Horserace Betting Levy Board

Pictures:  

Current Navigation Path: Home > Advancing Veterinary Science and Education


Current Document: Codes of Practice on Equine Diseases
Each year, the HBLB updates and publishes Codes of Practice on:

Venereally transmitted bacterial diseases caused by the contagious equine metritis organism CEMO, Klebsiella pneumoniae and Pseudomonas aeruginosa;

Equine viral arteritis (EVA)

Equine herpesvirus (EHV)

Equine coital exanthema (ECE)

Equine infectious anaemia (EIA)

Guidelines on strangles

Any of the above diseases can have serious consequences for horse and pony breeding. They can compromise welfare, disrupt breeding activity, cause economic loss to mare and stallion owners and are costly to deal with.


The Codes of Practice set out minimum recommendations for the prevention of these diseases and for their control, should they occur, during horse or pony breeding activities. The recommendations apply to all breeds of horse and pony, and to both natural mating and AI.

PDF Download: Codes of Practice for 2010

PDF Download: EIA-Only Codes 2010


Further information on how to collect equine genital swabs in stud practice for the prevention of venereal diseases, as recommended by the Codes of Practice, is available on the Rossdale & Partners website.


The Codes include breeding by AI (artificial insemination). UK studs are asked to ensure that a completed certificate is included with every dose of semen shipped from their premises, and mare owners / inseminating vets or licensed AI technicians are advised to check that any semen they receive is accompanied by a certificate. BEVA, BEF and HBLB have produced a certificate that identifies shipped semen as having been tested in accordance with the Codes of Practice.

PDF Download: Shipped Semen Certificate 2010


To support the Code of Practice on venereally transmitted bacterial diseases, the HBLB approves laboratories for the purposes of testing for the CEMO, K. pneumoniae and P. aeruginosa. The register of approved laboratories is published here:

PDF Download: Laboratories in the HBLB approval scheme, by geographical area

PDF Download: Laboratories in the HBLB approval scheme, by alphabetical order


Ireland and France also publish lists of approved laboratories. Although these laboratories are not within the HBLB laboratory approval scheme*, the lists are available here for ease of reference.

PDF Download:Laboratories approved (non-HBLB) in Ireland

PDF Download:Laboratories approved (non-HBLB) in France


*HBLB is not responsible for the content of lists of laboratories approved outside the HBLB approval scheme, such as those in Ireland and France.



Equine Grants Team
Horserace Betting Levy Board
Parnell House
25 Wilton Road
London
SW1V 1LW

Tel: 020 7802 3885
Fax: 020 7333 0041

E-mail: equine.grants@hblb.org.uk