The Traveling Horseman Grounded.

25th October.

There would be few in the equestrian community who have not heard of Richard Sharman, The Traveling Horseman from Toowoomba. When observing Richard in action, whether it is breaking in a horse or showing one, it does not take long to realise why he is in such great demand, or indeed was before the outbreak of EI. It was a grand understatement, when Horse Deals enquired how EI was affecting him, Richard commented, “it has not been good for business”. Richard relies on being able to move around and show horses. “The way my business works is that I go from one place to the other. I may work for half and hour at one place, an hour at another and a little longer somewhere else and so on and try to do as many places as I can to make the day work. And with all the EI bio-security protocols, I just can’t do that. Also it is very stressful just waiting for it to close in and worrying that when I do visit a client when and where I can, that I have been careful enough with all the bio security regime. I really dread the idea of actually spreading it to somebody.

“The first day we heard anything about EI on the 25th August, I was at a show at Hawkesbury just out of Sydney. We had already had a few classes and then we were told to shut it down. I thought OK, it’s only in NSW and then on Sunday we heard about the horses at Warwick and I thought that was not good. I had a job planned for Minden on Monday morning and I thought maybe I should just give it a couple of days and see how this thing unfolds. It was the best thing I could have done, as on Tuesday, EI was reported at Minden and had I gone there I would have gone to another six places that day.

“But really I make my money at the shows and we don’t know when they will start again. I am usually very busy at this time of year. I have had a bit of work here and there and good clients, Peter and Jenny Pond at Wyong in NSW had some horses to break in, and I have had a months work there doing that and it has been good just being at the one place and not listening to the radio too much and not having to constantly worry about where EI is. They have not had EI, but of course they say if you haven’t had it, you soon will. I have done a weeks work in Canberra, but with all the bio-security I can only manage three properties a day and they are in the Green Zone.

“One of the biggest disappointments is the cancellation of the show the Toowoomba Arabian Club organised for October. I have been the president for 18 months and we have a really great committee and were building such momentum for the show, scheduled for this weekend. We had organised an international judge from Belgium, everyone was just brilliant and we were really looking forward to the show. The judge has agreed to come next year, but it will be hard to maintain the momentum.

“Financially it has been a disaster, but there are some positives. I have had a much better family life and have been able to spend some quality time with my son and we have done some good things together. We have done up a little fishing boat and gone fishing, which we would not have done normally, as I would have been at shows. We have had a bit of support from the government and I am lucky, as my wife Sandy is working and I have been able to pick up a few jobs here and there. I had never been to a Centerlink office before and that has been a bit of an eye opener. I really feel sorry for the people just starting out. I am established and lucky to have some good clients. Quite a few of them got EI early on and are looking to come out of it after the 60 days, so its to be hoped I can start going to a few of the places that have had it and are over it.

“It just depends on how long it’s going to drag on for, as to how it is really going to affect us. We have been going steady, Sandy is working and we have fewer expenses like petrol and the usually busy phone, which has not been ringing, and the government has come through with a bit of money and we have no horses to feed. It has been pretty dismal for us financially, but on the personal side, I haven’t been happier for a long time”.