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Author: Rebecca Elvin

Becky is an experienced sports PR professional who has been involved in eventing forever. She has worked on 4 Olympic Games on the media side, and at Badminton, Burghley, Gatcombe, Windsor and Olympia. Becky has joined the board to head up the PR side.

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Portman Horse Trials

For those members heading to Portman tomorrow and Wednesday please be aware of a road closure that will impact on your journey and hence your arrival time.

The A354 is closed between Salisbury and Coombe Bissett – the diversion is 1 hour 20 mins! Please check for alternative routes, but please note zigzag hill out of Shaftesbury is not lorry friendly.

Enjoy your day out!

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EHOA Events International Membership Owners

Contribute to Support Eventing – the 2021 Season Fund

Dear Owners,
You will undoubtedly be aware of the many uncertainties facing eventing this season. Biosecurity concerns and financial problems related to the COVID pandemic are having a severe impact on professional and amateur sport, causing the cancellation of important fixtures and leading to reduced investment in event improvements and prize money.  Whilst there is reason for optimism, we believe that identifying issues facing competitors, owners and organisers and becoming involved in creating solutions is a very worthwhile activity. Encouraged by approaches from EHOA members and friends of eventing offering financial support to events in order to help them keep running this season, we have established a fund raising campaign designed to support eventing at all levels during the coming season.
The ‘2021 Season Fund’ initiative has the backing of many of the sport’s principal stakeholders, including elite and grassroots riders, owners, organisers, World Class performance managers and British Eventing.  If you too are passionate about the sport and have the financial means to make a contribution or have questions about the fund please get in touch by e-mail: theehoa@gmail.com   or by telephone: 07710 344 008
Each person who reads this e-mail and generously decides to donate to the fund will have a preference for the area of eventing they consider most deserving of support. To meet this need, the funds will be channelled. Donors may select to earmark their funds for either grassroots initiatives or higher performance aspects of the sport, including 4 and 5 star events. With the support of our sponsor Shearwater Insurance Services, we have already established a 2021 season prize fund for grassroots competitors. Thank you to those EHOA members who responded to our recent survey to say they are interested to provide additional funding. We welcome your donations recognising our members and others who achieve good results at selected Championships.
Alternatively, donations to  the 2021 Season Fund may be dedicated to supplementing the ‘EHOA grants to events’ scheme normally restricted to implementing enhanced provision for owners.  This year we seek to greatly broaden this aspect of funding. With your support, modest grants will be made to fund improvements to venues, to supplement prize monies and to generally mitigate risks that may lead to fixture cancellations.  In the year of the Olympics and European Championships every effort made to support top tier sport will have a significant impact.
Our vision is for a predictable calendar of viable events throughout 2021, providing ample competition opportunities for riders from grassroots through to elite levels and enabling horses to progress, to gain appropriate eligibility requirements, and with prize funds available to recognise the highest achieving partnerships.  If you are able to support the 2021 Season Fund with a donation, large or small, please respond, specifying the amount you would be willing to donate and stating whether you have a preference for your donation to be routed to the grassroots prize fund, to the higher performance funding stream, or have no preference.  You will receive further information on making the transaction.  All donations and award allocation decisions will be managed by a panel of independent advisors and donors are invited to provide suggestions as to the allocations made. Funds are held separately from EHOA membership monies.
I look forward to hearing from you with your suggestions for this initiative or any other proposal that will benefit eventing in general or owners specifically. Please feel free to forward this email to others whom you think may be interested to contribute but who are not members of the EHOA.
With sincere thanks,
Linda Allan, on behalf of the EHOA Board
Chair, EHOA
T: 07710 344 008
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EHOA Events Membership Owners

C19 Protocols – Aston Le Walls Elite 31st March

Owners Attendance

With the key date of 29th March being reached and HMG restrictions being relaxed as per their roadmap. The restriction of NO Owners at Aston Le Walls Elite Event 31st March 2021, will now be relaxed to normal C19 Sport Protocols under operation for all British Eventing Events in weeks 5 and 6.
-Owners – 1 Owner per horse / 2 Owners per horse if from the same household. (Under Review for Events running from 12th April 2021)
PLEASE do not stretch the rules – we are in a very privileged position to be allowed to attend. Do not forget the mantra of: Arrive – Observe – Depart.
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EHOA Events Membership Owners

Eventful Life offer

We have a very generous offer for all Owners that had horses competing at the Elite Pathway Oasby Horse Trials yesterday (Monday) from An Eventful Life. Read on for more details…

Due to the restrictions currently in place that no Owners were allowed to attend An Eventful Life are offering a special 40% discount to Owners on the full round of their respective horses competing. Just in case you didn’t catch it on the live stream.

The Offer on the table –  discount is available only to our 5* members but we still have the $1 Member Trial Offer so their video will cost only Aus$55 in total (approximately £31) including the file Download and the ability to make the video Private if required.

So, in summary

Paul and Debbie from An Eventful Life are happy to provide help via phone or email if anyone is having problems ordering! All details on the website.

Get ordering!

