Six horses at the Jester Park Equestrian Center in Granger have been quarantined since January due to an outbreak of an infectious equine condition called strangles.
A group of horse enthusiasts raised concerns about the center’s health and safety standards to Polk County Conservation board members last week and plan to address the Polk County Board of Supervisors meeting today.
New managers began overseeing the facility in August.
Des Moines resident Jerri Scott said Friday through a statement that “practices instituted by new management, a rapid influx of new stock, and communication voids have contributed to re-occurring contagious illness among the horses and other stressful events affecting all constituent groups — boarders, students, parents and caregivers, staff and various program volunteers.”
Scott, who volunteers with a therapeutic riding program, said her group was hopeful it could resolve their concerns and improve safety standards that “true horse enthusiasts demand.”
On Monday, veterinarian Shirley Harder, who has treated some of the Jester Park horses, said “there’s too many horses on that property.”
Iowa State University veterinary officials visited the site and gave officials a report that listed several suggested improvements. The report states a group of 20 horses were brought to the site in December and kept in nose-to-nose contact. That may have led to the disease spreading.
The facility has about 10 more horses this spring than it did a year ago, Polk County Conservation Director Dennis Parker said.
“I really do not understand what the plan was when they started accumulating all these animals,” said Harder, who is listed as the referring physician on the report completed by ISU clinician Beatrice Sponseller.
Sponseller made recommendations calling for stricter oversight of barn cleaning and new procedures for monitoring the presence of strangles.
“No horses can leave or enter the premises during an active outbreak of strangles. Exception: Horses that are moved to premises with no other horses or horses that require referral to a clinic for health reasons,” according to the report, which has a visit date of March 10.
In her visit report, Sponseller also listed long-term management recommendations. “We were concerned during our visit about the large number of horses on the premises, and the limited options of turnout area for those animals. This crowding makes it very difficult to separate sick, exposed and unexposed animals. We feel that either the number of animals on the farm should be decreased, or facilities should be expanded,” according to the report.
The report stated that standard operating procedures need to be formulated and consistently followed by barn management, horse owners, instructors, horse handlers and visitors to the facility. Attempts to reach Sponseller by phone and email were unsuccessful Monday.
Polk County Supervisor Robert Brownell said supervisors are familiar with concerns about the equestrian center. He said quarantines usually last a few weeks.
“A big effect is if you want to take your horse out of boarding and go show it, you can’t do it,” Brownell said.
The ISU report shows officials handled the outbreak appropriately, Parker said. Conservation officials are re-evaluating plans to increase the stock of horses and plan to add space in the future, he said.
Additionally, Parker noted that in 2009 there were 30 cases of strangles, which shows officials are doing a relatively good job of handling this outbreak. Other Iowa barns deal with similar issues, he said.
New managers are well qualified, Parker said, citing one recently hired employee who has about 15 years of experience operating therapy and at-risk programs.
“What’s happened is you have a much more professional staff on board and there’s resistance coming from the seasonals and the volunteers because there’s new management in town,” Parker said.