and May 13 that had gone out to California-based cutting horse exhibitors who had been at the Utah event. The memo was signed by Kent Fowler, DVM, Animal Health Branch Chief of the California Department of Food and Agriculture. The memo is posted on the California Department of Food and Agriculture web site, if one knows that there is an EHV information page about six clicks deep into the site. There is no mention of EHV on the animal health main page, although there are alerts about bovine tuberculosis, Newcastle disease in Mexico and other disease outbreaks.

Among other things, the memo warned, "The California Department of Food and Agriculture encourages owners of horses who participated in the Odgen, Utah event to isolate and monitor their horses for clinical signs of disease. A rectal temperature in excess of 102F commonly precedes other clinical signs. Therefore, we are urging owners to take temperatures on each individual horse(s) twice a day. If a temperature above 102F is detected contact your private practitioner immediately. Laboratory submission of nasal swabs and blood samples collected from the exposed horse can be utilized for virus detection and isolation."

Elsewhere in California, the Pacific Coast Cutting Horse Association announced the cancellation of the May 15 Clements Cutting Club Cutting and the PCCHA Tejon Ranch Cutting, May 19-22.

Commentary from The Equid Blog

Drs Scott Weese and Maureen Anderson , authors of the Equid Blog, from the Ontario Veterinary College at the University of Guelph in Canada, were monitoring the situation today and offered a sage summary of the week's events.

"Whether or not the show is where the horses were first infected is unclear, but it makes sense because any time you mix together large numbers of horses, and stress them through shipping, competition, management changes and other factors, infectious disease exposure risks rise. This may be particularly true for EHV-1, since the virus is lying dormant within a large percentage of healthy horses. Most of the time, infected horses are not shedding the virus, but shedding can occur if horses are stressed or sick.

"EHV outbreaks and quarantines seem to be much more commonly reported over the past couple of years. Whether that's because of a true increase in disease or an increase in publicity and response to disease is unclear. There has been a big change in our understanding of how EHV-1 "works," through identification of a mutation in some strains that makes them more likely to cause neurological disease (and outbreaks).

"Tests are now available for this mutation, and this strain may be increasingly common. However, this strain doesn't always cause neurological disease, and strains without the mutation can still cause neurological disease, so it's not a completely clear situation. I suspect that we are truly seeing some increase in disease, but we are seeing an equal (or greater) increase in response to single cases or small outbreaks, with quarantines and press releases that would have been rare not too long ago.

"EHV-1 is all over the place and complete avoidance of it is impossible. Good general infection control practices to limit the spread of the virus when it is being shed by horses, and prompt identification and isolation of horses with EHV infection are important but often overlooked control measures."

Type in red is quoted from the Equid Blog. Both Dr Weese and Dr Anderson are large animal internal medicine specialists with expertise in infectious diseases and infection control. Their blog is an excellent source of equine health information.

To learn more about the neurologic form of EHV, download the USDA brochure, Equine Herpesvirus Myeloencephalopathy.

And keep reading The Jurga Report: Horse Health Headlines blog. We'll do our best to find out about equine public health situations and provide information with sources listed. Even if these alerts do not affect you directly, you can learn about these diseases and how to prevent them in your own horses.

Vaccination has been called “medicine’s greatest triumph,” responsible for nearly eradicating childhood killers such as polio and smallpox. Vaccinating your horse protects him against equally frightening diseases, including tetanus and sleeping sickness, both of which are almost always fatal. In the past decade, however, vaccine opponents have raised concerns about vaccinations—and even begun to question whether they’re necessary at all.

Should you continue to vaccinate your horse? If so, which vaccines should you give? It’s hard to know what’s right.

In this article, I’m going to investigate the top five arguments I’ve heard made against vaccination—in both human and veterinary medicine. While some of the concerns are legitimate, many more are not—and consequences of under-vaccination can be even more frightening than the fears of vaccine opponents.

Once you’ve heard all sides, I’ll give you a set of rational questions to ask to make educated decisions about your own horse’s vaccination plan.

The Arguments
Point #1: Vaccines are dangerous. Overheard: “They lead to a hyperstimulated immune system and all kinds of health problems. I’ve read on the Internet that vac- cination causes headshaking and allergies in horses, too.”

Counterpoint: When it comes to horses, there are no legitimate studies that link vaccination to diseases related to an over-stimulated immune system such as allergies or skin disease. The stories you hear are just that—stories. While there may be other reasons to question whether or not to administer a certain vaccine to your horse, this simply isn’t one of them.

Point #2: The side effects are awful. Overheard: “OK, so maybe there’s no scientific proof that vaccina- tion causes other diseases, but the side effects from vaccines are horrible. Every time my horse gets vaccinated he can’t lift up his head for days. Death is even possible.”

Counterpoint: Yes, vaccinations can cause side effects—some more than others. And this is clearly a legitimate reason to consider your horse’s vaccination program carefully. Some horses are more sensitive to vaccines than others, and if yours is one that seems to have a problem every time he’s vaccinated, you may choose to take the minimal-vaccination route. In this situation, the concept of “herd immunity” comes into play: If 80 percent of the population in a herd is vaccinated, the remaining 20 percent have some protection against a serious outbreak.