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EHOA Events International Membership Owners

Owners attending events update

I know that owners are keen to attend Elite Venues running pathway events.  As you know under normal C19 Sport Protocols we have restricted Owner presence, which we are hoping to relax some more from April. At our Elite Events still to run – Oasby and Aston Le Walls – we are running under strict guidance for Elite Sport and I am afraid that means that Owners are unable to attend.

For those watching at home Oasby is being streamed on H&C

British Eventing and the events themselves all recognise the importance of owners, particularly at the Elite level and are sorry that you are unable to attend at this time, but sadly everyone’s hands are tied.

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EHOA International Membership Owners

EHV-1 – Management of horses returning to UK from high risk areas of Europe.

EHV-1 – Management of horses returning to UK from high risk areas of Europe.

Horse welfare continues to be our highest priority and we expect all members to comply with the requirements to protect our equine population. Please see below guidance on management of horses travelling into the UK from Europe.

Currently, there is a Europe-wide alert of increased risk of disease associated with Equine Herpes Virus (EHV-1), which originated in Valencia (ESP) and has already resulted in related outbreaks in at least three other countries in Europe.

In response we are putting in place the following measures for all horses  returning from France, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Italy, Austria, Poland, Netherlands, Germany and Slovakia from 1st March 2021:

  1. All horses returning to the UK from France, Spain, Portugal, Belgium, Italy, Austria, Poland, Netherlands, Germany and Slovakia should be isolated from others which may attend British Eventing competitions and training events. Further we strongly advise that they are separated from all other horses. The same  also applies to horses which have transited through the above countries on their return to the UK.
  1. To be considered isolated, the isolated horses must be kept in a building that is physically separated from other horse buildings by a public highway or equivalent.
  1. Isolated horses must be attended to by separate staff and riders who are not in contact with horses on other (non-isolated) premises.
  1. To minimise risk of disease spread within an isolation premises, biosecurity measures on the property must include:
  • hand-sanitising facilities so that staff can clean their hands between handling each individual animal
  • foot dips outside every stable
  • separate coveralls outside each stable that are changed between caring for different horses
  • separate tack, equipment, feed bowls for each horse
  • facilities for disinfection of mucking out equipment must be in place
  1. British Eventing expect their members’ local veterinary surgeon to verify these standards are in place on the isolation premises.
  1. All horses on the premises, including those which have not travelled in Europe recently, must have close clinical monitoring with twice daily temperature recording. Temperature records should be kept and made available for review by the members’ local veterinary surgeon.
  1. All horses on the premises including those which have not travelled in Europe recently will be excluded from participation in British Eventing’s competitions  and training events and all other BEF Member Body competitions and activities.
  1. The excluded status will apply until:
    1. Either: All horses on the premises have been free of clinical signs for at least 28 days from the day the last horse(s) returning from areas of Europe defined above arrived on the isolation premises.
    2. Or: Laboratory data confirming that all horses on the premises are free from disease is provided to British Eventing. These laboratory data must include:
      • Paired serology (to measure antibodies against EHV) with two samples taken a minimum of 10 days apart, using the complement fixation test (CFT) which is available at Rossdales Laboratory.
      • And, a pair of nasopharyngeal swabs taken at the same time as the serology samples.
      • For the purpose of interpretation of these data, day 0 is defined as the day the returning horses arrived at the isolation premises.
      • Samples must be submitted to Rossdales Laboratory. Veterinary surgeons should contact the laboratory (via laboratory@rossdales.com or by telephone 01638- 663017, Emergency (24hrs) 01638 663150 for advice on shipping of and processing schedules for samples and to request supplies such as suitable nasopharyngeal swabs and transport media.
  1. The above requirements for laboratory data to clear excluded status will apply to both horses which are unvaccinated and those that have received vaccines at any previous time and interpretation of laboratory data will be informed by vaccination history that should also be provided at the time of sample submission.
  1. Samples must be accompanied by a submission form available at Rossdales Laboratory.

Advice on EHV vaccination

  • Vaccination decreases nasal shedding of virus if a vaccinated horse does become infected. Therefore, vaccination decreases the total amount of virus in the environment which in turn reduces the likelihood that other horses become infected.
  • However, no EHV-1 vaccine is registered for use to prevent neurological disease and vaccination has not been shown to reduce the risk of neurological signs.
  • Travelling, housing in large groups, and mixing of horses are all recognized risk factors for precipitating clinical signs of neurological EHV. Therefore, our strong advice is that travel to competitions in Europe should be avoided while the current outbreak remains active regardless of whether horses are vaccinated or not.
  • It is essential that vaccination is not considered a means to overcome sub-optimal biosecurity. Avoiding mixing in at risk populations, close monitoring, early diagnosis and isolation of suspect horses remain the cornerstones of prevention regardless of vaccination status.
  • Vaccination of animals known or suspected to have recently been in contact with EHV- 1 is not recommended.
  • Although vaccination will reduce the risk for the horse population as a whole, there is some evidence from previous outbreaks that recent vaccination is a risk factor for development of neurological signs in individuals thus advice for this group of horses is less definitive.
  • As it is currently unclear how long the current outbreak will remain active in Europe, we are not currently recommending vaccination for horses which are scheduled to travel to Europe in the next few weeks. British Eventing will continue to advise its members as the European outbreak progresses.
  • EHV is an endemic disease in Europe therefore it will continue to represent an ongoing threat after the current outbreak is over. Therefore, we advise EHV vaccination for horses travelling to Europe this summer and beyond. For horses to remain protected it is important that once the primary course has been given, vaccination should be continued in future with boosters required every six months.

