BRISBANE apprentice Ric McMahon was a horse flu victim at Eagle Farm yesterday, but he deserves no sympathy.
McMahon was stood down from four rides and ordered from the track by stewards for failing to heed clearly defined protocol rules.
He was informed by stewards he must not bring riding gear he used at Warwick Farm last week.
McMahon did not conform to the ruling and a less-than-impressed chief steward Reid Sanders ordered him off the track.
SOME of the racing industry participants hardest hit by the equine flu outbreak stand out more than others, but horse transport businesses clearly are hurting.
Since August 25 there has not been a single movement of horses by float.
Well, none sanctioned, and certainly none by the professional float drivers.
Consider the hardship of Toowoomba's Gary Higgins.
Higgins, 57, has worked tirelessly over many years to build up a good business ferrying horses based on the Darling Downs.
He has seven floats – three 12-horse movers, a 10, and two nine-horse trucks.
He employs six full-time drivers, another six part-time drivers and three office staff.
There is absolutely no return coming in. His horse floats are not designed for anything but moving horses.
Higgins wants to keep his drivers.
"These aren't normal truck drivers. They are drivers with the extra skill of being able to load horses on and off the floats and have built up a vast knowledge of where stables and studs are situated and the layout of a lot of those properties," Higgins rightly said.
"If we lose them from the industry it will be a huge loss.
"They will be very, very difficult to replace and it might take a long time to find people as capable."
Higgins is only one example. Every other professional float proprietor is doing it just as tough.
These business owners have come together and are seeking a meeting with the Department of Primary Industry and Queensland Racing to seek some indication when horse movement may resume.
UNDOUBTEDLY the float proprietors and their staff have legitimate claims on the Federal Government's support package for those whose income has been cut altogether or severely curtailed.
The grants are welcomed, but it's not going to cover the losses the individuals are suffering.
In what seems a bit harsh, the payments will be considered part of assessable income for tax purposes.
That smacks a little of giving with one hand and taking with the other.
A tax exemption will be granted to some workers involved in the hardship supplement payment delivered by Centrelink.
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