STRANGLES - Redwings

Part Six
AFTER RECOVERY…
It is important to disinfect any area and equipment that
any Strangles cases – and the people caring for them
– came into contact with. This includes the quarantine
area, and the area the horse was in when it first
started displaying symptoms.
Stable area/quarantine area
All walls, floors, and underneath any rubber matting,
must be thoroughly disinfected. This can be done
with a long-handled soft brush (such as a kitchen
broom) dipped into a bucket of diluted disinfectant.
All equipment – including feed buckets, hay nets,
rugs, wheelbarrows etc – must be disinfected too.
Horsebox/trailer
You will need to disinfect anything that potential
Strangles cases have used. You must clean the cab, as
well as foot pedals and steering wheel (as the driver may
have transferred bacteria) and the wheels. Any muck and
leftover forage must be disposed of in the correct way.
Field/turnout area
If Strangles cases were turned out, the whole area
will also be contaminated and will need to be cleaned
down. Use disinfectant in a knapsack sprayer. The
fencing, shelter and anything else they came into
contact with in the field (such as hay rings and water
troughs) will need to be cleaned down. All bedding in
field shelters will need to be removed and disposed of
separately to your normal muck. Clean the water tank
by adding disinfectant to the water before tipping out
onto the ground. The tank will need to be scrubbed with
disinfectant.
The grazing may also harbour bacteria. It is impossible
to spray a field with disinfectant, so you will need to wait
until it has been exposed to a long period of sunshine or
frost before allowing horses on there.
Recovered Strangles sufferers can
go on to lead happy lives!
Redwings guide to Strangles. Page 14