Weezy
Well-Known Member
Just read it and I am totally shocked. It says that 40 horses died before the Spanish knew they were dealing with AHS - that is 100% complete and utter bollox and I am furious about this - now, this may well have been the line that was officially given, or one they are using now, or mis information, but it is totally untrue. I was there, I was one of the people who were permitted on the yard (a shipment of polo ponies were infected by the zebra in quarentine in Madrid, the ponies came down to us and bang, we had an epidemic - we had over 100 horses on our land). I had to watch our horses drop dead in front of officials who refused to give us permission to put them down when they were bleeding, blowing up, convulsting and foaming - we were told that it was important that the horses were monitored, absolutely ZERO thought was given to the suffering of our horses.
There is absolutely no doubt that the officials immediately knew it was AHS, the deaths all occured on our yards - I was a teenage girl having stand up arguements with Spanish beaurocrats on a daily basis - I had to drive the JCB and pick up bodies and dump them in an open grave and set fire to the bodies - pray tell why were we having to do this if the officials did not know we were dealing with AHS? We had no idea what we were dealing with when the first horses started having symptoms but we were informed of EXACTLY what we were dealing with VERY quickly - certainly before 40 horses died! Our vet was distraught and we were told VERY strongly that if we were found to have interferred with the horses at all (i.e. administer euthanasia or pain killers) then we would be arrested. They made it very clear that monitoring only was permitted.
And then there is the question of vaccination. After we had the natural selection process, those that were still alive were jabbed and branded. If you ever see a horse in Spain with an X brand on its shoulder it is because it was vaccinated for AHS. So WHY WHY WHY are we still being told that there in no vaccine available in Europe? The one we used certainly worked, the disease was stopped - so why now is there nothing available?
I pray to God that AHS never reaches these shores - it is the most horrific disease to witness and when you are walking up a line of stables, only to walk back down a minute later and another 2 horses have gone down you understand how fast it spreads and how fast you have to act.
There is absolutely no doubt that the officials immediately knew it was AHS, the deaths all occured on our yards - I was a teenage girl having stand up arguements with Spanish beaurocrats on a daily basis - I had to drive the JCB and pick up bodies and dump them in an open grave and set fire to the bodies - pray tell why were we having to do this if the officials did not know we were dealing with AHS? We had no idea what we were dealing with when the first horses started having symptoms but we were informed of EXACTLY what we were dealing with VERY quickly - certainly before 40 horses died! Our vet was distraught and we were told VERY strongly that if we were found to have interferred with the horses at all (i.e. administer euthanasia or pain killers) then we would be arrested. They made it very clear that monitoring only was permitted.
And then there is the question of vaccination. After we had the natural selection process, those that were still alive were jabbed and branded. If you ever see a horse in Spain with an X brand on its shoulder it is because it was vaccinated for AHS. So WHY WHY WHY are we still being told that there in no vaccine available in Europe? The one we used certainly worked, the disease was stopped - so why now is there nothing available?
I pray to God that AHS never reaches these shores - it is the most horrific disease to witness and when you are walking up a line of stables, only to walk back down a minute later and another 2 horses have gone down you understand how fast it spreads and how fast you have to act.
