Herald Sun Horse Industry Story: Have Your Say!

After a massive public response Rod Nicholson’s story on the horse industry in Australia will be featured in the Herald Sun Newspaper (Victoria), and on the website this Sunday, 13 January.
Rod Nicholson is a journalist with the Herald Sun. He recently broke the story of the movement of Red and Purple zone thoroughbreds being moved across the border into Victoria.
Rod has spent the last few weeks chronicling both the domestic Horse Industry’s response to the movement of thoroughbreds into Victoria and the stories of every day horse owners affected by EI. Rod has received a massive response from horse owners around the country and he has extended his gratitude to everyone who got in touch.
The story will now feature in the Herald Sun Newspaper Herald Sun Newspaper (Victoria), and on the HeraldSun.com.au website this Sunday, 13 January.
Rod says the more people that react to, or comment on, the story the more mainstream media exposure will be generated for the domestic Horse Industry in Australia and the more likely Media will be to cover Industry stories in the future.
We urge everyone to either pic up a copy of the Herald Sun Newspaper or log on to HeraldSun.com.au this Sunday to read the story, then get in touch with the Herald Sun Editor either via the website or by calling, faxing or writing the Herald Sun offices (contacts in the paper and on the website) and let the editor know what you think.

HorsePoint.com.au Press Release

comment on Horse imports to NZ from Australia

The Facility at Karaka is not new. The 'new' facilty is being developed on a TB stud. whoo hoo, does that give you an idea of when the NON racing equines will get a look in?
What is even more bizarre is that there is a requirement for 5 weeks quarantine for a disease which has an incubation period of 3-10 days. Don't know about you, but I would be prepared to pay for the PCR test which shows the horse has never had, has had and recovered or has been vaccinated for the equine flu.
Of course the nigger in the woodpile is the cohorts of horses which have now been vaccinated but are still capable of contracting the virus, shedding the virus but at a sub clinical level so it is not easily detected except by PCR. The so called 'Quik Fix' which ain't.
The AQIS and BNZ paper shufflers need to get with the new technology and utilise it. Had AQIS done this (as is done in other parts of the world - before the horses are even allowed off the plane) the whole debacle would never have happened. The bone needs to be pointed at other lapses also....

For what it is worth, leave your filly where she is in Oz. Sit it out as if Oz does manage eradication the Q requirements will be amended by 2009.

Connie

The Flu From Eastern Creek

(apologies to Banjo Paterson…)

There was movement at the station, for the word had passed around

That the colt from Old Regret had got away

“Has he had his swab and microchip? Can his test results be found?”

Was what the DPI man had to say.

There were threats of fines of vast amounts because he’d jumped the fence

And no Travelling Horse Statement had been done

“We didn’t let him out,” replied his owner in defence

But it’s a crime to have a loose horse on the run.

“This is a war of paperwork,” said the Old Man with a sigh

He’d made his pile and now it needed stamping

“Just let me lodge this other form,” he said with bleary eye,

The new rules only seemed insane and cramping.

There was Clancy at the surgery, he was a clever vet

He’d done his time on racehorse studs with breeding

“I’ve never seen a thing like this,” he said with shaking head

“Fair treatment and some sense is what we’re needing.”

But on internet and TV all we heard was racehorse trainers

As they carved from all the subsidies the best

While the recreation riders were regarded as complainers

The government had pissed off all the rest

And what of Equine Influenza? Well, it’s had its time to spread

And the colt contracted it, then he got better

And they blamed the vet, the Old Man, and a farrier named Ted

When it was actually the neighbour’s wife’s Red Setter

Now the flu has gone, we all can say we did our best to stop it

With chemicals and threats and fines and such

But why do we still have to wait in quarantine and cop it

While those racehorse people aren’t affected much?

Some believe it’s true we’ve run the race and now the flu has gone

That things are back to normal in Australia

We may emerge with stock intact and get on with our lives

But the handling of the outbreak was a failure

Down by Eastern Creek they wring their hands, examining the breaches

And claim the problems that were there are mended

But until the land is free of flu from mountains to the beaches

I don’t believe this saga will have ended.

