SE QLD & NE NSW

I would like to thank Horse Deals for your website and your public information portal. We have all been touched in some way by EI and when I read the comments posted by many on the blog site, I can’t help but sympathise and empathise for the dilemma.

Here in Victoria, I am ashamed to say that somewhere along the line DPI and the State Government have got it completely wrong. I wrote a letter to the Ed to our local paper and it was published albeit it had to be shortened. I got somewhat passionate about what I termed an apparent set of double standards operating whereby race meetings were being conducted all over the state and many of them have noting whatsoever to do with the Spring Racing carnival. Trainers are bringing horses over from South Australia for a gallop and many horses are unlikely to ever see the hallowed turf at Flemington. I am not disputing that horse racing doesn’t deserve to go ahead given that the racing industry is fully supporting their trainers, tracks and riders not to mention the income derived from betting. However, the double standards operating assumes that the risk to race horses is somehow less than for ordinary ponies? Most ag shows are now cancelled. It is bad enough for our qualifiers – kids who can hardly afford to feed their horses let alone buy new gear who are trying to qualify for events in whatever field; but our little ag shows in every country town across the state, in areas already hit by drought, are now cancelling horse events. Their whole town income from that one event is now under threat for some of them. Meanwhile racing continues.

I agree with Angela and a number of other posters who think that it is high time that every ‘recreational horse owner’ make a stand to their local MP and to their State Government. A series of public statements from horse owners is now vitally important. I read with interest and some alarm that many horse related businesses are going to the wall (a post from a trainer is a case in point) Can I ask if you would consider printing some of these very poignant and real stories in the pages of your next edition of Horse Deals so that we can all buy the mag and read the real truth? Many people don’t have access to the internet either and they would appreciate being able to read some of the stories that we can access so freely.

I would like to add further that the party line put about by successive DPI sites regarding vaccination and eradication (usually these are one vet’s opinion) has incurred more than just my wrath. This country really has to get a grip and horse owners need to lead the way I think. There is nothing like negative public sentiment to attract media attention so let’s do this in number. First, this flu is nothing more or less than like a human flu except that it is EXOTIC to this country. This means that no animal has any natural immunity so has to be given it. Vaccination is necessary. Surely people in high places cannot be so silly as to think, in all probability, that the risk of this getting out into our horse population from a quarantine station was remote???? The law of probability says that it will – because human error will at some point be involved which is why people like me are employed. To work out the risk and take some measures to try and reduce it. As for equally silly people thinking that eradication is still the best way forward – may as well try and stop a raging torrent with a fork. The flu is here and like human flu, will require vaccination to prevent the debilitating symptoms knocking a horse off its feet completely. May still get the flu but won’t be as bad. Other countries around the world have been doing this for years for goodness sake and with a lot more success than this effort to date. Now different factions are arguing over who deserves to get the vaccine first!

Secondly, the level of whole of industry consultation has been so poor I wonder that if we didn’t have access to a site like Horse Deals, none of us would know what to believe and what to act upon. Clearly DPI officials can be as ill informed as the rest of us. The very people we require to assist us when we all really need advice, information and reassurance has been far from effective and certainly has not been efficient. I note that here in Vic the EFA, RAS, PCAV and HCAV have met and have made some pretty far reaching decisions affecting the rest of the state – they have not consulted as widely as necessary. Camp drafting has not been asked to attend anything, nor have any of our branches of the Stock horse Society unless we were unaware that we were! I daresay that all horse related groups can be asked to attend everything but these meetings are being held in isolation from racing interests (who wouldn’t care anyway) and with DPI who I believe are ill informed at best.

I thank you for your time and attention,
Karen Harrison