United States Department of Agriculture • Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service • Safeguarding American Agriculture 

Veterinary Services 

Centers for Epidemiology and Animal Health June 2007 

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ 

Highlights of Equine 2005 

Baseline Reference of Equine 

Health Management Strategies at 

Equine Events in Six States 

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s National 

Animal Health Monitoring System’s (NAHMS) 

Equine 2005 Events Study focused on describing 

health-management factors at equine events that 

could impact the occurrence and potential spread 

of equine infectious diseases. Equine infectious 

diseases can result in lost use of animals and in 

some cases death. There are many potential 

control points for preventing or minimizing the 

impact of equine infectious-disease outbreaks, 

including precautions that reduce exposure to 

infectious agents, optimization of resistance 

through vaccination if exposure occurs, and early 

identification of outbreaks—all of which can limit the 

spread of disease. 

 When animals from multiple locations or sources 

are brought together for various events there is a 

possibility for the spread of infectious and 

contagious disease agents. Examples of events 

where equids congregate include sales or auctions, 

shows, horse trials, western events, fairs, rodeos, 

race meets, polo matches, organized trail rides, 

and training clinics. 

 A disease occurrence at an equine event could 

necessitate locating participating owners/trainers 

and their equids in order to communicate important 

disease-control information. The NAHMS Equine 

2005 Events Study looks at the type of information 

recorded by event coordinators/organizers 

regarding event participants and their equids and 

explores animal-health control strategies employed 

at the events. 

 For the Equine 2005 Events Study, NAHMS 

staff developed a list of equine events for the six 

participating States (California, Colorado, Florida, 

Kentucky, New York, and Texas). This list served 

as the sampling frame for the study. A statistically 

valid sample was selected such that inferences 

could be made to major equine events in the State. 

Events likely to have a small number of local 

equids—such as jackpot roping, local lessons, or 

shows—were excluded from the study. The study 

sample yielded 252 participating events 

representing the 3,227 events on the list. Start 

dates for these events occurred between January 1 

and December 31, 2005. Data collection took place 

from January 9, 2005, to April 25, 2006. 

Study Focus 

 

The Equine 2005 Events Study took an indepth 

look at: 

• Event characteristics—including event 

types, origin of participating equids, average 

duration of events, duration equids were on 

event premises, and number of equids at 

events. 

• Characteristics of equids—including age 

and types of equids. 

• Livestock present at events—i.e., types of 

other livestock. 

• Requirements for attending equids—

including health certificates, equine 

infectious anemia (EIA) tests, individual 

animal identification, and vaccination.

• Equine management during events—

including veterinarian hired or provided to 

monitor for illness or provide care, equine 

housing, insect control, security methods, 
United States Department of Agriculture • Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service • Safeguarding American Agriculture 

record keeping, destination of equids 

following events, and method of contacting 

participants after events. 

Study Estimates 

 

 For reporting purposes, events were defined by 

scope. For example, at events with a State scope 

all attending equids came from within State. 

Participating equids at events with a Regional 

scope came from within State and from outside 

State but not farther than adjoining States. For 

events with a National scope attending equids 

came from within State, from outside State, and 

potentially from outside the United States. 

 Here are few highlights from the Equine 2005 

Events Study: 

• The most common event type was 

show/trial (57.7 percent of events) followed 

by western event/fair/rodeo (21.9 percent of 

events). Race/polo events accounted for 6.1 

percent of all events. Event types in the 

“other” category accounted for 14.3 percent 

of all events and included trail ride, 

endurance ride, training clinic, sale, auction, 

and shooting event. Events in Colorado and 

Texas had a higher percentage of western 

event/rodeo/fair events compared to events 

in most of the other States. 

• For all events, an average of 151.0 equids 

were at the event on a typical day. The 

average number of equids at National 

events (240.9) on a typical day was higher 

than the average number of equids at 

Regional and State events (106.1 and 87.2, 

respectively). 

• Overall, 57.1 percent of events did not 

require a health certificate for equids 

attending the event, while 20.3 percent 

required a health certificate for all equids, 

and 22.4 percent required a health 

certificate only for equids from out of State. 

A higher percentage of events in Kentucky 

had some type of health requirement 

compared to the other States. 

• A higher percentage of National events 

(64.9 percent) had some health-certificate 

requirement compared to Regional and 

State events (35.1 and 24.9 percent, 

respectively). 

 

• A higher percentage of race/polo events 

(57.9 percent) required a health certificate 

for all equids compared to show/trial events 

(14.5 percent). 

• Overall, nearly two of three events (64.7 

percent) required an EIA (Coggins) test for 

attending equids. 

• EIA tests are often required for horses 

traveling interstate, and particularly for 

horses traveling between regions. Four of 

five National events (79.9 percent) required 

an EIA test for attending equids compared 

to State events (47.3 percent). 

• Overall, 14.3 percent of events had some 

vaccination requirement for attending 

equids. 

• A higher percentage of race/polo events 

(52.7 percent) required some type of 

vaccinations for attending equids compared 

to show/trial and western event/fair/rodeo 

events (11.8 and 6.5 percent, respectively). 

 Visit the NAHMS Web site at 

<http://nahms.aphis.usda.gov> for the complete 

Equine 2005 Events report as well as reports and 

information sheets on other NAHMS studies. 

 

___________________ 

For more information, contact: 

USDA:APHIS:VS:CEAH 

NRRC Building B, M.S. 2E7 

2150 Centre Avenue 

Fort Collins, CO 80526-8117 

970.494.7000 

E-mail: NAHMS@aphis.usda.gov 

<http://nahms.aphis.usda.gov> 

#N490.0607

___________________ 

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