When it Comes to Forming Opinions, Facts Should Matter First and Foremost

Learn more about Outlaw Equine’s response, timeline, and the facts behind the EIA outbreak.

Justice, Proactiveness, Responsibility, and Scapegoat

In recent months, via social media, several equine veterinarians have been subjected to an incredible volume of social pressure, scrutiny, and downright bullying. Much of the bullying was based on unfounded allegations. This scrutiny has resulted in the death of one veterinarian and an incredible amount of stress and pressure on another veterinarian, Dr. Josh Harvey, as well as his dedicated team at Outlaw Equine.

At Western Justice, our motto is, “Justice is Truth in Action." We also strongly support everyone who contributes to our rural communities, including farmers and ranchers, the horse industry, and rodeo, essentially our way of life. In line with our motto, we invite you to read this article and consider the definitions and facts we will present.

Justice:

Justice is a concept that, at its core, represents fairness and the impartial application of the law. It also encompasses ideas like fairness within society. Restorative justice is an approach that focuses on repairing harm and restoring relationships among offenders, victims, and the community.

Responsibility and Accountability:

These two terms are distinct but related and are often used in conjunction with each other. Responsibility is the duty or obligation to complete a task or action. Accountability means being answerable for the outcome of that task or action.

Proactive:

The definition of proactive is “taking action ahead of time, rather than responding to situations after

they happen.” It also means taking initiative.

Scapegoat:

Another important concept to consider, especially in today's era of social media bullying, is “scapegoat.” This word is used to describe a situation when one person or entity is singled out and punished for mistakes that others have also made.

Iatrogenic Transmission:

The Oxford Dictionary defines iatrogenic transmission as “relating to illness caused by medical examination or treatment.”. Merriam-Webster defines iatrogenic as “induced unintentionally by a physician or surgeon or by medical procedures”.

147 Positive Equine Infectious Anemia Test Results in 2024

During a Zoom meeting (and also online), the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) reported that it received 147 positive test results for Equine Infectious Anemia (EIA) in 2024. Of those 147 positive reports, 120 were found to be via iatrogenic transmission. In the same year, 2024, it was discovered that the treatment of one patient in the ICU at Outlaw Equine Veterinary Hospital inadvertently resulted in the spread of EIA to 23 other horses. It is important to note that the positive cases originating at Outlaw Equine have been largely publicized; meanwhile, the sources of the remaining 97 iatrogenic transmissions of EIA have not been released. A review of APHIS records shows that iatrogenic disease transmission has been ongoing over the years. For example, according to a USDA/APHIS report in 2020, 23 of the 29 confirmed cases of EIA were found to be caused by iatrogenic transmission.

The clinical signs of EIA vary. According to an article about EIA by Clemson University, “…signs of EIA vary, and it is often hard to differentiate EIA symptoms from those of other diseases. The incubation period for the disease can range from a week to 60 days or longer.”

Connecting Dots – Taking A Proactive and Transparent Stance

In veterinary medicine, news of positive cases of deadly, communicable diseases is shared through various notifications, and veterinary hospital team members at high-quality facilities pay attention. For those who inaccurately assumed that Outlaw Equine was unaware, not proactive, and not taking responsibility, we provide the following timeline:

October 2024 – IV Catheter Protocol Change – Additional Hospitals Adopt

IV catheters must be flushed at the time of placement in the patient and then periodically afterwards to ensure that they are kept clear and viable to deliver essential fluid therapy and medications. This is done by the delivery of a prepared mixture of a small amount of heparin and a benign IV solution like saline. In very busy hospitals, this “flush” is typically prepared ahead of time for quick administration to patients. At no time was it ever a part of the protocol at the hospital to reuse syringes and needles. The original protocol to confirm catheter patency was to take a sterile syringe and needle set and use it to draw up heparinized flush from a dispensing bottle that had been prepared with the appropriate ratio of heparin and saline. The needle and syringe were to be discarded after first use.

In October of 2024, after the first report of EIA in the area, and before it was discovered that patient zero had been hospitalized in the ICU at Outlaw Equine, the leadership team examined its protocol for flushing the IV catheters of patients. The decision was made to change the protocol from using a single prepared bottle of “flush” to preparing individual syringes, that are then stored in various parts of the hospital. Along with this change in protocol, when the “flush” syringes are prepared, they are prepared in one sitting to ensure that there is no ability for contamination.

