If you can't beat it........

We seem to fighting a losing battle. This virus is just too contagious. As containment and quarantine procedures continue to fail it seems we are moving painfully slowly towards the inevitable - all non-vaccinated horses in Australia will get this virus. So is this such a big problem?

No horse has died, or even had serious complications from this virus. The most serious problems is lack of activity and change of feed causing the life-threatening colic. If we treat horses for secondary infections, and are careful to return them to work very slowly, there will be no long term damage.

Why don't all horses just return home if they are stranded. Let infected horses and people contact others and spread this flu as quickly as possible. Cancel all horse events for the next 6 months. Don't even try to hang on to the Melbourne Cup - there is no way it will go ahead at this rate.

In a months we can start slowly riding our horses. In 2-3 months we can bring them back into work. In 6 months the whole of Australia can be back riding, racing, training, and the industry thriving again.

This slow process is torturing us all. Let's just get over it and back to normal as quickly as we can!