University of Guelph researchers are delving into equine contact patterns for the first time.
PhD candidate Rachael Milwid and investigators Amy Greer and Terri O’Sullivan are conducting a study to determine who comes into contact with whom in equine racing, as well as sport and competition, facilities.
“We know … where [the horses’] stalls are and which pasture they go to, but do they actually come in contact with all of the horses in the facility or all of the people, that kind of thing,” Milwid said.
“We want to see … are they consistent throughout other facilities and other facility types, so we can get an idea of what’s happening.”
The Equine Contact Study requires equine facilities to volunteer to participate.
For a week barn staff will wear a radio frequency identification (RFID) chip on a lanyard every time they are in the barn. Horses will have their RFID tracker attached securely to the nose band of their halter.
“These tags specifically have been used in hospital studies … they’ve also been used on kids, and then another brand has been used on animals before,” Milwid said.
“So these are 100 per cent safe.”
Each tracker will be attached to a specific person and horse, but they will remain anonymous when the data is collected.
“It sends out a little radio frequency at very frequent and regular intervals,” Greer said. “It’s constantly sending out this … frequency and listening to hear if it gets a signal back.”
When the chip hears a responding signal it identifies which tracker is close and for how long.
“It essentially takes a time stamp of who comes in contact with whom, how long they were in contact and then when that contact ends,” Greer explained.
The RFID tag isn’t monitoring personal information, just interactions throughout the barn. One of the main concerns the team hears is that barn workers are worried all of their activities are going to be closely tracked.
“We’re really not interested in any of that sort of thing,” Greer said. “They are anonymous … when we collect them back up they’re just a number.”
However, the researchers did say they identify whether the tag represents human or horse movement.
“If we get a horse going into a feed room we’ve got problems,” Milwid said.
The team also put RFID tags in frequently used areas around the barn, like the wash stall.
“Then we can identify who’s coming and going from different locations,” Greer explained, adding each trial will take just one week.
“We’re interested in contacts … which are direct face-to-face contacts within close proximity … because ultimately we’re interested in contacts which present a potential opportunity for disease transmission,” Greer said.
“We’re interested in identifying contact patterns that might create opportunities for disease spread or contact patterns which actually might prevent disease spread.”
Greer explained the idea is if certain horses never have contact with other horses at the facility, even through human contact, there is far less risk of spreading disease throughout the entire barn.
“It helps you … make more informed choices or have a better idea of what might work and what might be more challenging in terms of biosecurity,” Greer said.
The research project is Milwid’s PhD thesis and she will be collecting data this spring and summer.
She is unaware of any other studies of this type within the equine industry.
Individual results will be sent to each facility, but the identity of horses and humans will remain anonymous.
“Barn managers will be able to say … ‘it looks like all of our barns are essentially isolated units,’ which might be useful … should you then have a sick horse to be able to … inform your decision making,” Greer said.
“Our participants so far have been really enthusiastic and interested in participating in research … They want to see what their graph looks like.”
Greer said it’s important for researchers to build trust with the equine industry.
“It’s really having feedback that … there’s something useful that came out of it and we learned something new that’s potentially going to be able to contribute to improvements in horse health, in biosecurity planning, in all of those sorts of things,” she said.
To participate in the study visit www.mathepilab.org/equinecontact2017.