It is important to note that since the EIA transmission was first identified and publicized, the change in flush prep protocol has been adopted by other equine hospitals as well. They have transitioned from using a large bottle of prepared heparin flush to individual prepped syringes.

November 2024 – In Contact with the Texas Animal Health Commission

Originally established in 1893, as the Livestock Sanitary Commission, the role of the Texas Animal Health Commission (TAHC) is to protect the state’s domestic animals “from all contagious or infectious diseases of a malignant character”. Their mission is simple, to protect animals from, or mitigate the effects of domestic, foreign and emerging diseases, increase the marketability of Texas livestock, promote and ensure animal health and productivity, to protect human health from zoonotic disease and to prepare for and respond to emergency situations involving animals. When positive test results come in for communicable diseases affecting livestock, the TAHC is notified.

In November of 2024, the team at Outlaw Equine was in contact with the TAHC over a previous ICU patient that had tested positive for EIA. This positive Coggins test result occurred during a routine annual exam performed by the patient’s regular veterinarian. The team at OE worked with TAHC representatives to discuss possible modes of transmission, including the use of outsourced blood products, like equine blood, plasma, and serum products. TAHC asked this question because there is a history of horses contracting communicable diseases via this route, these include Equine Parvovirus Hepatitis, Theiler’s disease (TD), Equine Infectious Anemia (EIA), and Equine Piroplasmosis (EP). It is important to note that while blood products are not the sole source of these diseases, they can be a significant route of transmission.

March 6, 2025 – Internal Investigation Started by Outlaw Equine

At Outlaw Equine, the team was monitoring reports of patients testing positive for EIA. Outlaw Equine quickly connected the dots that the early reported cases of EIA were also patients at their hospital. This realization prompted a proactive, thorough review of thousands of patient medical records to identify treatment patterns. It must be emphasized that these were proactive steps the hospital team took on their own initiative. Contrary to what has been inferred through Zoom meetings, articles, social media posts, and comments, they did the research, connected the dots, and then, like any ethical and responsible veterinary practice, worked with the Texas Animal Health Commission with their findings.

The internal investigation conducted by the team at Outlaw Equine revealed that the at-risk months for patients in ICU, occurred in May and August of 2024. It is also important to note that the TAHC did not conduct an in-person investigation at the hospital, instead they provided guidance and relied on the work that the OE team was undertaking.

March 12, 2025 – Visit by the Texas Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners

The Texas Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners was founded in 1911 to protect public health. They manage the credentialing of veterinary professionals and investigate and resolve complaints to uphold professional standards. Overall, their programs work to ensure that the veterinary profession in Texas serves the public effectively and responsibly.

On March 12, 2025, the Texas Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners conducted an investigation at OE that they shared with the USDA. Their investigation was triggered by a complaint submitted by the client whose horse had tested positive for EIA in November 2024. The complaint centered on the fact that the horse was not tested for EIA while it was hospitalized in the ICU at OE.

OE has its own in-house equipment to perform basic and routine blood tests on sick horses. This includes a complete blood count and chemistry profile, measuring white and red blood cell counts, creatinine, GGT, AST, bilirubin, and serum ammonia, among other tests. For additional diagnostic tests, such as respiratory or neurologic panels, samples are sent to Idexx Laboratories for analysis. It is important to note that Idexx’s standard equine panel usually refers to their Comprehensive

Equine Respiratory RealPCR panel, which tests for equine adenovirus, equine influenza virus, equine herpesvirus types, equine rhinitis A and B viruses, and Streptococcus. While Idexx offers EIA testing, it is not included in their standard equine panel. OE also sends patient samples to other laboratories like UC Davis and Texas A&M.

The inspection by the TBVME was by surprise. The inspectors arrived at 8 AM and proceeded to interview team members and followed with checking the hospital’s-controlled drug inventory and logs. They also interviewed staff members.

March 20, 2025 – Texas Animal Health Commission Involvement and OE’s Records Investigation Completed

The records investigation by the OE team included categorizing hundreds of patients that were in the ICU or hospitalized during the months of May 2024 and August 2024 into categories labeled high risk, medium risk, and low risk. These were horses that were hospitalized for other reasons, and the horse later determined to be patient zero was originally categorized as a trauma case.

