IN THE NEWS: EHV-1 Outbreak

I have been purposefully holding back on posting about the recent EHV-1 outbreak, but as more and more cases are reported and events begin to be canceled as a preventive measure, I figured it was time to post about it. That said, please read this post with the following disclaimer in mind:

DISCLAIMER: While the blogger's name may be "Yvette" (which, depending on how you pronounce it, may sound vaguely like 'a vet'), she has absolutely no training in veterinarian medicine. If you have additional questions or want more information about the EHV-1 outbreak and whether your horses are at risk, please consult your veterinarian and/or your State Department of Agriculture or local Agriculture Extensions.

As a scientist (but as stated above, one with no veterinary training!), I will admit to geeking out a bit over outbreaks, whether they be in birds, humans, or horses. It reminds me that no matter how awesome humans are with their big ol' brains, these little microbes with a genome the fraction of the size of ours will find a way to kick our butts. But as a horse owner who absolutely LOVES to compete, these outbreaks make me a bit frantic. Is my horse at risk? Does he have the right vaccines? Is that eye booger just an eye booger, or is it the beginning of the Apocalypse?

Eventually, the calm, cool, collected scientist portion of my personality takes over (I'll admit, it takes a while, and those of you who know me know I am a bit of a drama queen - it's part of my charm, really!) Once I get into Dr. Seger-mode, I can pretty much solve any problem in 4 steps:

1. Identification




2. Monitoring




3. Responding
   



4. Communication
   

Step 1 can also be referred to as "know thy enemy". What is EHV-1? EHV-1 is a highly contagious virus that can manifest itself in multiple ways - rhinopneumonitis, abortion of foals by broodmares, and myeloencephalopathy (a fancy word for "neurological complications"). Signs of EHV-1 may include fever, ataxia (we love fancy words - this one means being incoordinated when trying to move), weakness/paralysis in the hindquarters, and incontinence (dribbling/uncontrolled urination).

Step 2 for many of us will be "business as usual," (keeping a general eye on how your horse is behaving and looking for any of the above signs of illness), but in areas affected by the outbreak, your monitoring will be a bit more intense, such as taking temperatures twice a day and restricting movement of horses between facilities.

Step 3 is not just "responding," but "responding quickly"! If you suspect that your horse may be affected, call your vet and isolate the horse and any items used on the horse. EHV-1 is spread via aerosol transmission, hence why it is spreading so quickly. Ignoring the signs will only make things worse for the affected horse and any other unsuspecting horses on the farm.

Step 4 is Communication. A lot of the "high level" reporting will be done by your veterinarian, but you have a responsibility as a horse owner to communicate with other owners at your barn as well as neighboring stables about any health situations your horse might have or encountered. Being open about a potential exposure of your horse to a highly contagious disease such as EHV-1 shows that you're a responsible horse owner and can help other owners plan for monitoring their own horses.

We are in the very earliest stages of this outbreak and defining the extent of infection; the best thing you can do is stay informed and aware, and luckily the internet allows agriculture officials to communicate information more rapidly than ever. Being aware of the issue and staying informed (the other side of step 4, communicate!) rather than hiding in a batcave and pretending there is not a problem is the best way for us to stop this outbreak in its tracks.

I know a lot of you have expressed concerns about how this may affect Festival, and I just want to reassure you that the National Office is monitoring the situation very closely. While we all want you to be able to come and enjoy the awesomeness that is Festival, we also need to make sure that all the horses arrive and leave the Kentucky Horse Park in the best of health!

58 days until FESTIVAL!!

It's Rainin' Rallies!

First of all, my apologies for the lack of blogging over the past week...while many of you were probably feeling overwhelmed with final exams or papers at school, I was feeling overwhelmed by things that needed to get done at the office. Because of this, The Daily Sheet had to sit on the back-burner for a little bit - sorry about that!

(Grady helps me field client calls at the office...)

