Rancho Mission Viejo cancels 2023 rodeo due to animal virus outbreak

Rancho Mission Viejo officials announced Wednesday that the 2023 Rancho Mission Viejo Rodeo has been canceled, due to the Vesicular Stomatitis Virus, also known as VSV, that continues to spread across southern California. 

"The safety of our beloved animals and participants has always been and always will be our main concern," said Tony Moiso, chairman and chief executive officer of Rancho Mission Viejo.  "We appreciate the strong support we received for the 2023 Rodeo, and will be refunding all of our sponsors, vendors, and general admission ticket holders."

Moiso said the decision was heartbreaking but necessary to stop the spread of VSV. 

"Although canceling this year's rodeo is disappointing, our planning team will begin working on next year's event," said Gilbert Aguirre, executive vice president of ranch operations for Rancho Mission Viejo.  "We hope all of our friends, fans, and sponsors will plan to join us in 2024." 

The event, which was slated for mid-August at the Rancho Mission Viejo Riding Park, has employed the help of local veterinarians to evaluate any animals brought to the venue. Despite the rodeo being canceled, the park has still hosted various equestrian competitions and Olympic trials. 

"The vet checks every horse that comes in on the property to make sure that there's no signs," said Emily Troweridge, a trainer at the riding park. "Prior to that, as well, as a competitor here, we have to have our vets at home also clear every horse that's competing."

Animal caretakers for the rodeo, as well as the Orange County Fair, are on high alert and working hard to prevent the spread amongst other livestock, which mainly affects cows, horses and pigs, but can sometimes spread to sheep, goats, llamas and alpacas. 

"Some steps that we've done to make sure that we don't spread, or hopefully prevent VSV from coming to our facility, is No. 1, we make sure we're on top of caring for our animals," said Evy Young, the Director of the Orange County Fair Agriculture Programs. "We do visual inspections everyday, in fact, during the fair we take extra steps and our staff fills out extra cleaning and feed logs."

Since the virus can spread through biting insects and affected animals sharing water, the fair has plumbed individual water sources instead of shared. Additionally, an upgraded system to spray for flies helps keep them away from animals. 

Veterinarians have been inspected each of the animals that are brought on the fairgrounds. 

The rodeo has a 20-year history, with the two-day event bringing in 10,000 guests to The Ranch. Organizers said the event has raised more than $2.8 million for local charities, including CHOC Children's at Mission Hospital and the Boys and Girls Clubs of Capistrano Valley.

There are currently no reported cases on the Costa Mesa Fairgrounds, officials said.