KM

(Kerry Morgan,

Central Coast NSW)

Horse imports to NZ from Australia

I am extremely concerned about a recent telephone call I received from NZ MAF.
I enquired as to when I might be able to bring the Appaloosa filly I purchased in May 2007 into New Zealand from southern NSW.
I was told that the import protocol had not been finalised and that MAF was waiting for confirmation and input from Biosecurity Australia before a date could be determined.
I was also informed that my filly, (frree of EI, never near or affected by the outbreak) would have to undergo at least five weeks quarantine and be inoculated against EI before entry into New Zealand.
My investigation into this situation has turned up some equally disturbing aspects. Especially the selfish attitude of border security staff in Australia and carelessness of the owners of tbs imported to Australia.
There is only two quarantine stations in New Zealand. Actually, only one at this stage. One is under construction at the Karaka Thoroughbred complex in South Auckland. The other I didn't get to find out where that was.

A recent news item at NZ Horsetalk stated:

No room at the inn if NZ opens borders to Aussie horses

December 17, 2007
by Neil Clarkson
New Zealand's existing quarantine facilities would be able to cope with only a fraction of the likely demand from trans-Tasman horse movements once the country re-opens its borders to horses from Australia.
The New Zealand Racing Board's publication, Inside Running, discussed the recent formation of a contingency planning group aimed at ensuring the country had cohesive risk management and plans in place should New Zealand be exposed to a similar equine-related crisis.
Greg Purcell, appointed as project manager for the group, was commenting on the eventual recommencement of horse imports from Australia.
The group, comprising representatives from equine and racing interests, was undertaking a review of New Zealand's current quarantine measures, he said.
"Last year, more than 1500 horses were imported from Australia to New Zealand," he said.
"However, the current New Zealand quarantine facilities can only house up to 20 horses.
"We will be working closely with MAF to ensure that appropriate quarantine facilities are established in New Zealand to manage the movement of horses across the Tasman."
Mr Purcell said a five-week quarantine period for all horses imported from Australia is likely to be introduced.
Horsetalk believes the quarantine protocol will allow for three weeks in quarantine in Australia before departure, with two weeks upon arrival in New Zealand.
Given that horses would be unable to come and go during confinement, that would allow the facilities to handle only 26 intakes a year of 20 horses, for an annual total of 520 - just a third of the annual numbers before the equine flu outbreak closed borders.
Mr Purcell said import quarantine restrictions were expected to continue until at least February 2009.
He said the New Zealand Racing Board had negotiated a contract with Intervet to secure a guaranteed supply of 70,000 doses of equine flu vaccine, should it be required, over the next 12 months. The vaccine would be for the exclusive use of the Racing Board. This is over and above the 50,000 doses of vaccine held by MAF, he said.

Looks like the racing fraternity has it pretty much covered for themselves...
The quarantine stations are privately owned and I expect that my $2,000 filly will now cost me another $5,000 for quarantine plus the travel cost of around $3,500. That adds up to quite an expensive show pony before she is schooled for riding.
I am annoyed that my innocent purchase has totally blown out of proportion, I don't have that sort of money and that I either have to bite the bullet and take out a personal loan or resell the horse in Australia.
I am a member of the Appaloosa Association of New Zealand and have been for 28 years. It is important that we are able to trade freely with Australia in equestrian matters (forget the racing fraternity).Our involvement with horses is for the love, not the money...

I believe the Australian government should pay for my horse's quarantine fees... what do you think?.

warmest regards from New Zealand if a little chilly around the edges...

Megan Colquhoun

311 Muriwai Valley Road

RD1, Waimauku

New Zealand

Has QPPHI adopted the DPI tactics?

When you only get told a little bit of information it generally leads to questions and those that are keen will seek out the answers!

In yesterday's QPPHI update, it was interesting to read........

Quarantine Facilities.

The facilities approved by DPI&F have now received their first Performance & Pleasure horses.

The DPI&F are inviting nominations for similar facilities in the Amber Zone.

If you would like to apply contact the DPI&F.