This past weekend marked the official start to the mounted rally season here in the Capital Region with TETRATHLON! Unfortunately, I had a scheduling conflict that kept me from helping with Horse Management, but that didn't mean I didn't have stuff to do for the rally! As the Horse Management Organizer (HMO) for the Capital Region, I am responsible for making sure that each rally has all of the required HM paperwork available and ready to go...so all those forms that we use when we're judging? Yeah, I photocopy those! The Capital Region also maintains an HM Rally Box that contains those random things like pens, pencils, a stapler, clipboards, and wet wipes that help the HM judges do what they need to do during the rally. Grady the Gnome was a BIG help in getting our HM paperwork ready this year - he guarded the photocopier so that no one would steal my C3/B/HA/A Turnout Inspection sheets as they were printed! You know those are a HOT commodity!

(Grady the Gnome helped organize all of Capital Region's HM paperwork - We LOVE file folders!)

One of the other things I do as the HMO, and probably one of the hardest parts of the job is making sure every rally has enough Assistant HM judges. First of all, it is really, really, REALLY important for me to have judges who believe in what HM is trying to teach you. To competitors, it may seem like HM is all about smudges of dirt on your tack or a single flake of dandruff in your horse's tail, but it is MUCH bigger than that - it's horsemanship skills and life skills! I equate the Turnout Inspection with a job interview - you want to make the best impression possible as well as be on time. The Required Equipment check shows us a little bit about how you guys work as a team - there is a lot of stuff on that list, so it's a big deal for your team to keep it organized and have everyone know where to locate things. The Inquiry Process teaches you how to respectfully disagree with an assessment and support your argument with rules...These are all things that I use every day in my job that in no way involves a whinnying quadruped! I also appreciate how one bad attitude (be it from a competitor, parent, or rally volunteer) can really make for a negative rally experience, so I spend a lot of time finding the right people to help make our rallies fun opportunities to learn.

One of the most important things the HMO does is collect all of your HM Evaluations from every rally and send it to the USPC National Horse Management Committee. The question I am always asked is, "does anyone even bother to read those evaluations?" Yes, they are read. How do I know? Because I am one of the people who reviews them! In fact, I have quite an impressive stack of HM evaluations from around the country from the 2010 rally season sitting in the middle of my apartment! I love reading the positive evals and all about the judges you really like having at your rallies, but it is also important for me and the rest of the HM Committee to hear about your "bad" experiences, too. Thi feedback helps us focus judge training on what you - the competitors, the people being judged - think are our weak points! And at the end of every year, the HM Committee takes all of these comments and makes "Report Cards" for each of our Chief HM Judges so that they have an idea about what they did really well during the rally season, as well as those things that they might want to work on for the future. I look at it this way - Competitors and Judges are constantly learning from eachother. I've never NOT learned something new at a rally, and at this point, I've been to a lot of rallies in my life!!! That's A LOT of learning!!

So make sure you take the time to fill out your evaluations at every rally and hand them in! Grady and I look forward to reading about your rally experiences!

(Grady wants to remind you that a rulebook is only considered "Current & Complete" when you have the current year's Newsletter and the Rulebook with any Addenda! He checked all of my rulebooks at least twice!!!)

Happy Rallying and...pssst...61 days 'til Festival!!!!

Check Yo' Head!

One really awesome thing that I noticed at Rolex was the prevalence of safety helmets rather than top hats entering the dressage arena on Thursday and Friday. Last year, only 3 riders wore their safety helmets in the first phase, but this year, I will take a chance and say that it was at least 50:50. I was really happy when Kelly said that she was opting to go with her helmet. She said that she never feels quite comfortable with the top hat, and to be honest, everyone who wore their helmets looked just as spiffy as those wearing top hats!


Pony Club has always been viewed as a leader in adopting safety gear. ASTM-SEI approved helmets were rolled out very early in my Pony Club career, and it amazes me how far helmet design and fit have come in comparison to the "mushroom heads" we were wearing in the 1990s. In fact, the sheer hugeness of the original ASTM-SEI helmets was how you could pick out a Pony Club member at a local hunter-jumper show! But, lemme tell ya - I was actually thankful that my parents were so obstinate and cheap to not let me keep a "cute" hunter helmet (you know, the ones with the clear harness) in addition to my "Pony Club" helmet on a fateful September day in 1991 when a pony I was catch-riding decided to smash through the show ring fence, leaving me in a discombobulated pile on the ground. Final verdict - broken left hip, very sore (but not broken!) left elbow, shattered helmet, but no concussion. I'm convinced that that mushroom helmet saved my life.

