Between a rock and a hard place.

Ever since the outbreak of Equine Influenza in New South Wales and Queensland, the Victoria Equestrian Federation has been in a no win situation. The EFA and Werribee Park are both businesses, and like so many other small businesses they have been greatly affected by EI, even though the virus has not reached Victoria. While doing their utmost to prevent an outbreak of EI, the EFA and WPNEC must do everything they can to try and help their businesses survive this crisis.

Since the announcement that Werribee Park would become a quarantine station there has erupted in some members of the equestrian community, a feeling of paranoia that diseased horses would be brought into Victoria and that the WPNEC had done a sordid deal with the Victorian Government. However, as EFA Victoria CEO, Jackie Woodhead explained, “taking a booking from the Victorian Government was just a business decision and a matter of survival. Since the outbreak of EI the Werribee Park Board of Management have reduced the staff to a skeleton crew, which unfortunately meant the retrenchment of Park Manager, Graham Barker, and the EFA have taken over the management duties for the next 12 months.”

“The horses to be brought into the quarantine station at Werribee Park are Victorian horses that have been stranded in NSW and Qld in green zones. Before they arrive at Werribee they must spend at least six weeks in a green zone, then two weeks in a NSW quarantine station and then two weeks here. The likelihood of these horses carrying the virus is extremely low and these horses must come home at some stage. Due to Werribee Park virtually having no income for two and a half months, they received a booking from the Victorian Government for the facility from the 1st of November until the 31st of December. “

We asked Jackie what was the likelihood of Werribee still being a quarantine station in January and February. Jackie stated, “we are 99.9% sure everything will be back to normal in January, we have a dressage day booked here for the 12th of January and Barastoc in February and we will do everything in our power to conduct these events. People need to be positive. Ever since the outbreak of EI, Victoria has been in a self-imposed lockdown. From the 1st October, the EFAV has encouraged competition with all the bio-security measures in place and there is still no reason why competitions cannot go ahead, just not at Werribee, as the facility is fully booked.”

Jackie commented; “My thoughts are that this crisis is going to affect’s the equestrian industry for possibly the next twelve months. EI has taught us all a valuable lesson, and we need to work together and aim for better communication between all the equestrian groups.”