Courage Under Fire.

When we last spoke to Heath Ryan, EI had not reached his Lochinvar property and it sounded as if his horses were going to be involved in the proposed ring vaccination programme. Horse Deals spoke to Heath on the 20th September to see how everything was progressing.

“Well, we still don’t have EI, but it is all around us and only about a kilometer away, and the vets say it is just a matter of days. The inoculation programme is moving south, so that may not happen. If by some total fluke we don’t get it and we can survive for two weeks, there is every chance we won’t get it. I am in two minds really, as the horses have a greater long-term immune status to fight further EI infection if they have actually been exposed to the live virus. But my big concern is that I have a lot of mares due to foal soon, and my imagination is running away with me as to the consequences if they do succumb. However, I have been told that mares and foals are coping pretty well with the flu. One of the considerations is to just let the horses get it, but having worked so long and so hard not to get it, I find it very hard to just take the sign off the gate.

“The economics of the situation are pretty grim for a lot of people. For instance we were expecting 100 outside mares this season, and nothing the government has proposed yet will go near to compensating us. The only way we are going to get anything like adequate compensation is regrettably through court action. But if you are actually going under, and people are, you do not have the wherewithal to initiate legal proceedings”.

What is happening at Warwick?

They took blood two days ago and will do so again in a week, and depending on the results perhaps they will be released, but it is all experimental. I am concerned thought, that when they are released they will not be allowed back into NSW”.

PS
One wonders what could be safer in this situation than horses that have had EI, are over it and are not longer shedding viral spores?