It is important to note that the team at OE was in contact with the Texas Animal Health Commission during the investigation; however, the TAHC did not participate in the investigation itself. The TAHC simply guided the team at OE on the steps they needed to take per newly found cases of transmission of EIA.

March 24 to April 2025 – Patients Tested and Insurance Contacted

As soon as possible, the ICU manager at OE started contacting clients by phone to make them aware of the potential EIA transmission to their horse while in ICU. Clients were provided with complete transparency. In addition to being contacted by telephone, a letter was written and signed by Dr. Harvey. The letter outlined the situation, their investigation efforts, their hypothesis regarding the transmission of EIA to some of the patients hospitalized in the ICU, the steps they have taken to ensure it could never happen again, and their feelings of utter devastation that a break in protocol infected one of their patients.

Clients were urged to bring their horses in for testing immediately, and the hospital absorbed all costs for the EIA tests and examinations. Clients in other areas were urged to contact their regular veterinarian for testing to determine if their horse had been infected. The team at OE tested hundreds of patients, and out of these, 21 were discovered to have been infected. They also submitted a list of patients to their professional liability insurance carrier.

April 3, 2025, to June 30, 2025 – Texas Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners

After the initial March 12, 2025, inspection by the TBVME, additional points of contact were made. On April 3rd, and May 15th their inspector called the hospital to ask questions. They also interviewed past employees.

May 2025 - USDA Zoom Webinar and Report from the Texas Veterinary Medical Board of Examiners

It is important to note that during the entire time that the EIA transmission from OE was first discovered and all patients contacted and tested, the United States Department of Agriculture did not contact any team member at OE. They did not request information directly from OE about any of the patients. They did not do any on-site investigations. They did not do any testing themselves. Instead, they relied on the reports from OE provided to the Texas Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners and the Texas Animal Health Commission.

In May 2025, USDA Zoom webinar, the USDA Equine Epidemiologist did not simply share facts; instead, they offered personal opinions about the hospital website, the level of care patients received at OE, and inferred that board certification was the true marker of delivering high-quality, innovative care for equine patients. The USDA veterinarian opened her presentation, stating, “I have a picture there of the clinic…It’s a medium-range referral-type hospital, although no one there has any board certifications, so it's not really a referral clinic. Although it does take all kinds of horses and has some specialty care that they advertise. I pulled this off their website, so I couldn’t get rid of their slogan, “Exceptional Care Starts with Us”. I think we have a reason to think that maybe that didn’t work out so good in these situations.”

The webinar claims they started a “joint investigation” in March of 2025 – that “investigation” was in fact conducted by the team at OE, which they proactively initiated on their own. In the webinar, the USDA veterinarian stated, “…when the veterinarian (Dr. Harvey) was being approached, he seemed to know that something was wrong with how things were operating at his clinic and how these horses got infected. He was seeing his clients come down with the EIA cases that he did not expect to have there and was involved in “testing some of these horses.” So, he actually came up with his own list what he thought was exposed relative to some of the practices that he identified internally at his clinic. He went out with a list of his own and started testing things, which got a little, uhm, still is a little disjointed. But still, you have to give him “props” for getting out in front of it and wanting to approach clients and get horses tested which was helpful, so we did not get in his way. But state and federal, we did follow along and were still going through that exercise right now and… I don’t believe that we have found all of the exposed horses for testing just yet and I think there’s more…” Then she went on to inaccurately describe how the transmission occurred and made inaccurate, completely unsubstantiated claims about the activities of ICU employees as well as the standard protocol at OE. She claimed, without any proof, that reused needles and syringes were used dozens of times. This is an outrageous claim to make against another professional, especially without any proof.

She also made other incorrect assumptions about the clinical signs of the patient that is considered, “patient zero”. The USDA veterinarian even mentioned that she did not have the medical records on that animal. The USDA veterinarian stated in the webinar, “But that particular … horse came in with clinical signs that were really similar to acute EIA infection, they may or may not have been, we don’t have the record yet (this was a May 2025 webinar). But in any case, the … died in ICU… and was not tested for EIA”.

The facts are that the horse in question was euthanized, and on presentation, did not exhibit clinical signs of EIA.

The bottom line is that the USDA obtained information second-hand and yet presented information in the webinar as if they were doing the boots on the ground work. Nothing could be further from the truth and yet this webinar was used as a weapon against OE, and the USDA report was key in the filing made by the Texas Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners, as listed in issue 5.b..

