Australia’s horses in custody
When Valley resident Kathy Hauenstein
spent two months in Australia recently, she suddenly found herself under
lockdown for a week, although she had committed no crime!
“In mid-August, I was attending a cutting show in the state
of Victoria, which was in preparation for a big upcoming futurity show,” said
Kathy. “This would be an important opportunity to show my young horse to her
best advantage. But suddenly, we got word that there had been a case of equine
influenza detected in Sydney. This was a big shock, because there had never
been a case documented in Australia, surrounded as it is by wide, deep seas. It
was considered so crucial to Australian equine health that drastic measures
were immediately undertaken.
‘They are very careful there about horses entering their
country, and when I flew in from the U.S. they had even sprayed my boots and
spurs at the airport. It was believed that the equine flu had somehow come from
a racehorse that had been flown in from Japan. This was especially serious
because the racing industry is a huge industry in Australia and thousands of
people depend on it for their sole income.
“An order immediately went out that no one could transport
any horse anywhere,” she continued. “If
someone did, there would be a $25,000 fine. They were obviously desperate to
prevent this disease from spreading. So, wherever you and your horse happened
to be, that’s where you stayed!”
Kathy’s trainer and his wife were at a horse park, where
they had been showing in the cutting classes. They were in the company of about
one hundred and fifty horses and several hundred owners and trainers, as
cutting horse competitions are considered to be a very hot item there. All further classes were canceled and the
gates were immediately closed. Since this happened on a Saturday, there were
thousands of people stranded at shows all over Australia, including little kids
at pony shows.
“Although humans could move about and go into a little town
nearby,” she told us, “our horses were behind the gates and we had to stay and
take care of them. But they were in big safe stalls and there were grassy
fields around us where we could walk them. Naturally, rumors flew around and
one was that our horses might be quarantined for a month or more; but in
typical Australian fashion, everyone absolutely made the best of it. They had
barbecues and played cricket and got acquainted with each other. I slept in a
part of the horse trailer on a bed roll and although it wasn’t exactly
comfortable because of the cold; the hardest part was taking a shower with
water that wasn’t necessarily going to be warm each day.
“As it turned out, we were only locked down for seven days,
after a team of vets arrived and took blood tests and temperatures and swabbed
all the horse’s nostrils. We were finally declared influenza free and were told
we could straight go home, but were forbidden to make any stops on the way.
“The big cutting competition that we had planned to go to in
Melbourne was cancelled. Their grounds had been full of horses for a previous
jumping competition. The health official’s biggest concern is about the places
where big groups of horses congregate, like horse shows, steeplechases and
races. There the virus could run rampant. The racing industry is one of the
largest industries in Australia, and the word is that it came to a complete
halt. The famous Melbourne Cup, which has been run since the 1800s, may very
well be cancelled, too. No horses were going to be permitted to congregate at
any place at any time.
“On top of that,” she concluded, “this is Australia’s
foaling season, and if a mare gets this influenza, there is a good chance her
foal could be aborted. The symptoms are rather similar to human flu, with a
high fever, coughing and nasal discharge.
However, although they feel sick, it is usually not a fatal disease
except perhaps for elderly horses or the very young. Because it had never been
a problem in Australia, the horses had not been vaccinated as they are here. So
it has spread like wildfire.”
Equestrian
Center Celebrates
The week of the Equestrian Center’s volunteer barbecue, the
valley had experienced the whole index of weather: rain, wind, boiling hot and chilling cold. At times the skies had
exhibited deep purple clouds from horizon to horizon. So David Hunsicker, president of the Santa Ynez
Valley Equestrian Center, had a talk with the weather man. He explained about
the upcoming outdoor barbecue for all the kind hearted people who had helped to
build the spacious new cow-horse arena. It was finally agreed that since the
sun had nothing to do but roll around heaven all day, he definitely would show
up.
Among the benevolent folks who came to the appreciation
celebration were Mark and Jennie Coxon -- he does
plumbing and she is a photographer. Also there were Judy Adam, Abel Navarro,
Jim and Dixie Grayfeather, Bill Pacheco, Claire and Bodie Bettencourt and Trisha. Also, Barney Hanly was there -- he has an engineering company -- and
Mike Newman and his wife, Stephanie, and daughters, Allie and Daisy.
Jon Stephen brought his crew to work for days and days. Mike
Green did a lot of the important grading; Les and Sheila Ames performed tree
services; Jason Thompson delivered granite; Steve Jacobsen brought his tractor
and disced the grounds. Mike Diaz and his wife Glenda
were there, and Mike said, “This place is just so good for the community that I
showed up to help every day -- and I don’t even own a horse.”
One can hardly name all the work that Roger and Kathy
Fortier performed. Howard Erenberg, the Equestrian
Board treasurer, brought his friends,
Greg and Linda Schrage, who donated
miles and miles of pipe to build the area.
Everyone dined on tri-tip and all the fixin’s
from the Far Western Tavern, and Kathy Fortier brought chocolate brownies. The
entertainment was Melissa Fortier and Cheyenne Coxon
giving rides to the smaller children on their gentle horses in the beautiful
new show ring as the sun slowly made its departure.