Victoria Ferguson email to the AHIC

From: Victoria Ferguson
To: secretary@horsecouncil.org.au
Sent: Tuesday, March 04, 2008 4:52 PM
Subject: Re: Information from the Horse Industry Council

Any levy has to be fair & equitable so the horses that are able to earn the higehst incomes eg racehorses should be paying the highest levy, so they should pay levies on prizemoney won and a levy on all TB auction sales. There are plenty of horses that are not registered with any organisations so they will not make any contributions, a lot of horses are multi registered, so they should only have to pay once, the grants which were given to businesses and payments to horse carers are now going to be taxed so those taxes should go directly to this fund and not into general revenue. There are plenty of horses slaughtered at the meatworks, so there should be a levy on them retrospective to 25 August. But the biggest levy payers should be the owners of the shuttle stallions, they should pay a percentage of every service fee they get for 2008 & 2009 season. The above measures would soon pay the 80%, but I am sure this will never happen in a million years as it is too fair. The levy on registration is a joke when you look at the above suggestions.
However no legislation should be introduced until the results of the Callinan enquiry are known it is absolutely iniquitous that this legislation is being rushed through as they know Callinan results won't come out till 24 April.

Lifetime ban for man convicted of "extreme neglect' of his horses

A 22-year-old man has been banned from keeping animals for life for the "extreme neglect" of two horses.

The horses — Homer, a young 12hh piebald colt and Bart, a ten-year-old 15hh skewbald gelding— are now in the care of the International League for the Protection of Horses (ILPH).
Billy Stanford of Lingfield in Surrey appeared before Redhill Magistrates Court on Tuesday 4 March 2008 where he was given a life ban, a three month prison sentence suspended for 18 months and an 18 month supervision order.
He was ordered to pay costs of £1,000 and carry out 150 hours unpaid work to run concurrently with an order given at Sevenoaks Magistrates Court on 3 March 2008 for unrelated offences.
The Magistrate cited the extreme neglect of the horses as the reason for such a strong sentence and signed them both over into the permanent care of the ILPH.
On 19 March 2007 the ILPH was alerted to the plight of Stanford's two horses following a telephone call for assistance from the RSPCA.
ILPH Field Officer Ted Barnes visited the premises on Ray Close off Lingfield Common Road with RSPCA Inspector Liz Wheeler where they found Homer and Bart.
Both were incredibly underweight and Bart was suffering from untreated mud fever on his legs.
On advice from an independent veterinary surgeon, the horses were seized and moved to a safe holding yard before being transported to ILPH Hall Farm in Norfolk.
Commenting outside Redhill Magistrates Court, ILPH Field Officer Ted Barnes said: "I am absolutely delighted with the outcome. This is an extremely fair and appropriate punishment."
RSPCA Inspector Liz Wheeler said: "This is a very good and fair sentence and I am very pleased with the disqualification given. The seriousness of this offence is reflected in the sentence."
Homer and Bart have thrived in ILPH care and will eventually be rehomed through the ILPH loan scheme.

www.horseandhound.co.uk

Tinney risks all for Olympic selection

SYDNEY Olympic gold medallist Stuart Tinney will risk $100,000 on his bid to win selection in the three-day-event team for the Beijing Games.
With their horse business devastated by equine influenza in the past six months, Tinney and his wife Karen have had to borrow the money from her family to finance his European campaign to qualify for the Olympics.
The EI crisis was officially declared over in NSW last week, but the full impact is still being felt by leading Australian-based riders as they try to resurrect their Olympic campaigns.
Some, like Sydney rider Shane Rose, will contest the Sydney international three-day event from April 17 to 20, but most will depart for England in the next month to take advantage of the European season.
But that opportunity comes with a hefty price tag for those such as Tinney, who have younger horses that need to show their worth at the highest level.
Olympic squad members Emily Anker, Sonja Johnson, Janelle Pitts and Wendy Schaeffer are all heading overseas.
"From the Olympic point of view the crisis is not over," Tinney said yesterday.
"We haven't had any income since August and we're still trying to put together an Olympic campaign. We've spent $5000 on drugs alone from the vet. If anyone would like to help we would be glad to have them."
Equestrian Australia has applied to the federal Government for special funding to help the Olympic contenders finance their European campaigns but is still waiting for an answer.
Olympic stalwart Tinney said the financial burden, and his responsibilities to his family, took him close to admitting defeat in his Olympic bid.
"But Karen was very positive. If she hadn't been, I might have given this one up and looked at the next one (London in 2012)," Tinney said.
"But the horses are ready for this one. You buy them six years out and prepare them and you don't want to waste all that time. It was a very difficult decision because of the financial situation but we didn't have a choice if we wanted to go to the Olympics."
Tinney will also have to sell two of the horses he had earmarked for the London Games to keep his Beijing campaign afloat.
The Australian Sports Commission has come through with extra funding for the national squad to offset the hardship, but Tinney said that would only cover the transport costs of his leading horse Vettori.
However, he also has high hopes for his young mare Panamera, who is unproven at the highest level. "I will take her to Badminton (the world's most prestigious horse trials in May), I think she's up to it, she's a wonderful horse," he said.
He will leave for England on March 18 with six horses.
Rose, whose Olympic horse All Luck was an early EI victim, accepts that he may be hurting his chances by staying home, but said he could not afford to go to Europe. "I also think the ideal preparation for my horse is to do one event in March-April and then to prepare at home.
"There's absolutely a possibility that three or four people could go overseas and do well and put me at a disadvantage, but I am hoping a good performance in Sydney will be sufficient because I have proved that I can compete in Europe."