<--Me posing in my "Mushroom Head" Helmet at my first recognized horse trial with Smokey at the Kentucky Horse Park, 1990. A year later, that same helmet saved my life!


I don't want Pony Club members to have to suffer through an accident like mine to fully appreciate the importance of their helmets, so I am very open about sharing my story and fully support initiatives such as riders4helmets. And the USPC Safety Committee is hard at work gathering information about new items on the market to assess whether or not they should be things that we consider adding to our current list of required safety apparel (right now, you have 3 mandatory items - your footwear, medical armbands, and helmets). And having gone through a rulebook writing process (you know, your favorite, the 2010 Horse Management Handbook and Rules for Competition), we do try to keep the rules down to those that are rooted in safety for you and your horse rather than random acts of obsessive-compulsive behavior...really, we do!

One thing that I would like to stress, however, is that safety equipment is only as good as it fits. Helmets are not items of apparel that you can "grow into." Helmets may also need to be replaced after a significant fall - think of bubble wrap - would you pop all the bubbles and then use it to wrap a crystal vase? It just doesn't work! And if your helmet bounces around on your head rather than sitting firmly in place, how on earth do you expect it to help protect your noggin during a fall?

So please humor me and take the time to evaluate the condition and fit of your helmets before you get to rally. The HM Committee has a couple of great resources to help you out - Appendix G of the 2010 Horse Management Handbook and Rules for Competition - pages 100-102, and videos on fit of helmets and cross country vests. And do seek out assistance when shopping for these items at the tack store - what may look or feel "right" to you may just not work in terms of protecting you during a fall.

Walk the Rolex CCI**** Cross Country Course with Grady the Gnome!

I am slowly but surely getting caught up with my life post-Rolex. It seems a bit odd to be back in my suits and heels after 5 days of jeans, Wellies, and pigtails, but it's also nice in a way...luckily, no one has made me jog for soundness!

Anyway, I wanted to post the link to my pictures from Grady's walk of the Rolex CCI**** cross country course! Hopefully you will enjoy the photos as much as I enjoyed taking them!

Rolex CCI**** Cross Country Course Walk with Grady the Gnome!

I hope to wind up my Rolex "coverage" over the weekend, so if you have any questions, feel free to ask them in the comments section or email me!

76 days until Festival 2011!!!

Vote for USPC in the Chase Community Giving Contest!

I know a lot of you are on Facebook, so while you are procrastinating by commenting on your friends' statuses and FB chatting, why don't you take a minute to vote for USPC in the Chase Community Giving contest? There is $25,000 at stake, money that could help USPC continue improving its programs for YOU!

Here's the link:

http://bit.ly/fAjy7N

Be sure to vote TODAY, as it is the last day of the contest! Grady and I voted, so you should too!

...psssst! 78 days until FESTIVAL!!!

Grooms and Gnomes Just Wanna Have Fun!

My co-workers are great, but they are absolutely clueless about my secret horsey life. When I got back to the office on Monday, they were like, "did you have fun on your vacation?" Well...I wouldn't say grooming at Rolex is a vacation, but it was a pretty awesome experience, especially since Michele and I revert back to our 15 year old selves whenever we get together, much to Kelly's chagrin! So while we worked our butts off for most of the Rolex weekend, Team Hollywood DID find some entertainment out on the Land Rover Obstacle Course. We took our first drive with "Tim the Land Rover Man" on Friday afternoon with Michele in the driver's seat, and then Grady the Gnome and I took the LR4 for a spin on Sunday after Show Jumping. Check out our videos!

Michele versus the Land Rover Course!

Yvette and Grady conquer the Land Rover Course!

Grady, Jen, and Michele pose with Tim the Land Rover Man

Tim the Land Rover Man autographing our Land Rover hats!

Catching Up: Show Jumping Day at Rolex

Sorry for the sparse blogging Saturday and Sunday...Team Hollywood was pretty busy making sure Kelly and the old guy were in tip-top shape to complete their 4th consecutive Rolex CCI****! I'll post some recaps over the next few days...

