The Equestrian Federation of Australia desperately needs a $1.5 million bailout to pay for its Olympic team to prepare in Europe as the disease continues to wreak havoc with elite competition and training at home.
Equestrian is one of Australia's most successful Olympic sports, with the eventing team winning the gold medal at three of the past four Games.
But the preparation of locally-based contenders for the national team has been devastated by the outbreak. Sydney-based contenders Stuart Tinney (a 2000 gold medallist) and Shane Rose have been particularly affected. Both of their best competition horses have had the illness and are only now regaining fitness.
The course of the industry's recovery and the resumption of elite competition remains unpredictable, leading the EFA to conclude that an offshore preparation is the team's best hope if it is to challenge for the gold medal in Beijing in August.
The EFA has applied to the new minister for $1.5m in funding so it can support at least 10 horses and riders (across eventing, jumping and dressage disciplines) for six months in Europe - a $2 million operation.
"Going overseas was our Plan B, but it is now our Plan A," EFA high performance manager Brett Mace said. "We need to get our riders over there so they can start competing. We can't wait any longer.
"There's still a lot of uncertainty here. There are a lot of events that we are not certain will run because we don't know if we will be able to get the numbers there to make them work. Europe is the safer option for us."
"The Australian Olympic Committee has us down for two medals in Beijing. If we don't get over there, I wouldn't say you could wipe that out, but it would be a lot more difficult to achieve."
Mace hopes to set up a base for the Australian team in Wiltshire, England, where the eventers prepared for the Athens Games.
However even with a $1.5m handout, leading competitors will still face considerable financial hardship. Tinney and Rose have businesses in Australia which have already suffered. They would then have to abandon them for six months to commit to the Olympics.
The equestrian industry has received just one-third of the government assistance per horse of its more glamorous cousin, the racing industry.
"I think most of our people feel hard done by through this compared with the racing people," Mace confirmed.
"If we get the funding for our elite program that will help to square things up. But it will only cover costs. It won't give the competitors an income. That's another issue."
Tinney estimates that the flu crisis has already cost him tens of thousands of dollars in lost business, veterinary bills and medicines.
"We have a 14-hectare property, a mortgage, kids to go to school, all that still has to run somehow while I'm away," Tinney said.
"People are saying everything is back to normal because racing is back, but it's not even close. Every avenue of our business is still closed to us. We can't compete, we can't school horses and we can't sell horses.
"We are trying as hard as we can to save the business, which is about producing the next generation of Olympic horses, but I will need some sort of wage support to keep going with the national squad team."
Tinney said his horse Vettori would have to be in England by early March (after 30 days in quarantine) so they could prepare properly to contest the prestigious Badminton Horse Trials at the start of May.
"We need to get someone to make the decision on funding now," he pleaded.
"Because until we do, we are just stuck. We are not getting any answers and we need that clarification."