Medal tally may slip

THREE-time Olympian Vicki Roycroft says last year's equine influenza outbreak may cost Australia an equestrian medal at Beijing.

Roycroft said the EI outbreak had resulted in a "bloody horrible" six months for riders and the horse industry.
"Oh for sure, for sure," Roycroft said when asked if EI had dented Australia's medal hopes. "The cost is enormous.
"Personally, I spent two months not sitting on a horse. That's a world record for me. I rarely go a day without sitting on a horse.
"At least with the competition in April we can start to get our eye on the ball again (but) we've got bit to make up."
The Sydney International Equestrian Centre will host a showjumping and eventing qualifier next month, with a dressage qualifier to follow in early May.
Roycroft rated herself an outside chance to make this year's team.
She said Australia was lucky to have a number of experienced riders based in Europe who were unaffected by the EI outbreak, and Australians should not give up hope of a medal.

Coonabarabran Show feels EI impact

The Coonabarabran Show will be one of the first in the north-western New South Wales region to have equestrian events since the equine influenza (EI) outbreak.
The annual show begins today, with horse events to be held on Saturday.

However, the secretary of the Coonabarabran Show Society, Julie Shinton, says the usual two-day program of horse events has had to be reduced to one day.
She says onerous restrictions still apply, despite NSW being declared EI-free.
"We still have to register our events, we have to make sure that the public still is 20 metres away from the horse restricted area, we have to supply hoses to wash them down, receptacles to wash your hands and have soap and water and dispose of the droppings of the horses, and we have to mann gates to make sure that we've checked their travel statements, so yes there's a lot of work and a lot of extra staff," she said.
She says there has been strong interest in the show that will include ring, sporting and show jumping events.
"A lot of the people in the northern area they've got horses going to Sydney Royal and they've got no jumping courses, so we've just sort of opened it to say they can come too, so they can actually have an official jumping course and we've had a lot of general inquiry about all sorts of things, so I think people are excited it's going, yes," she said.

Aust Owners Support On-Going EI Vaccination

State delegates to the Australian Thoroughbred Racehorse Owners Council (representative 100,000 owners throughout Australia) voted unanimously "in favour of continued vaccination of the thoroughbred population against equine influenza". Out-going chairman Wayne Milner commented: "Although this disease appears to be eradicated, ATROC believes it is commercially prudent to continue to vaccinate the thoroughbred population against this seriously debilitating infection. Continuation of the vaccine will ensure the racing & breeding population will remain healthy & not allow EI to once again bring the racing & breeding industry to its knees."

Draft Recommendations From Callinan EI Inquiry

Meanwhile Justice Ian Callinan released a series of draft recommendations for discussion as part of his Equine Influenza inquiry. They include an overhaul of quarantine stations, a ban on horse imports through Melbourne airport until new facilities are built & the appointment of an Inspector-General Of Horse Importation. NSW Primary Industries Minister Ian Macdonald responded: "We need to fix up these facilities: they must be fool-proof. We will be in discussions with the Commonwealth to make sure this happens. We can't have another damaging outbreak of exotic disease." Submissions to the Callinan Inquiry are due to close on March 17.

NSW Govt Calls For Quarantine Reforms

NSW Primary Industries Minister Ian Macdonald announced "disturbing" quarantine issues have arisen in the draft recommendations of the inquiry by former High Court judge Ian Callinan into last year's Equine Influenza outbreak & declared the Federal Government must act immediately to reform Australia's quarantine system to ensure diseases like EI are halted at the border. Macdonald noted: "With the release of the draft Callinan documents, there is some disturbing stuff indeed. "We need, as a priority, to fix up our airport facilities so that equine influenza couldn't escape from that possible source of infection and, as well, our quarantine stations, which it is quite clear were not up to scratch. If it had been a disease that impacted on human health, it could have been totally disastrous." Macdonald said in the 6 months since EI was discovered in NSW, more than 40,000 horses across 6,000 properties became infected; as a result, transport bans plus industry & racing sector shutdowns cost the Australian economy an estimated $300 million.

MISSING From COLDSTREAM Much loved Child's Pony

Pony Information:
Name: PATCH
Height: Just under 9hh approx.
Age: 8 years old.
Sex: Gelding
Colour: White/grey -very woolly in winter coat
Markings/ Distinguishing Characteristics:
A few dark hairs in a patch on his rump.
His bite is offset, with slight overbite and easily identifiable.
Story: Patch was in his paddock with his two favorite mares, late on Monday 3rd March, 2008.
He could not have left our property without some 'help'.We noticed him missing at 11:30am on Tuesday 4th March, 2008. My children are absolutely devastated and we are asking everyone to keep a look out for him. He is part of our family; we love him dearly and desperately want him returned. PLEASE HELP us locate our little man!
Last Seen:
Monday 3rd March, 2008
In his paddock, just off:
Victoria Road, Coldstream, Victoria.
$500 REWARD For his return
No questions asked!!
Please contact me with any information:
0409 259 923
email: findpatch@live.com.au