The Australian horse world has fallen into crisis mode as the impact of an outbreak of equine influenza takes hold. Horses have played – and continue to play – a huge part in our history. The Light Brigade, the blokes from Snowy River, Phar Lap, the Three Day Eventing teams in three consecutive Olympic Games and a horse's ass running the country. The bottom line is that horses have played a huge part making Australia what it is today.

While the horse doesn’t get much of a go in the work stakes any more, Australia’s estimated 1.5 million horses get a much better go in the recreational stakes. From racing, through trail riding, pony clubs, gymkhanas, hacking, eventing, show jumping and dressage – all of them are being affected by the virus.

The racing industry has been hardest hit – it’s the (financially) biggest equestrian industry – as the virus has spread to the main Sydney racecourse, Randwick, currently home to around 700 racehorses. The lucrative New South Wales Spring Racing Carnival is almost certain to be cancelled in a bid to contain the spread of the disease.

'The racing industry has been hardest hit as the virus has spread to the main Sydney racecourse, Randwick, currently home to around 700 racehorses'

At this stage, the Melbourne Spring Carnival, including the prestigious Melbourne Cup, is unaffected but events are unfolding rapidly. Regardless, the impact on the racing industry will be huge. Estimates of the financial losses are in the hundreds of millions of dollars. Talk of lawsuits already abounds, with the government’s quarantine service being the likely target.

Although Australian Government officials are being cautious about pinpointing the source of the outbreak, all evidence points to a breakdown in quarantine procedures at the Eastern Creek quarantine centre. A batch of 50 horses were moved into the centre on August 8, including some from Japan, from where the infection is believed to have originated. It is unclear how the disease has spread from the quarantine centre as none of the horses has yet been released.

Outside of the racing industry, sport and pleasure horses are also affected. A lockdown of horse movements has stranded some of Australia’s best equestrian athletes and forced the cancellation of the Olympic eventing qualifiers, the Sydney International. While there is still the Adelaide International Horse Trials in November, many riders were hoping to qualify at the Sydney event.