For more than 20 horses in Tasmania given a second chance at life, their future once again hangs in the balance.

Key points: Coronavirus restrictions have dried up business for an equestrian facility that takes in rescues and former racehorses

Coronavirus restrictions have dried up business for an equestrian facility that takes in rescues and former racehorses The owners are hoping horse sponsors will help save those that cannot be re-homed

The owners are hoping horse sponsors will help save those that cannot be re-homed The racing industry also warns that a shutdown will create animal welfare challenges for the sport

Operators of Jeu de Cheval Hobart Horseplay say lockdown measures to limit the spread of coronavirus have crippled the equestrian facility.

Lizzie Donovan said business had completely dried up in the past week, meaning it had limited resources to feed and keep the horses long term.

She said, while the horses were not in mortal danger now, the situation would need to be reviewed.

"We are really going week to week … the horses most in danger are the ones that are the most damaged," she said.

"Unfortunately for a lot of them, they are so badly damaged, both mentally and physically, that re-homing them is not a responsible thing to do, particularly in this climate."

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If a solution cannot be found, euthanasia might be the only option for the horses.

The facility at Tea Tree in southern Tasmania has 46 horses — a mix of rescues, former racehorses and purpose-bought horses — and sourcing feed was already a challenge due to a summer of drought and bushfires.

"They actually cost $80 a week per horse to feed on average, and we have about 40 of them, so our bill is about $3,200 a week in feed alone, that's not counting vet care and farrier care and the business expenses," Ms Donovan said.

Jeu de Cheval Hobart Horseplay works with people of all abilities. ( Supplied: Lizzie Donovan )

Jeu de Cheval Hobart Horseplay is not the only business that might face difficult decisions as coronavirus restrictions continue.

The racing industry has an exemption allowing meetings to continue as long as mitigating measures, such as ensuring social distancing and reducing field sizes to 10, are met.

If further restrictions stopped racing, Tasracing chief executive Paul Eriksson said animal welfare would be a challenge when the industry's income was lost.

"These animals are highly trained and they are effectively high-performance athletes; we can't just turn them out in a paddock and expect that they will forage and do that, so they still require care and attention," he said.

Tasracing says a shutdown of racing could bring animal welfare challenges. ( ABC Northern Tasmania: Fred Hooper )

For Jeu de Cheval, which has a focus on promoting animal welfare, Ms Donovan said the owners were very distressed and looking at all options including asking people to sponsor a horse for four weeks until they could reassess the situation.

"It's just that it's unprecedented; we've always known that there'd be business waxing and waning and so we have stockpiled for that, but the business is only new and we've acquired a bunch of horses from a hording situation which was horrible," she said.

"So it's just a really bad time for the pandemic to hit, and coming into winter they need more feed."

Andrew Byrne, the interim chief executive of RSPCA Tasmania, said animal welfare could become an issue during the coronavirus pandemic.

"It really depends on the people, who are our eyes and ears, and this is one of the issues we may have, that less people are out and about so less people are spotting these animal welfare issues," Mr Byrne said.

He added that people did pull together in times of crisis.

"We all tend to put a hand out if we can to try and help each other … the barriers come down and any competition that might have been there disappears," he said.

"People want to do the right thing by animals, whether they're theirs or other people's, if they can."

Noah Smith is one of the people who will miss interacting with the horses. ( Supplied: Lizzie Donovan )

This was also something Ms Donovan said she had seen in recent days, describing the community response as overwhelming.

The business is looking at what government support might be available for sole traders, and welcomed offers of support from the community.

"Even just donating a round bale of hay, or a little bit of food, or even just getting in touch so we know we have that community support, that would just be so helpful," she said.