Horse virus threat over, but Utah stigma and fear continue

SYRACUSE — Wagon has been with Merl Thurgood for 22 years. He is Thurgood's best buddy, his star performer, his pride and joy.

But Thurgood wouldn't hesitate to kill him.

"I'd feel bad, but it's what you do if they're suffering," he said.

Owners of two Utah horses had to make that choice this spring after the animals became deathly ill. Both likely had a form of the equine herpes virus, although only one of them was a confirmed case, according to state veterinarian Dr. Bruce King.

"The other had all the typical signs," King said.

Since the outbreak in Utah this May after a cutting horse championship in Ogden, a dozen horses across the nation and in Canada have had to be euthanized. There were eight cases confirmed in Utah and more than 30 in both countries.

Extremely contagious but not transmitted to humans, equine herpes is a virus that occurs in all horses. A new strain attacks the horse's central nervous system, causing fever, lethargy and problems with balance. Often, the animal will lean against a fence or barn for support or even sit down like a dog.

King believes the strain can be fostered through a combination of stress, poor diet, or a weakened immune system.

"If you think about it, it's a terrible, terrible virus," King said. "But there are a lot worse diseases that could have killed a lot more horses."

The outbreak led to the voluntary cancellation of hundreds of equine-related events both in the United States and in Canada as medical professionals and horse owners worked to stop the spread of the virus.

This year's All Horse Parade slated for Sandy was one such casualty. Thurgood, the chairman for that event, didn't want to cancel the show. He says he understands, even if he doesn't agree, that some horse owners remain skittish over possibly exposing their animals.

"People were scared, afraid to bring their horses," he said.

An estimated 400 horses were scheduled to participate in the annual event and even though it looks like the outbreak is now over, Thurgood said there's simply not enough time to scramble and get it organized.

"It just takes time, like it or not."

This week, King issued a statement that no new horses have come down with the virus since the end of May. Three of the facilities with self-imposed quarantines have since returned to normal operations, and the four remaining places are likely to be released from any quarantine by the end of June.

The paranoia, unlike the virus, continues to linger to an extent.

"I would estimate that 90 percent of the investigations we did, through the state Department of Agriculture, were based on rumors," King said.

The horse industry in Utah is a multibillion-dollar one, although no one has the exact figure. Nationally, the equine industry infuses the economy with $39 billion annually, and those figures are more than 5 years old.

In Utah, there are more than 250,000 domestic horses. Some are shown professionally or compete in events like cutting, roping or queening contests. Others are workhorses on cattle ranches or simple pleasure horses for families.

"There are more horses in Utah today than what I'd call the pioneer times," King said. "There's good, clean recreation done on the back of a horse, on a trail in the mountains or in an arena."

King and Thurgood are urging horse owners out there to get on with their events, but it's been difficult to counter some of the fears out there.

For his part, King had his big bay horse entered in an American Quarter Horse show earlier this month at Davis County's Legacy Arena in Farmington.

Rooster's Genuine wowed the judges.

"He took second in reining and second in working cow horse," King said. "It is just about as well as he's done."

King says the virus will always be around and horse owners simply need to exercise good stewardship, good biosecurity practices for their animal.

Don't share tack. Don't let your horse share a water bucket with another. Don't let a fan pet all the horses down the line and then pet yours.

"My horse goes to a show almost every week, but he stays pretty much isolated," King said.

The Ogden equestrian center where the outbreak originated is still trying to recover from the stigma, even though King said the facility had nothing to do with it.

"The sad thing is, I feel bad for them because there are people who feel like they'll never take their horse to that arena. It is not a facility disease, the horse that had the virus went there with the virus. It's cleaner than most the others."

Ogden, in general, is taking a bad rap among some in the equine world.

Shamus Haws, owner of Running U Livestock in Erda, Tooele County, is one of the largest quarter horse breeders in Utah. He said he fielded a phone call from a California woman and after hearing what she was looking for, he started talking up some horses in Ogden.

"She said she didn't want one of those. It took me a minute to understand what she meant, but she meant she was scared of the virus," Haws said. "Horses in Tooele County an hour away would be fine, but horses in Ogden were not."

Haws and others like Betty Mayer with the Intermountain Reining Horse Association believe social media fanned the furor of fear and hysteria over the virus.

"I think it was a necessary evil to make people aware of it and concerned," Haws said, "but it went overboard, and I think we can credit Facebook and other social media. It went worldwide."

Mayer is one of the organizers of a four-day reining horse competition that is wrapping up Sunday in Farmington.

"People in general at our event feel like the danger has passed," Mayer said. "For this show, we did not have anyone question if we were going to have it or not."

Early on, however, the scenario was much different, Mayer said.

"It was mass panic that got out of hand," she said. "It was just an unfortunate thing to happen. The rumor mill and social networks really added to the problem. My phone just rang off the hook."

Mayer, like others, did her best to allay owners' fears.

"If your horse was not exposed to one of those horses at the event, your horse was not going to get that virus," Mayer said. "It is not an airborne disease. It really went a little haywire."

Dave Hansen, director of Davis County's Legacy Arena, voluntarily canceled a few shows in the early week of the outbreak, but is back on track like much of the rest of the state.

He said the economic impacts go beyond what most people would imagine. Aside from hotel stays and restaurant visits, equine events stimulate local jobs and livelihoods.

"When the event is canceled, we did not end up buying food from US Foods, Coke from Coca-Cola and our part-time workers were taken off the work schedule," Hansen said. "The guy that delivers our wood shavings, we didn't buy from. It just ripples out."

Thurgood, between bringing in the hay and playing with Wagon and the rest of his equine family, will start planning next year's All Horse Parade, which promises to be spectacular.

In the meantime, he's urging people to be vigilant with their animals, but not paranoid.

"Just take care of your horse. If it gets sick, get it to the vet. Otherwise, get out and go to work on them. Get them back where they belong, not in your backyard."

Email:aodonoghue@ksl.com

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