Local horse business hit hard but owner signs up to help in the fight against EI

Appin horsewoman, Rebecca Booth, is helping out at her Local Disease Control Centre (LDCC).

Rebecca Booth has been running her successful holistic horse health business, Elementals Equine Therapies, since 2003. Things were so good that on August 3rd 2007 she quit her job to concentrate on the business full time.

"For those first two weeks I was flat out, it was great and I knew I had made the right decision to quit my full-time job. That all changed when horse flu hit and I was forced to temporarily stop horse massaging," Ms Booth said.

The Appin horse practitioner said the timing was almost comical, but is a firm believer that all areas of the horse industry should act responsibly at this time.

"It’s still hard to believe that something like this has happened and brought my business and many others across NSW, to a complete standstill," she said.

"I have massaged all sorts of horses including race horses, all types of performance horses and the family pony. Although I adhere to strict sterilisation procedures for all of my work, owners are not keen to have anyone on their property that doesn’t need to be there."

With only the product side of the business operating Rebecca decided to start casual work until things returned to normal. After contacting a local agency they placed here at the Local Disease Control Centre (LDCC) based at Camden.

"It’s quite ironic when you think about it; the thing that has forced me to slow my business right down is also what is enabling me to put food on the table. Horse flu or not, five horses, four dogs and four cats all still need feeding and looking after.

Rebecca said the number of people working at LDCC really surprised her.

"The level of commitment that is being shown 7 days a week is pretty astonishing. Most aren’t horse people, are away from home for long periods of time and are using all of their skills to help contain this outbreak and eradicate it from NSW and indeed Australia.

"I would prefer to be visiting and massaging horses because it’s what I love doing, but for now I am happy to be able to do my bit in the front line fight against EI," Ms Booth said.

Key contacts:
NSW Equine Influenza Hotline 1800 675 888
Website: www.dpi.nsw.gov/equine-influenza

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