All of this vaccine talk ignores the threat from above

If vaccination is the way to go, Hasibar said the majority of horses must be vaccinated. Not just the thoroughbred population. It makes up less than 10 per cent of the horses in Australia. Recreational horses, show jumpers, equestrian, rodeo horses - don't forget donkeys - far outnumber the thoroughbred population.

"It is estimated that 80 per cent of the horse population needs to be vaccinated for a vaccine strategy to be effective," Hasibar says.

Read more.