Infected horse owner, ranch owner weigh in on ‘strangles concerns’ from Brown County Fair
Mon, August 24, 2026 at 7:16 PM
UpdatedTue, August 25, 2026 at 12:03 AM
A horse, boarded at a facility in Neenah, was confirmed to have strangles, according to owner ToriAnn Robinson. (Photo credit: ToriAnn Robinson)
(WLUK) — The Brown County Fair wrapped up this weekend, but there are concerns horses were potentially exposedto a highly contagious disease
A Fox Valley ranch owner is being blamed for not taking proper precautions. However, that owner tells FOX 11 that isn’t the case
The Brown County Fair wrapped up this weekend, but there are concerns horses were potentially exposed to a highly contagious disease. (WLUK Video)
ToriAnn Robinson became highly concerned when she visited her horse, Chief, at the Neenah facility where she boards him and noticed large lumps on his neck and severe weight loss
“There was probably a week long stretch where I was very much considering having it euthanized,” said Robinson. “This horse has never ever in his life looked so bad.”
The vet suspected Chief had a bacterial infection known as strangles, which a test confirmed on August 12th
“Those lymph nodes get swollen and often create abscesses,” said Dr. Rob Blohowiak, medical director at Great Lakes Equine. “That is where it gets the strangle name from.”
Blohowiak says 95% to 98% of horses who get strangles survive and the amount of cases his Hortonville facility has dealt with this year has been typical
“It’s a disease that a lot of horses don’t die from but it’s very messy,” said Blohowiak. “It can be very painful. Those horses can be very upset, feverish, lose weight. It’s nothing that you want to get.”
Blohowiak’s recommendation is a strict quarantine for any farm with a confirmed case and it shouldn’t be cleared until six weeks after the last clinical sign
“No horses in and out,” said Blohowiak
Robinson’s horse was at Caswell Ranch in Neenah. She posted about Chief’s confirmed case on Facebook after she says another horse owner who boards at Caswell told her they received no warning Chief had strangles
Multiple horse owners also tell FOX 11 a drill team of six horses who practice at Caswell Ranch was at the Brown County Fair
“I want people to enjoy their horses,” said Robinson. “I want people to go and be able to go to fairs and 4H and all the things, but we can do it and we can do it in a safe way. I don’t think that was done in a very safe way.”
Mark Caswell, owner of the ranch, tells FOX 11 he did make his ranch’s horse owners aware of the strangles case
He says the drill team horses who were at the fair had not been at his property for at least two weeks. He also says those horses were never in a situation where they could have been exposed to Robinson’s horse
Caswell also says he’s been following Blohowiak’s quarantine recommendation
“There is no police, if you will, to make sure people are following appropriate protocol and that kind of thing,” said Blohowiak when talking generally about strangles cases and recommended precautions
Fair organizers say they weren’t aware of the situation until after the fair started
A written statement reads:
The Brown County Fair has followed its standard procedures and protocols to ensure the safety of its participants and fair animals, including working with our local veterinarian who is also present at the fairgrounds daily. The veterinarian is aware of the allegations and has advised us that to his knowledge, no horse at the Brown County Fair has been in direct contact with a horse with (strangles). Our veterinarian has been closely monitoring our equestrian exhibit for signs and symptoms of illness and has not observed any symptoms, nor have there been any confirmed cases of illness on the fairgrounds. We take the safety and health of our participants seriously and will continue to monitor the situation.
“In these kinds of cases, with this particular disease, it falls more on the individual owners to be respectful and responsible that if they have a sick horse or a horse who has potentially been exposed or been on a farm that has strangles that they should stay home,” said Blohowiak
As for Chief, Robinson says he is on the rebound, and was moved to quarantine away from Caswell Ranch
“So far he’s looking good and he’s starting to pick up a little bit of weight, which I’m super happy about,” said Robinson
The Waupaca County Fair has postponed its horse events due to strangles concerns. The fair will go on as planned, but the horse competition has been moved to October 12th