It is hoped that similar facilities are opened interstate so that Queensland horses

competing at events such as Sydney Royal have a way to return home.

Now given that the DPI&F have already 'approved' facilities, why not TELL people where and who they are, this would surely speed things up for those poor people that have had horses stuck in limbo land??

Upon ringing the DPI, I was told that the only approved quarantine facilities at this stage, that is accepting P&P horses, is Belcam Stud, they were unable to give any prices for the quarantine service but advised that any permit application MUST have the lot / RP number of the quarantine facility on the application.

Given that Ulrich Klatte is on the QPPHI Crisis committee, and the committee are working closely with the DPI, wouldn't one expect that they would know these details are required and perhaps speed up the process by advising the mere mortals? Perhaps not....

Cindy M

SE Qld

Wingham Summertime Rodeo

With a horseless program due to equine influenza, and less than ordinary weather conditions, the Wingham Summertime Rodeo held on the NSW mid-north coast over the weekend struggled to pull a quarter of the gate takings it did last year.

But for the spectators who did attend the steers and bulls put on a great show as riders competed for thousands of dollars in prize money.
Rodeo judge Cameron Glass says the ride of the rodeo went to the winner of the Open Bull Ride Andrew Kelly who took home $1830.
"His bull was really athletic. It come around and came into a pretty tight spin and the cowboy didn't move off his rope, he had full control all the way through and didn't look he was going to get bucked off," he said.
"The field of riders were good, the bulls were outstanding. It's been a lot quieter with the EI and there's just bull rides. Nobody's back into the full swing yet but once we get all clear of the EI I think you'll find a lot more will start entering."
Hunter Valley horse and bull breeder Brad Fitzsimmons says equine influenza has slowed down business.
"There hasn't been too many rodeos on at all. This is only about the fourth rodeo we've done since the influenza outbreak. It's sort of put a stop on rodeos mostly," he said.
"There's a few starting to come back on now in the new year and hopefully as the year progresses and clears up we can start getting back into bucking some horses and some bulls."
Mr Fitzsimmons says the disease has gone through their property located in a purple zone at Branxton.
"We haven't bucked any horses since back in August when it first broke out, they've just been paddocked at home," he said.
"It's going to be later in the year I would think before we start doing a full program or run of rodeos."
One of the Fitzsimmons' bulls at the Wingham Summertime Rodeo was recently named the Australian Bushman's Campdraft and Rodeo Association (ABCRA) Bucking Bull of the Year.
Orgasmo, brother to Johnny Rotten and son of Matador, has only been ridden once in the last 14 to 15 months he's been bucking on the circuit.
That honour goes to Jason O'Hearn who rode him and won an Australasian Bullriding Title at the Kundabung Rodeo last October long weekend.
"That was the one and only time he's been ridden so far. He's had a few blokes go close up in the high sevens but eight seconds is the score," said Mr Fitzsimmons.

Results of the Wingham Summertime Rodeo:

Open Bull Ride - Andrew Kelly
Novice Bull Ride - Cliff Richardson
14 and Under 18 Juvenile Steer Ride - David Rice and Troy Wilkinson (equal first)
11 - 14 year Junior Steer Ride - Harrison Judd
8 - 11 year Pee Wee Poddy Ride - Bradie Gray

See the photo's

NSW DPI - Upcoming changes for the Purple Zone

If you want to move your horse to, or within, the current Purple Zone after 4 February you will need some certification to prove immunity. If your horses need vaccination or testing to go to competitions in the current Purple Zone, please contact your veterinarian. If you do not plan to move your horse, there is no need to do anything.

Read the full update

Harness-racers in Melbourne

HARNESS-racing horses are arriving in Victoria from Queensland and NSW for upcoming big races – including the Inter Dominion.