If your horse is a reactor, you should look at individual vaccines carefully. Vaccines for some diseases are more problematic than others, and different forms of vaccines for the same diseases have different reactivity. Ask your vet to help you decide which vaccines are most important due to exposure risk and severity of disease.

Once you’ve decided which diseases are most important to target, look at the different forms of each vaccine available. For example, killed-virus vaccines may not be quite as effective as modified-live-virus vaccines, yet they typically cause much less significant reactions. And intranasal vaccines for respiratory diseases are often much less reactive than their intramuscular counterparts.

If you’re considering strangles vaccination (a vaccine with high risk for side effects), you can measure antibody levels in the blood prior to vaccinating; if antibody levels are high, your horse is at greater risk for serious side effects (and could be protected anyway), so don’t vaccinate.

Finally, if your horse is exceptionally sensitive, ask your vet whether it would be advisable to administer a dose of a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medication such as flunixin meglumine (Banamine®) prior to vaccination to minimize side effects.

As an example, we have a horse in our practice that’s highly reactive to vaccines. He spikes a fever, his legs swell, and he can even act a little colicky afterwards. He lives in a big, busy competition barn, where his exposure risk is high. His vaccination program consists of tetanus—because it’s such a safe vaccine against an extremely dangerous disease—and influenza given intranasally, where side effects are extremely rare. He’s lucky to live in a barn where the other horses are on a solid vaccination program so herd immunity is high. And he receives a dose of Banamine prior to every tetanus vaccine to minimize his risk of side effects.

Practice your breathing technique at a standstill and at all three gaits. | Photo by Alana Harrison

Is fear keeping you from enjoying riding as much as you'd like? Has a past trauma or the onset of middle age shaken your confidence in the saddle? Does your anxiety cause you to feel embarrassed or ashamed?

You're not alone. Dealing with fear is one of the most popular equine Q&A topics around, and it's nothing to hang your head about. Horses are big, strong, unpredictable creatures; as clinician and author John Lyons says, fear is often simply "common sense in disguise."

Whether the cause of your fear is real (a dangerous horse) or imagined ("what if" scenarios cluttering your mind), the fear itself is a clear indication you feel uncomfortable with the situation at hand--and that's something you need to address.

Here are five double-duty fear busters--they'll boost your confidence, plus help you become a better rider overall.

(And, for a look at the science of overcoming fear, see the May 2010 issue of Horse & Rider magazine. To order this issue or other back issues, call 877-717-8928.)

Fear Buster #1: Breathe for relaxation and focus.
How it works: Deep, rhythmic breathing calms and centers you. It's almost impossible to feel anxiety without holding your breath or breathing shallowly--the natural responses of fearful riders. Proper breathing also reassures your horse.

"How would you feel if your horse held his breath?" asks Sally Swift in her first book, Centered Riding. "Frightened, most likely. And that's the way he'd feel if you held yours. You can breathe a horse to quietness." And yourself to increased confidence.

How to do it: Practice, practice, practice so that your breathing is habitually steady, rhythmic and coming from your diaphragm--the muscle that crosses the inside of your body beneath your rib cage. If your abdomen expands and contracts as you breathe, you're using your diaphragm. If only your chest moves, you're not.

"Polish your breathing technique using a yoga or Tai Chi video," suggests Jessica Jahiel, clinician, author, and moderator of Horse-Sense, a popular online Q&A forum for horse owners. "Then, practice breathing properly all the time--at the table, at your desk, in your car, as you watch television. Do it whenever you're upset or angry or startled. Make it a habit to react to surprises with deep breathing." To remind yourself, post "belly breathe!" notes on your computer, dashboard, refrigerator, TV, tack box and other logical spots.

"In the saddle," Jessica continues, "practice at a standstill and at all three gaits. Find a rhythm that corresponds to your horse's strides and imagine that you're releasing any tension you may be feeling each time you breathe out."

Bonus benefit: As it does for any active sport, proper breathing will increase your ability to focus, concentrate and perform to the full extent of your skills and ability. (Plus, it's good for your overall health.)

Fear Buster #2: Reprogram your "trigger point" (that is, your response to fear-inducing situations).
How it works: By focusing your attention on something constructive, rather than on your fear, you're able to remain proactive, rather than simply reacting to the situation at hand.

"When something happens--say, your horse spooks--it triggers several automatic responses in the fearful rider," notes Peggy Macy Martin, a licensed clinical social worker who specializes in helping riders overcome fear and anxiety. "Your anxiety level rises, your pulse quickens, your breathing stops, your hands tighten on the reins, your body stiffens and may even hunch forward in a fetal crouch. By learning to trigger different responses instead, you reprogram yourself to remain confident and functional in situations you used to find frightening."

How to do it: The instant you feel something trigger your automatic fear responses, begin to substitute positive actions, recommends Peggy. "First, take a deep breath and grow tall in the saddle. Visualize the air sinking all the way down into your belly as you stretch your spine up.

"At the same time, direct your eyes on your riding goal--not down at your horse's head or neck. If you're riding a straight line, focus on an object directly ahead of you, to help you stay on track. If you're riding a bending line, look in the direction of your horse's movement," she says.

