Due to an outbreak of Equine Herpesvirus Type 1 in the country, the Boundary County Fairgrounds is prohibiting horses from the property until further notice. There are currently no cases of EHV-1 in Idaho. 

The prohibition was announced Monday, Nov. 24 by fairgrounds staff. 

Jaycee Atkins, manager of the Boundary County Fairgrounds, said that this time of year is the dead season for the fairgrounds, which will minimize the impact. 

“It's really not going to affect us, aside from the fact that we do allow for open riding down here in the arena,” Atkins said. "Sometimes we also get folks who are traveling through our facilities or through our town to stop and they sometimes will board their animals here as well.”  

The decision is based on a recommendation from the Idaho State Department of Agriculture to stop all equine movement to protect Idaho horses. According to the department, EHV-1 can cause respiratory disease, abortions in pregnant mares and in severe cases, neurological disease in horses. 

ISDA says the disease spreads quickly and efficiently. Horses can transmit EHV-1 through nose-to-nose contact, coughing and sneezing, or shared use of grooming tools, water, feed buckets and other items. 

There will be no horse boarding, open arena riding, overnight stays of horses, pasturing of horses or any reason for horses to be at the fairgrounds during this time.

Atkins said that the impact would be much different if this occurred in the summer. 

“In July, it would be a whole different situation, because we offer so much during the summertime, whether it be 4-H or the fair or anything like that,” Atkins said. “That would have been totally different.”  

If any horses that visited the fairgrounds were to contract EHV-1, contacting other horse owners who may have been exposed would be difficult. 

“We don't monitor the people who are out in our arena riding,” Atkins said. “They just show up and they do their own riding. We wouldn't know who all had been here. We just don't have a way to track that.” 

Atkins advised horse owners to take precautions. 

“The only thing that we can really urge people to do is, keep your horses safe and don't be out in a public area, like an arena,” Atkins said. 

The fairgrounds said that they will monitor updates from ISDA and the State Veterinarian and will lift or revise this restriction when it is deemed safe to do so. They will also provide updates via their website, social media and email.