Blacks A Fake, winner of the past two Inter Dominions and favored to complete a hat-trick at Melbourne's Moonee Valley on March 1, was among six horses flown from Brisbane to Melbourne late Thursday and immediately floated to a temporary quarantine station at Geelong's Beckley Park as a final precaution against equine influenza.
Another two top Queensland hopes for the Inter Dominion, Be Good Johnny and Slipnslide, were to be flown to Melbourne overnight.
Eight NSW horses are being transported by road after a week's quarantine at Sydney's Harold Park and were also due in Geelong this morning.
The $400,000 Hunter Cup will be run on February 3 at Moonee Valley, the Inter Dominion heats on February 16 at Geelong, the semi-finals on February 23 at Moonee Valley, with the $750,000 final there the following Saturday.

Fancied runner's trainer too honest for his own good

EVERY Melbourne Cup has a hard luck story. This one's about a horse called Leica Falcon that did not even get to the post last year. The unfashionable galloper and his battling Corowa trainer Richard Freyer are already eyeing a path that may finally get him another start in Australia's great race.
While EI devastated the racing industry in southeast Queensland and Sydney, the plight of Leica Falcon aroused national interest as Freyer fought bureaucracy to try to get the gelding to Flemington.

After the EI outbreak was discovered at Sydney's Eastern Creek in August, authorities banned all movement of horses into Victoria.
The highly-fancied Cup hope was stranded in Corowa, NSW, on the wrong side of the Murray River – the Victorian border – and the green zone that would have allowed him to move freely and be prepared for the Cup.
"I was penalised for being too honest," Freyer said. "When the call went out from Sydney to stop movement of horses, there was a lot of people running them across the river here. We didn't move a horse and we stayed that way for six or seven weeks, until given the okay to move around parts of NSW.
"We have a 40-acre property on the Victorian side of the Murray. I could easily have taken Leica Falcon there and nobody would have known.
"I was too honest for my own good and it turned around and bit me. A lot of times in racing they say the honest bloke runs last, this time I reckon the saying was right."
Racing Victoria Limited CEO Stephen Allanson and then Federal Agriculture Minister Peter McGauran tried in vain to get Leica Falcon clearance to move the short distance and be quarantined in Victoria. Freyer remains bitter. At times it appeared bureaucracy was going to be overcome, but a decision in October by Victoria's Department of Primary Industries finally dashed their hopes.
"Common sense should have prevailed. I mean from when they discovered the virus it took six weeks to get within 600km of us and touch wood we still haven't had it yet," Freyer said.
"I'm bitter, the owners are bitter, but not on the racing officials or people like Peter McGauran, who bent over backwards to help. In the end it became political and egos got in the way of common sense.
"Some people didn't like Peter telling them what should be done. One bloke, who I won't name, put every hurdle possible in front of us. He was the one that asked for 1500 vaccines for Victoria when they needed about 15,000.
"That's the common sense this bloke had and the type of person we were dealing with."
If there is any good to come out of the saga it is that Leica Falcon has further developed and his dodgy tendon has strengthened.
After outstanding lead-up form, Leica Falcon was highly fancied in the 2005 Cup. He was widely drawn and finished a great fourth behind Makybe Diva but damaged his tendon.
The six-year-old had stem cell surgery in 2006 and missed that year's Cup.
He resumed at Caulfield in August last year and finished 13th in an unsuitable 1200m sprint – then the virus hit.
Freyer could not be happier with the son of Nothin' Leica Dane and intends setting him for the Sydney Cup and hopefully the Melbourne Cup.
"At the moment the horse is fantastic. If there is something good to come out of all this, it is that all the work he had and extra time without racing might have made him completely sound.
"I'll be looking to trial him next month and then we'll head to Sydney for a start and work towards the Cup and all going well we'll come back down for the (Melbourne) Cup.
"I remember telling my nephew, after he ran so well behind Makybe Diva, not to think it's easy getting here, and told him it wouldn't be a piece of cake getting back next year.
"How bloody true that was – two cups have gone and he hasn't been part of it. Hopefully we can get there again because he deserves another go."

Fewer horse flu cases prompts review

QUEENSLAND Racing believes the state could be free of equine influenza by May, based on a steady decline in the number of properties infected.

