LAHORE, Dec 6: The outbreak of equine influenza at the Lahore Race Club (LRC) has thrown the racing calendar into a state of total disarray, with some of the bigger events postponed to later dates.

Although the disease is somewhat under control now, its effects will be felt for a while. A large number of horses can still be seen coughing and many have lost a considerable amount of weight too.

LRC steward Masood Pervaiz, who also happens to own a big stable in Lahore, told Dawn that keeping in view the present situation and the condition of the horses, it has been decided for now to hold short-distance races for at least a month. The midweek Gymkhana races will be held in over 800 metres and Sunday’s meeting races will go over 1,000 metres, maximum. The horses are just not in a state to go beyond that right now.

Meanwhile the LRC has, in collaboration with a specialist veterinarian of the Brooke Hospital, launched an awareness campaign to educate the horse owners, trainers along with anyone involved in the horse breeding industry about how to protect horses from illness and unnecessary suffering.

As a part of the campaign, Dr Aslam Akhtar Zaidi has held several meetings with LRC officials and also presented lectures informing owners/trainers that equine influenza is caused by a virus, leading to fever and severe coughing. It is a rapidly spreading, contagious, febrile disease, chiefly affecting horses and donkeys in epidemic proportions.