Three Stallions Infected with Equine Herpes Virus at State Stud Celle

Breeding

Hanoverian

The Lower Saxonian state stud in Celle announced today that three of its breeding stallions tested positive to the equine herpes virus.

Brixton, Vidar and Bloomingdale tested positive and are no longer available for breeding at the moment.

"These stallions had a slight fever one after the other in the last two weeks and were otherwise in very good general condition," Celle communicated. "Because the Celle State Stud has its stallions vaccinated against the herpes virus for several years, there was no reason to suspect a corresponding infection. On Tuesday, however, Brixton showed neurological failures, so we immediately tested him and his stable neighbours to dispel any remaining doubts. On Tuesday evening, contrary to all assumptions, the Celle State Stud was informed of the positive results of Brixton, Bloomingdale and Vidar, so that we started testing for the herpes virus for all stallions without delay. Luckily all other stallions in our yard had negative results."

Celle has been measuring all horses for fever twice a day now and hygiene management has also been significantly tightened.

"In order to prevent further spread, none of our stallions will leave the stallion testing facility in Adelheidsdorf by the end of July. The clinically healthy stallions Bloomingdale and Vidar, but blood and nose swab positive, are no longer available for breeding," Celle added.