Comment on Farmers improve biosecurity since horse flu scare:

are u serious?
biosecure all u like. if theres another outbreak unless the nearest horse is over 10 k away just the wind is going to do the job for goodness sake.
only the implementation of vaccination buffers stopped this nighmare
although i suppose we can argue that lax biosecurity let it out of eastern creek there is still the irrufutable fact that the wind still infected every agistment horse around eastern creek despite lockdown and the sudden inplementation of biosecurity
i pray the necessary amount of vaccine is already on hand for buffer zone administration of hoof and mouth vaccine if there is a case.
lockdown alone is just as useless on its own without vaccination buffers for fmd too.
its even stated in the draft protocol for fmd although was in the draft for ei as well n that was not only ignored this time round. how many remember the dpi telling us for days that vaccination was not the way the stop ei.
lockdown would do it.
they did so many about faces doubt they knew which way was north any more before
hallelujah
they found the light and buffer zones were the way to go.

well after the racing industry was protected. new paragraph in the draft report we must have missed noticing.
S.

My horses feet are falling apart!

Well I appreciate all the voices of ‘reason’ out there but I ask you are you horses getting professional hoof care? Obviously they must be if you can continue to work them as usual until they get sick!
I noticed on the television footage of Centennial Park Stables last night that all the horses and ponies, about to go out for a ride in Sydney’s lovely Centennial Park, were nicely shod or trimmed!!!
All the race horses must be getting appropriate hoof care if their only worry is ‘how soon’ they can be racing again.
It’s all very well for people with access to these services to preach & tell us we should be patient but the truth of the matter is where I live I can’t get a farrier. I’m told they are not allowed to work.
I can ‘tidy up’ the edges of my horse’s feet with a rasp but I can’t give them the professional care that they need. As a result their feet are now starting to ‘fall apart’. They are all ‘lame’ to some degree and unable to be ridden for exercise and don’t even run around the paddock. As a result of this they are putting on weight. This, as we all know has its own consequences.
My aged, retired show mare already has laminitis and we are considering that we will have to euthanase her if we can’t get proper hoof care for her soon.
My yearling has OCD problems with some pedal bone involvement – without proper hoof care now she is unlikely to be a sound riding horse in the future.
My current riding horse has never coped well without shoes not even when a youngster. I had to ‘pull’ his shoes off myself 2 weeks ago and have been unable to ride him since.
The soundest horse we have here (who also happens to be sold, waiting to go to Victoria when it is all over) is 3 years old & never been shod. She has excellent feet and has always been sound without shoes even to ride up the road but without proper hoof care she too, is ‘sore’ like the rest.
If I have a sound horse to ride or show at the end of this it will be a miracle.

All of these problems already and the EI still probably a week or 2 from getting here. And it will, make no mistake. It is about 15kms away in a straight westerly direction. It will ‘blow’ right down the valley to us going from horse to horse til it get’s here.
I am prepared. I have consulted with my vet (who is 60kms away) and already have every drug imaginable in the cupboard and fridge in readiness. But why should I or any other horse owner have to go through this???
I wouldn’t mind the 6 month standstill so much if it hadn’t turned into so much work. If I could just turn my horses out and ‘enjoy’ the break it would be fine. But I am afraid to compromise their health in any way with this ‘thing’ hanging over us. So they are still fed, rugged and ‘locked’ away from the grass for much of the day to prevent ‘founder’.
Now don’t get me wrong, I have it easy compared with some in our area. I don’t make my living from my horses and I don’t have a job that I have to juggle with caring for them.
There are people out there really, really suffering. I cry when I read some of the stories on the web forums and I already see the suffering of local ‘horse dependant’ businesses in our area.
Like everyone else I am sick of seeing the disparity in the treatment being given to horse owners. This ongoing preferential treatment of the Racing Industry is very demoralising for everyone else in the horse industry.
Like many others I have emailed certain TV programs in the hope that they might show the ‘other’ side of the EI outbreak but to no avail.
Does anyone else out there think that maybe the media have been ‘gagged’ on this issue? That maybe they are only allowed to talk about the race horses because if the general public found out about the ‘government’ forced neglect of animals going on out there, there would be public outrage?
In the end, at this moment in time, I just want a farrier.
I have already got to the point of impotent rage and frustration at the inequity of the whole situation. All I can do is take things one day at a time and hope that somehow in the near future the natural balance of order will return to our lives.
However the biggest lesson that I have learned form this whole ordeal, which is a long way from being over, is how much control the government has over our lives!!

Is Australia really a ‘free country’ or is that just an illusion we live under. What if this was a human epidemic? Would there be the same inequity in the treatment given and supply of vaccines to the human population? I wonder………….

KC

Wallabadah NSW

EI not expected to hurt pony club registration

The Scone Pony Club in the New South Wales Upper Hunter says it is expecting strong registration numbers this year, despite the equine influenza (EI) outbreak bringing the industry to a standstill.

The club is holding its first event since the horse flu outbreak, this Sunday, but there will not be horses, due to some riders failing to get the proper paperwork.
Instead, the day will focus on registering riders and horse-related activities.
Club president Nick Hinde says the club is hoping for a good year after horse flu caused chaos last year.
"I think it's made everyone keener. It's been so long since there's been any events. We were cut short our year, last year, everyone was stopped on the 25th of August and so I think everyone is very keen to go again this year," he said.

Farmers improve biosecurity since horse flu scare: survey

A new survey shows livestock producers have followed the lead of horse owners and improved their biosecurity procedures since the outbreak of equine influenza (EI).
The latest research from Animal Health Australia (AHA) shows 72 per cent of farmers felt better informed about animal disease since the outbreak of equine influenza.
The survey found almost 50 per cent of horse owners have completely reviewed their biosecurity procedures to better protect their properties in the future.
The AHA surveyed more than 300 livestock producers.
AHA disease risk mitigation manager Duncan Rowland says horse flu has made many livestock producers think carefully about their own situation.
"Saying 'well, how is this going to affect me and what happens if Australia suddenly gets foot in mouth disease or some other emergency animal disease, and what's the affect on me and what do I need to'," he said.
"Which has been fantastic because it's actually focused the attention of these producers on biosecurity."
But Mr Rowland says more than 40 per cent of farmers are still unsure about the procedures they implemented.
"It's a confidence issue," he said.
"Horse owners have implemented a range of procedures, but because this is the first time that Australia has experienced EI and because it's been so contagious they're just uncertain."