Florida Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services (FDACS) officials have lifted quarantine on a Wellington farm housing a horse that had previously shared Horse Shows in the Sun (HITS) show stabling in Ocala with an animal testing positive for equine herpesvirus-1 (EHV-1).

In a March 9 release, FDACS reported that the horse, residing at POD-F Farm, in nearby Wellington, had never tested positive or developed clinical signs of the disease. The horse, which had been housed in Tent 7 at the HITS facility, “completed testing (negative test results) and was released from quarantine 21 days after last date of exposure,” officials noted in the release. 

Animal health officials first were alerted of the EHV-1 outbreak when a previous resident of Tent 7 was diagnosed with wild-type EHV-1 on Feb. 21 at the University of Florida’s College of Veterinary Medicine, prompting a quarantine of the tent. The horse, which exhibited neurologic signs associated with EHV-1 infection, remains at the university and is in stable condition, said the March 9 release. 

Veterinary monitoring and tracing of exposed horses that had left the show grounds revealed five more horses positive for EHV-1, housed in Tents 3 and 6, which are adjacent to Tent 7 at the HITS facility. “One horse is under quarantine at Redfield Farm in Ocala,” noted the March 9 release. “Four horses were placed under quarantine at Miles Away Farm in Loxahatchee. One of these four horses developed neurological signs and was transported to the University of Florida