The exportation of horses from South Africa has come to a complete standstill after an outbreak of sickness among the animals.

Currently, the only place from which horses are allowed to be exported from is the Kenilworth quarantine station on the Western Cape, but because diseases have spread to areas close to the station, even exports from there have been temporarily stopped.

The epidemic started in February, and since then more than 1,000 horses have lost their lives, but Douglas Welsh of the African Horse Sickness Trust says he thinks that number reported is actually only a fraction of the horses that have actually died.

According to Peter Gibson of Racing South Africa, this outbreak is the sixth one that has happened since 1960, and the World Organization for Animal Health has a requirement that a suspension must be in place on South Africa for 12 months after an outbreak happens. The outbreak has already cost breeders millions of dollars, declining the earning of farms by up to 40%.

"Our horses are some of the best in the world, but people won't buy them because they can't take them out", said horse breeder Van der Merwe.