A Press Release Provided By Winky and Sheila Groover

Dumas is EVA positive and a shedder. Like most people we had never heard of EVA before December 2004. We tested Dumas and Luck of the Doc to prepare for the coming breeding season, Luck came back negative while Dumas came back positive with a low titer. We vaccinated Luck and collected semen on Dumas to be tested for a shedder. Although he was a shedder with one of the lowest titer's ever for a shedder, he is a shedder. We do not know where or when he was exposed to the disease. We have tested all our mares and every mare we have bred to Dumas in the last three years tested positive, our mares that were bred to Dumas prior to that are negative. None of our mares, while living side by side with these positive mares, tested positive. Nothing that is by Dumas Walker that we have on our farm or at the training barn has tested positive. Nothing to my knowledge by Dumas has tested positive and nothing at my training barn has tested positive. It does not seem to have crossed any lines and the only horses that have tested positive are mares that have had semen placed in them. While this is not great news for anybody who has bred or planned to breed, it’s not the end of the world. According to the AAEP there are safe guidelines for breeding mares to an equine arteritis virus-shedding stallion. We will be happy to provide these to anyone who wishes to breed to Dumas. Derickson’s Breeding Facility will still provide mare care for those wanting to breed to Dumas under the guidance of Dr. Krista Gilliam. We love Dumas more than ever and know that this is all part of our wonderful God’s perfect plan.

Winky and Sheila Groover