4th case of highly contagious horse disease found in N.B. since May

A horse in the Fredericton area has been diagnosed with the highly contagious horse diseasestrangles. It's the fourth lab-confirmed case in New Brunswick since May.

Officials with the province's Department of Agriculture would not saywhere the horse is housed, citing privacy reasons.

Strangles has also been found in Nova Scotia and P.E.I.

Earlier this month, Saint John's Rockwood Park was closed to the public and wagon rides were cancelled due to the presence of the highly contagious disease. More than a dozen horses were put under quarantine as a precaution.

Strangles can cause excess mucus, cough and fever in horses as well as abscess swelling under the jaw and throat. The infection does not spread to people or other animals.

Extra precautions being taken

Meanwhile, at Sambea National horse show in Lawrencetown, N.S., on Saturdayextra precautions were being taken against strangles.

Sandra Conrad is a horse show steward at the show. She looks after horse welfare and takes care of horse safety.

She saidthe show is employing best practices to ensure containment and horse health including horse owners using their own water buckets so there is no cross contamination.

"The horses we have here are all coming out of clean barns so they're healthy. Most of the barn owners have vaccinated their horse. They come healthy," said Conrad.

"All the stalls were disinfected in advance. Horses that leave, we disinfect for the next oncoming. So there are a lot of good protocols in place."

Karen Gillighanwas at the show withher daughter Robyn who was showing her horse. She owns Todd Hill Farm inEnfieldwhere they have23 horses.

She saidthey have been taking precautions against strangles at their farm.

"We've put a bulletin out to ask [our students] to not bring any friends or family that have been in other stables," said Gillighan.

"We've also asked them to use different footwear and different clothing if they've been to another stable in the past week and disinfect. [We're] overcautious, like even if you're not sure, disinfect."