To help your brain accept these new responses (sitting up, looking ahead) in place of the old (clutching, holding your breath), try something innovative: Lift the toes of one foot, inside your boot, and set them back down, then do the same with your other foot, and continue this "silent toe tapping" in an alternating pattern until your anxiety passes.

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October 31, 2009 -- Today's biggest winners at the Syracuse Invitational Sporthorse Tournament were the North Run crew of Missy Clark, John Brennan and Kristy McCormack. They scored an incredible double, sending Zazou Hoffman out to win the ASPCA Maclay finals, and then, a few hours later, celebrating the victory of their stable rider, Darragh Kenny of Ireland, with their horse, Obelix in the $100,000 Budweiser World Cup Qualifier of Syracuse.

I don't recall any stable ever doing anything like this in the same day. It was pretty impressive and a testimony to the ability of these trainers.

But talk about a long day! The Maclay got under way with 150 riders at 6:30 a.m. at the War Memorial arena, which meant many of those involved got scant sleep, if any, while preparing for this.

I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the first round course, which was lovely to look at, rather than tricky--as I've seen a little too often in this class--had the aura of an old-fashioned hunter route, with rustic rails, hedges and tree stumps. This layout, happily, wasn't in the least bit contrived. I watched a bit of the competition with U.S. show jumping coach George Morris, who won the Maclay himself as a junior and trained many riders to the title in this class. And he's designed a few very testing Maclay courses as well.

George explained to me that the course enabled riders to demonstrate their ability without stepping out of their comfort zone, which explained the lack of the heartbreaking disasters I've often seen in the Maclay. Those who were up to it could make a tight turn or hand gallop along one of the long, unrelated distances.

"There are definitely places to show off. What competition is about at the end of the day is all about showing off; based on horsemanship showing off, not something stupid," he told me.

After the flat phase, Samantha Harrison of California was in the lead, followed by Zazou, who is also from California; Catherine Pasmore, Laura Pfieffer and Jennifer Waxman. The judges, Billy Moroney (president of the U.S. Hunter Jumper Association) and Jack Towell came up with an unusual second round. It's apparently been done elsewhere, but never in the Maclay in the eons that I have been covering it.

Look at the course map: It was a take-your-own-line route. Sally Ike, who oversees show jumping for the U.S. Equestrian Federation, had the unenviable task of keeping track of what each of the 24 finalists chose to do, making sure they took the required nine fences and included the required trot jump and hand-gallop. Putting in a whine for myself, it was really tough to take photos of this round, because I had no idea of who was going where, so I couldn't choose the best vantage bpoint; I just had to shoot what I got, trying to second-guess what competitors would do.

They could pick a line that would emphasize their strong points. Zazou, for instance, did a lot off the left lead, because that is the best direction of her mount, Ivy.

This round was very influential, and afterwards, Zazou moved up to first, followed by Chase Boggio, who was 10th following the flatwork, when his counter-canter got interrupted by a horse bumping his mount. Samantha dropped to fourth and dark horse Morgan Hale--who was impressive but had never won a ribbon in an equitation finals--moved into third place.

I was surprised the judges wanted one more test, but they did, asking the top four to ride a conventional course without stirrups. The test did not change the placings, and Zazou's consistency earned her the top spot.

Maclay winner Zazou Hoffman on Ivy

© 2009 by Nancy Jaffer

Zazou dissolved into tears when Chase's name was announced as the runner-up in the Miss America-style pinning of the class, from tenth to first. The tears took only a brief respite during the awards ceremony and post-class congratulations and interviews. Zazou, by the way, is named after old-time actress Zasu Pitts. I heard the story when I first met Zazou a couple of years ago at the George Morris Horsemastership program in Florida. At that time, I was told Zazou means "wild thing" in French, according to her mom, Winter, who picked out the name because of its resemblance to Zasu.

Two companies, Clone2, of Moscow, Idaho, and ViaGen, Inc., of Austin, Texas, now offer commercial equine cloning services.

Working with the University of Idaho team that cloned three mules in 2003, Clone2 charges a flat fee of $367,000 for a cloning attempt, plus royalties for resulting foals. To produce two or three clones, the scientists implant eggs with the desired DNA in about 100 mares.

"Based on our work with the mules, we had a foaling rate of about 2.65 percent," says Dirk Vanderwall, DVM, PhD, of the university's Northwest Equine Reproduction Laboratory. "But as we develop the technology, we expect the number [of clones produced] to increase."

Viagen, a company known primarily for cloning cattle and swine, is now offering horse clones in partnership with Encore Genetics, an equine marketing firm. According to ViaGen president Mark Walton, PhD, the company has already begun cloning several performance Quarter Horses.

ViaGen/Encore Genetics charges $150,000 for a single clone, and says Walton, "We will give it our best effort to deliver a foal. If we are not successful in the first attempt, we will make additional attempts."

This article originally appeared in the November 2005 issue of EQUUS magazine. Share your thoughts on cloning in the
EQUUS forum.

Grand Prize Winner:
Celia Simon