Horse flu shut down the Queensland racing industry on August 25 and, at its peak in mid-November, the number of infected premises in the state's southeast reached almost 2200.
Queensland Racing Ltd chief operations manager Malcolm Tuttle yesterday said the number of infected properties had plummeted to the "low 500s".
"It's due to a combination of the use of vaccination and fines for breaching movement and biosecurity protocols," Mr Tuttle said. "It is not beyond possibility that the entire state could be classified as a (EI-free) green zone some time during May. That's all based on current trends continuing."
Mr Tuttle said he was also buoyed by news that planned changes to zoning for EI could occur a month early.
Queensland racing industry representatives and the Department of Primary Industries met yesterday to discuss zoning due to the rapid decrease in infected properties.
Mr Tuttle said the southeast's amber zone could be regraded green and its red as amber within weeks.
Meanwhile, the Queensland Government is offering free blood testing and microchipping for eligible horses in the EI red zone. Treasurer and Acting DPI Minister Andrew Fraser said the $600,000 scheme was part of the State Government's $20 million commitment to help the horse industry recover from the outbreak.
Free microchipping and blood testing will be provided to business operators or competition horse owners in the red zone who require proof of their horses' immunity status.
"When the lab results are available, the vet will issue the owner with an equine influenza serology and microchip certificate for each horse sampled," Mr Fraser said.

All clear for Inter Dominion

THE final equine flu hurdle will be cleared when interstate stars Divisive and Slipnslide open their Melbourne Inter Dominion campaigns on Saturday.

Fears that horses from the EI-affected states of New South Wales and Queensland would not be allowed to contest harness racing's premier event, prompting calls to postpone the Inter Dominion, seem distant memories.
There are 18 harness horses in quarantine at the Geelong harness racing track.
Divisive's trainer-driver Peter Rixon praised the efforts of officials in NSW and Victoria.
"The work that's gone into arranging all of this is enormous," he said.
"This has been a very difficult time for a lot of people, but everything has been done to make it as smooth as possible. We're almost through it all now."
The NSW and Queensland horses were required to spend seven days in quarantine in their home states before another seven days at Geelong.
Pending approval from the Department of Primary Industries, they will be free to leave the Geelong facility on Friday.
"That's what we're all looking forward to, getting our horses into stables where they can settle down and get into their racing campaigns," Rixon said.
"It's been a difficult time, but I've done plenty of work with the horse in training. He needs racing now."
Divisive will open his campaign, aimed mainly at the $750,000 Inter Dominion final at Moonee Valley on March 1, in Saturday night's $40,000 Shepparton Cup.
"It's a standing-start, which will both give me a race and a guide where to go after this week. If he steps well from the stand, the Hunter Cup (February 3) is a logical option," Rixon said.
Young Queensland trainer-driver Luke McCarthy is looking further afield with Slipnslide when he leaves Geelong on Friday.
McCarthy's father John said he was confident a flight could be arranged from Melbourne to Adelaide for Slipnslide to contest Saturday night's $100,000 Group 1 South Australian Cup at Globe Derby.
"Luke's really keen, but only if there is a plane. He won't do the road trip with the hot weather that's being forecast," he said.
The McCarthy family's other pacing star, dual Miracle Mile winner Be Good Johnny, will open his Melbourne campaign in the $50,000 Group 2 Moonee Valley Cup on Saturday week.
Australia's best pacer Blacks A Fake, who has pleased trainer-driver Natalie Rasmussen in quarantine at Geelong, is also being set for the Moonee Valley Cup.

Horse flu zones to change soon: Qld Racing

Queensland Racing says planned changes to the zoning for horse flu could occur sooner-than-expected.

Yesterday industry representatives and the Department of Primary Industries met to discuss progress after a continued decrease in the number of properties infected.
Queensland Racing spokesman Malcolm Tuttle says the amber zone in the state's south-east could be converted to a green zone within weeks.
He says changes to the red zone have also been flagged.
"Rather than the zones incurring changes in March this year, its likely to in fact occur sooner," he said.
"We have a meeting with the DPI again this afternoon to discuss those changes and from a thoroughbred industry standpoint we need to understand what impact they may have on our industry."