More Egregious Moves by the USDA

As mentioned earlier, they did not collaborate with the OE team regarding any part of the investigation. During the May 2025 webinar, besides making false accusations about hospital protocols OE, the USDA revealed names and photographs of horses, the names of clients, as well as breeding operation names, and many others— all without their consent. It is important to note that while the USDA is a government agency, these are private medical records of owned animals. Due to the USDA's actions, their uncoordinated and unauthorized public announcement added more stress to already distressed and devastated horse owners, as well as the OE team.

Recently, the USDA ordered the TAHC to make a surprise visit to Dr. Harvey’s personal residence and pull Coggins tests on all of his own horses.

Social Media Ignores the Fact That Outlaw Equine Was Fully Transparent, Was Proactive, and Took Full Responsibility

May 26, 2025 – TikTok and Social Media Erupts with Rumors, Innuendo and False Accusations

On May 26th, 2025, the TikTok Channel “The Post Horse News,” which is known for sharing equine industry gossip, made a video referencing the USDA webinar as fact. The TikTok video misreported other information and named OE. The video incorrectly stated that Dr. Harvey “assisted in the investigation”, when in fact Dr. Harvey and the team at OE initiated the investigation and provided the Texas Animal Health Commission and the Texas Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners with all of the data, patient records, and findings which were then passed on to the USDA – essentially third hand. The TikTok video incorrectly stated that all the horses' catheters were “cleaned with reused dirty needles.” This is simply untrue and fits the standard for libel and slander. Then she went on to make other unsubstantiated claims and stated, “While it's not been reported that any of the stallions linked to OE have tested positive, it is possible to spread the disease through semen.” At no time were the stallions at OE a part of the investigation.

Outlaw Equine Answered Accusations and Their Transparency Was Ignored

The team at Outlaw Equine did not sit quietly over these inaccurate accusations about their protocols and team. Neither did others in the veterinary community who understood very well how one mistake during an emergency can have a devastating ripple effect. They answered and provided factual information. OE’s ICU Manager provided clear details on several posts, including The Post Horse News.

It is both incredibly interesting and alarming to observe the blatant disregard for facts, the spread of disinformation, and the slanderous and incorrect accusations that emerged on social media platforms concerning the situation at Outlaw Equine.

Coming Up – A Perspective View of the Rest of the Story

At Western Justice, we stand firmly on the foundation that “Justice is Truth in Action.” In a time when social media often replaces facts with outrage and finger-pointing, we urge the public to pause and consider what justice truly means: fairness, context, and accountability, not scapegoating. The tragic loss of one veterinarian and the intense scrutiny placed on Outlaw Equine and Dr. Josh Harvey have underscored the dangers of online misinformation and mob judgment. Despite unrelenting public pressure and misinformation, Outlaw Equine demonstrated proactiveness, responsibility, and integrity. They initiated their own internal investigation, uncovered the source of transmission, worked transparently with the Texas Animal Health Commission, directly contacted clients, absorbed the cost of testing, medical care and euthanasia, as well as putting clients in contact with their insurance carrier to cover losses. They implemented new protocols that are now being adopted across the industry.

They were not notified by federal or state authorities that they were “patient zero, “they discovered it themselves. That is proactive. They took ownership without hesitation. That is responsibility. And despite being falsely portrayed as careless and negligent, they never sought to blame others.

Instead, they told the truth. And yet, they became the scapegoat in a system that too often seeks headlines instead of healing.

Justice, as defined in the article, involves restoring relationships and ensuring fairness, not singling out one party while ignoring broader systemic issues. Of the 147 cases of EIA confirmed in 2024, 120 were attributed to iatrogenic transmission, yet only the 21 linked to Outlaw Equine were publicly scrutinized. The remaining 99 went without public mention. That silence speaks volumes about the inconsistency of judgment and the selective enforcement of accountability.

At Western Justice, we are committed to giving Outlaw Equine the space and support to share their full story, accurately, transparently, and free from agenda-driven narratives. We will also be sharing additional information related to the allegations made by the Texas Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners in the coming days. All updates will be published at westernjustice.info. We invite you to read, reflect, and decide for yourself. Because when it comes to forming opinions, facts should matter first and foremost, and at Western Justice, we will never stop fighting for that truth.