A study was undertaken to determine the seroprevalence of African horse sickness virus antibodies, isolate and characterize the virus responsible as well as identify potential risk factors in the equine population of selected study areas in Ethiopia. In total 1265 serum samples originating from 824 donkeys, 383 horses and 58 mules were collected from September 2005 to mid of April 2006. Competitive Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay (C-ELISA) configuration was employed to determine the presence of AHSV antibodies. The apparent prevalence of AHSV was found to be 29.7% (95% CI = 26.8-33.0) in donkeys, 10.4% (95% CI = 7.8-14.0) in horses and 10.3% (95% CI =4.8-22.1) in mules. The overall apparent seroprevalence of AHSV was found to be 23% (95% CI=20.8-25.4). There is significant variation amongst the types of equidae in seropositivity (P