13/10/2026
🐴🦠 KEEPING OUR HORSES & PONIES SAFE – A FRIENDLY REMINDER! ❤️
With contagious equine diseases always a concern, we wanted to share a little reminder about biosecurity and how everyone who visits our yard can help keep our four-legged friends safe and healthy. 🐴❤️
Whether you’re a riding school client, parent, visitor, livery owner or regularly attend competitions and other yards, there are a few simple things we can all do to reduce the risk of spreading infections.
🐴 A FEW THINGS TO REMEMBER…
✅ Avoid touching horses at other yards or competitions.
We know how tempting it is to give every horse a fuss, especially for our younger riders! However, infections can be carried on our hands, clothing and footwear without us even realising.
✅ Please don’t share equipment.
If you’re out competing or attending clinics, avoid sharing water buckets, haynets, grooming equipment, tack or anything else that comes into contact with horses.
✅ Think about where you’ve been before visiting us.
If you’ve been to another riding school, livery yard, competition or around unfamiliar horses, please make sure your hands are washed and your boots and clothing are clean before coming to Nest Farm.
Ideally, use separate footwear and clean clothing when visiting different yards.
✅ Parents, children and spectators – this includes you too!
You don’t have to own a horse to potentially carry an infection between yards. Even something as innocent as stroking a pony while watching a competition could pose a risk if you then visit another yard.
✅ Avoid unnecessary contact between horses.
For those attending competitions, clinics or outings with their own horses, please avoid nose-to-nose contact with unfamiliar horses.
✅ Be aware of illness.
If you’ve visited a yard where horses are showing signs of illness, or where an infectious disease is suspected or confirmed, please let us know before attending Nest Farm.
❤️ WHY ARE WE ASKING?
As a busy riding school and livery yard, we have lots of lovely people coming and going every day.
Our riding school ponies work hard looking after riders of all ages and abilities, and we also have our liveries and other horses living here.
We have a responsibility to protect every single one of them.
Unfortunately, contagious diseases such as strangles and equine influenza can spread between horses, and some infections can also be carried indirectly on people and equipment.
You don’t have to own a horse, or even ride one, to accidentally bring an infection onto a yard.
We’re certainly not asking anyone to stop enjoying competitions, visiting other yards or spending time around horses. We simply want everyone to be mindful of the risks and take a few sensible precautions.
🐴❤️ A LITTLE THOUGHT GOES A LONG WAY!
By working together, we can help protect our riding school ponies, liveries and the wider equestrian community.
Thank you to all our wonderful clients, parents, visitors and liveries for helping us keep Nest Farm a happy, healthy and safe place for everyone. 🌿🐴
