AN outbreak of the African Horse disease in Gauteng and Mpumalanga provinces has forced the Western Cape government to bar any horses from these two provinces from entering the Cape. Western Cape agriculture department representative Charlene Niewoudt said on Tuesday the decision was taken earlier in the day to protect the spread of the disease to the province. ”Our department felt that since there is a lot of rain here at the moment, the province is very vulnerable at this stage, once an affected horse enters the province the disease will spread very rapidly,” she said. Niewoudt said the Western Cape was ”a free zone”, which meant horses could be exported to all over the world, but could lose that status as soon as it was discovered the disease broke out in the province. The symptoms of the disease include the animal foaming around the nostrils, developing swollen eyes and dies very quickly. – Sapa