Rabies found at riding stable Ellsworth center quarantined

ELLSWORTH – A state veterinarian has placed an Ellsworth riding stable under a 45-day quarantine after one of its horses tested positive for rabies.

The Crossroads Equestrian Center, a riding, training and boarding facility, along with eight horses, were quarantined Wednesday afternoon.

Owner Elizabeth Heldt, who was attacked by the rabid mare, has begun an expensive series of rabies vaccinations. Another 20 to 30 people, including a number of children who attended the center for riding lessons, also have been notified of their exposure.

State Veterinarian Chip Ridky closed the facility Wednesday afternoon, praising Heldt for her cooperation.

“She is doing everything she can to protect other horses,” said Ridky. He said the horses can spread the disease between each other by simple nose-to-nose contact.

Heldt said Wednesday that she purchased the 11-year-old Morgan mare that attacked her in New York four months ago and had no idea how the horse contracted rabies.

“She may have had it when I bought her,” said Heldt.

Last Friday the horse “began acting strangely – very affectionate, all of a sudden,” the stable owner said. “She had never really been very affectionate. In fact, she would see me and go running the other way. She was that kind of horse.”

But last week, Heldt said, the mare began seeking attention.

“All of a sudden she wanted to be handled,” Heldt recalled. “The day before she died, she stopped eating well. I put her in a stall so she could eat uninterrupted. The next morning, I took her out of the stall, she walked 10 paces, then began walking back toward me, knickering. I reached out to pet her and she grabbed the inside of my leg, my thigh, in her mouth and would not let go. There were two of us, whipping, attempting to get her off. She wouldn’t loosen up a bit but only held on tighter. She bit right through the skin.”

“Finally, and this was purely a survival tactic, I stuck my thumb in her eye,” Heldt said. “She let me go, but she then turned around and bit another horse. Not knowing what she had, we placed her in the pasture. But she managed to jump the pasture fence, and ended up in the arena, dying. She tore the ring apart. She was attacking tables, cones, anything that she saw. That is where we put her down.”

Heldt said she has operated her center for seven years and has been riding for pleasure and competitively internationally, for 20 years.

“I have never, ever seen anything like this before,” she said. “This is awful, possibly career-ending for me.”

Heldt said state officials have declared the arena safe for outside rentals. The center’s horses will be kept in their stalls or individually in the pasture, away from the arena.

Heldt said she started the rabies shots Sunday and has notified anyone who came into casual contact with her horses about the rabies confirmation. “That is about 20 to 30 people,” she said.

Signs have been posted on the center’s barn to warn visitors.

“I requested the quarantine signs so that no one accidentally wanders into my barn by mistake,” Heldt said.