Thread: Entire horse industry shut down Oz wide...

Yes its all getting very strange, they havent said wether this is curable yet, we have one horse that left last week to go to a vet that was real sick, we hope it wasnt this

it's a virus much the same as human flu but will kill the young and elderly. A healthy adult horse recovers in about a week.
The talk from the vets is something like a 40% mortality rate among foals

Drivesafe is right, something has slipped up in procedures at quarantine, possibly in transport (trucks are supposed to be disinfected between the airport, quarantine station and outbound, including all tack. Even the trucks/floats used to transport mares between studs during the thoroughbred breeding season are supposed to be washed/disinfected to prevent the spread of disease)

Australia has never had EI and so there is no vaccine available. I just feel for everyone who is stuck miles from home. There was an Olympic selection 3 Day Event in Warwick, everyone is stuck there. There are cutting and campdrafting and dressage and showjumping and ponyclub comps all over the place. Not everyone got home, and typically in the country you travel several hours to these things so people are stuck miles from home, and often these places don't really have the facilities to properly house the animals. Often you just turn up on the day, tie your horse to the float, do your thing and go home. These animals will have to be fed and watered, often people have specific feed regimes so it will be a bit of a nightmare.

The huge, wealthy studs will be fine, it's the little people who will suffer.