Saturday...it was pretty clear that the cross-country course was a true four-star test, and it did take its toll on a lot of horses. The weather was beautiful, but the sun was very bright, making it a bit more difficult to get a "hot" Thoroughbred like Reggie cooled down at first. Reggie didn't help matters any by being rambunctious while we tried to work on him, though! He came back with a few scrapes, but generally looked good. His temp was 104 and dropped to about 100.5 in 30 minutes, and the vets were impressed with his heart rate and respiratory recovery. Since Rolex is run under FEI rules, we have to be very careful with what we use or give a horse. None of this, "oh, just give him a gram of bute" stuff. No. It's all about ice, cold hosing, more ice, liniment, and poultice. Cross country day is not only a test of the horse's fearlessness and fitness, but also that of the grooms! Bring. It. On!

We had 3 people as our core vet box team - me, Michele, and Jen. Michele dealt with holding Reggie while Jen and I (and others, as needed) just kept applying cold water and ice to get his temp down. Reggie was definitely acting like an insolent child at times - he absolutely loves cross country, and I think he would have gone back out for more! Once we were cleared by the vets in the vet box, we went back to the stable area where our real work began - rotating iceboots for approximately 2 hours, cold hosing of scrapes, icing of both front legs in a muck tub of ice water, and then running 4 liters of fluids to help rehydrate (Reggie has a nasty habit of not wanting to drink much after intense exercise.) There was also a lot of walking involved to help keep everything loose and assess how much we still needed to do. We poulticed all four legs and packed the front hooves last, and did all we could to keep the old guy comfortable overnight. Barns closed at 11 pm on Saturday, and Team Hollywood left at 10:45 to get a few hours of sleep before barns opened at 5:30 am on Sunday.

I woke up at 4:30 am on Sunday, only to discover that there was...yup...another thunderstorm! Ugh! I was already soaking wet by the time I got from my car parked up by the Pony Club office to the stables. Hooray! I fed, and then Michele, Jen and I started the process of getting Reggie ready for the 8:30 am jog...translation: Hand walking Reggie in the thunderstorm. We did another round of cold hosing and standing him in the ice water while we got him braided and cleaned up for the jog. I was the lucky one who got to braid his forelock, and this time I added a purple satin bow for luck. Kelly let me leave it in until right before the jog. Such a party pooper.

Kelly got on Reggie for a quick hack at 8 am and returned around 8:20 so that we could get him ready for the jog. Again, this meant a lot of walking. And practice jogs. And more walking. My legs felt like they were going to fall off (I went medication-free in a show of solidarity with ol' Reggie, but I think he's got a better coping mechanism...). And yet no matter how much pain I was in, I managed to keep going. When Kelly was on deck for the jog, I handed Reggie over to her and felt like I was going to puke. Mainly because I am a horrible runner and the practice jogs for the previous 5 minutes were killing my legs, but also because I was just nervous about the jog. During the first horse inspection on Wed., Reggie had been held for reinspection because of a slight stiffness in his left foreleg. Michele, Jen and I huddled together, wondering if we had done enough to get one of the two 19 year old horses in the field through to the last phase...

Kelly and Reggie trotted away and down the lane...sounded good. Reggie tried to eat the flowers in the box at the end of the jog lane and started off crooked coming back...the Ground Jury huddled together. We saw some nodding of heads but no definite "pass." OMG. I'm about to puke. And then the announcer said the two most magical words ever:

"Hollywood Accepted."

I'll admit it--there were some tears of relief. Yeah, I'm a pansey like that. Reggie was by no means in a position to win Rolex on Sunday morning, but that's not really the point. Completing a CCI****, let alone four in a row, is a kind of big deal, and at least Michele, Jen, and I had given Reggie and Kelly that opportunity with all of our hard work. Reggie and Kelly rewarded us with a pretty sweet show jumping round with one bum rail, but a lot of swagger. Hey, what would you expect from a horse named Hollywood?

79 Days until Festival 2011...

Reggie and Kelly pose with Grady after the Second Horse Inspection

Pony Club SJ course walk CANCELED!!!

Pony Clubbers--I know you were probably looking forward to your exclusive Rolex SJ course walk, but the weather is NOT cooperating! DO don your ponchos and watch the jog, if you want to see why we make you do it at rallies!!!



Grady the Gnome helps put the finishing touches on Hollywood before the 2nd Horse Inspection.

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Location:Newtown Pike,Lexington,United States