The 2019 Colorado CDE and Vesicular Stomatitis
After careful consideration of the facts on VSV in Colorado, and in order to protect our competitors and their horses, the organizing committee of the Colorado CDE has reluctantly decided to postpone the 2019 Colorado CDE until 2020.
Vesicular stomatitis virus is a reality in the horse world, with outbreaks cycling through the US every 4-10 years. Colorado is being particularly hard hit this year, with the in-state impact continuing to worsen.
While VSV isn’t the most threatening disease a horse can face, it is uncomfortable and contagious, causing discomfort and loss of weight and condition, as well as the possibility of laminitis. The virus is spread by flies and other insects, and has a 2-8 day incubation period. This means that a horse could be infected and leave for home before showing symptoms, and therefore infect its home herd.
In addition to the physical impact on infected horses, we are concerned about the inconvenience of competitors' horses being quarantined in Colorado and possible difficulty in returning horses to their home states.
We want to safeguard your horses' health and soundness so they can join us next year for a bigger and better event with improved arenas, exciting new hazards, and marathon and cones routes by international course designer, Richard Nicoll.
We look forward to seeing you in 2020!
[Note: Competitors who have submitted their entries will receive a full refund.]
