Federal officials are recommending that horse owners avoid traveling with horses through parts of Oregon due to the recent outbreak of equine herpes. The Bureau of Land Management and the U.S. Forest Service say the virus poses a hazard in wild horse management areas and territories in Eastern Oregon. It is primarily spread by direct physical contact between horses and can also spread short distances (20-50 feet) via aerosol such as coughing and whinnying. People cannot become infected with the virus.  However, equine herpes can be moved from horse to horse by clothing or hands, and by objects shared between horses or people such as buckets, bridles, halters, feed troughs, trailers, chutes, or vehicles, bridles, halters, feed troughs, trailers, chutes, or vehicles.