The Sunshine Tour informs everyone that the 27th edition of the Tour will end this Sunday, March 7. This decision was made as one of the horse has been showing neurological symptoms similar to EHV-1, despite giving a negative result for the virus. This horse is in isolation more than 2 km away from the main competition site and has been so since February 26.
The horse arrived at Dehesa Montenmedio directly from its home stables in Belgium and was fit, healthy with no symptoms. The horse participated in the competition for the first two weeks and on the first day of competition in the third week. On Friday, February 26, the personal vet notified the organising committee that one of their horses had a fever. The horse was immediately isolated by the organising committee of the Sunshine Tour. According to the regulations the FEI, (Fédération Equestre Internationale) were duly notified about the case. At first the symptoms that the horse was showing appeared to be those of piroplasmosis and the horse was given a blood test for piroplasmosis and a PCR for rhinoneumonitis, both results were negative. Over subsequent days both the competition vets and the FEI vets monitored the horse’s fever and condition twice a day. After a few days the fever had sink to a lower or even normal level.
On March, in the morning, the horse presented for the first time neurological symptoms. At 4.30 pm the Organising Committee of the Sunshine Tour met with the FEI, the RFHE and the Ministry of Agriculture decided to close the show down at the end of competition on Sunday, March 7.
The above organisations have carried out a complete risk analysis and have come to an agreement between them that to guarantee an ordered departure of the horses, the event will continue until March 7. We need to work together to minimise the spread of this virus and we greatly appreciate the cooperation and understanding demonstrated by all the riders, groom, owners, sponsors and other team members involved.
Source Sunshine Tour
