re. Washoe virus

[Lari Shea <larishea@www.horse-vacation.com>]

I sent three of my horses to the Washoe 100 (with friends riding....all in
the top ten, if I might brag for them!....I was leading a vacation ride in
Italy).  None of the horses became ill.  They are all immunized once yearly
against  rhinopnuemonitis (and influenza, strangles, E & W
encephalomyelitis, and tetanus). 

My friend Alan Mitchell took one horse to the race who got sick within two
days of return, and his other four horses subsequently became  ill.  Naprox
seemed to cure the first horse w/i 3 days.  The others were put on Penn G
according to their vet's recommendation, and took 1-2 weeks to mend.  Two of
them were nearly asymptomatic except for very elevated temperatures.  Two
also had extremely swollen glands, couldn't put their heads down to eat or
drink, lots of snot, needed fluids IV and feed/water containers hung at head
height. His horses are all immunized against tetanus, E & W
encephalomyelitis and influenza, but not against rhino or strangles.

Have any horses been cultured to see what's causing the problem?  I'm a firm
believer in immunization, although I realize that a particularly virulent
variety of a some bugs can still cause disease, 'specially in a stressed
animal. 

My friends Shirley and Jim Scott always haul all their own water to
endurance races for use at base camp and at vet checks Jim can reach.
Might be a good idea in N. Nevada and CA for a while

Lari


Lari Shea                          	       http://www.horse-vacation.com
Ricochet Ridge Ranch	       Riding Vacations on the Mendocino Coast with	
24201 North Highway One	       Lodging at Unique B&B Inns; International Riding.
Fort Bragg, CA 95437	       Akhal Teke and Russian Orlov/cross horses
707-964-7669ph/ 707-964-9669 fax   At stud: RRR Stolichnaya & RRR Russia