This advice has been prepared by members of the BEF Equine Infectious Disease Advisory Group with support from British Equine Veterinary Association:

Philip A S Ivens, MA, VetMB, Cert EM (Int. Med.), DipECEIM, MRCVS, EBVS European Veterinary Specialist in Equine Internal Medicine, RCVS Specialist in Equine Medicine (Internal Medicine), Buckingham Equine Vets Ltd, Wicken, Milton Keynes.

Celia M Marr, BVMS, MVM, PhD, DEIM, DipECEIM, FRCVS, EBVS European Veterinary Specialist in Equine Internal Medicine, RCVS Specialist in Equine Medicine (Internal Medicine), Rossdales Equine Hospital and Diagnostic Centre, Newmarket, Suffolk.

John McEwen, MBE BVMS MRCVS Director of Equine Sports Science and Medicine, British Equestrian Federation, Equestrian House, Abbey Park , Stareton, Warwickshire.

J Richard Newton, BVSc MSc PhD FRCVS, Equine Infectious Disease Service, Newmarket, Suffolk.

David I Rendle, BVSc, MVM, Cert EM (Int.Med.), DipECEIM, FRCVS, EBVS European Veterinary Specialist in Equine Internal Medicine, RCVS Specialist in Equine Medicine (Internal Medicine), Tiverton, Devon.

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EHOA Events Membership Owners

Sport resumption

British Eventing have released their update for the 2021 Season Start Update:     

Following the Government announcement on Monday outlining the roadmap to ease restrictions in England, we are delighted to be able to return to competitive activity from 29th March.  This means that our first weekend of competition will be held 2nd – 4th April.

We continue to plan for the return to sport in Scotland and Wales and look forward to resuming as soon as government restrictions allow.

Providing competition opportunities

We expect that demand for entries will be high, particularly for the first few weeks of the new season, and therefore we have worked with our Organisers to provide a revised calendar which offers competition opportunities at all levels, with good geographic spread. We have planned the revised calendar with the aim of providing sufficient competition opportunities for the level of demand, in order to keep balloting to a minimum.

In addition, we have revised the process for adding additional days of competition where demand is high (where there are 200 or more entries over the maximum number the event can originally take) which will mean the decision to add any additional days of competition is made earlier than was the case last summer.

This should provide greater clarity for members in advance of the event date, reduce balloting, and enable riders to compete at the venues at which they would prefer to have the run.  To help us with this, please make your entries in good time!

In the next few days, you will see the online Fixtures list updated to reflect the revised calendar.  This will include the new entries opening date and any change in ballot date. Entries for the Easter weekend events will open on 8th March with ballot date on 16th March.  For the early part of the season events may have shorter entries opening windows and the ballot dates may be closer to the event date.  This will move back towards our standard timescales as we progress through the season.

VIEW THE RETURN TO SPORT FIXTURES LIST

New initiatives

As we have advised previously, we have also developed two new initiatives – Try Eventing and Train for Eventing – which will take place between BE80-BE100 levels. These new non-competitive opportunities have been designed to support combinations to train and get your eye in without the pressure of competition and recorded results.

We are delighted that the first of these Try Eventing events will take place at Northallerton on 29th March and Aston Le Walls on 5th and 6th April. Little Downham will host a Train for Eventing day on 29th March. Further dates will be released shortly.

Insurance cover

The abandonment insurance cover remains in place for 2021 but as was the case in the latter part of the 2020 season, does not cover cancellation or abandonment due to COVID-19.  Due to the different set up timescales and costs of each event, the standard pandemic refund policy in place last season will not be in place for 2021.  However, organisers of each event will update their online schedule with their individual refund policies and we would encourage members to check this for the events they intend to enter.

Elite sport

Work continues to provide an appropriate pathway for our elite athletes to Kentucky, Badminton and the Olympic Games.  We have contacted those athletes identified as elite and provided further details of the pathway being considered.  If members are aiming to compete at the 5* competition this Spring and have not been contacted, please email sport@britisheventing.com.  We have contacted the National Federations for other countries to also identify those non-GBR riders based in the UK who are classified as elite.

The pathway will provide a training opportunity at Aston le Walls on 16/17th March, followed by the first competitive activity at Oasby on 22nd and Cirencester Park on 24th March, with a final ‘elite only’ competition at Aston Le Walls on 31st March.  These competitions are only for elite competitors and are at the levels necessary for them to be able to prepare their horses for 5* competition.    Entries will open for these elite pathway events on Monday 1st March with ballot date Friday 5th March.  We will be reviewing all entries made to these pathway competitions to ensure that the criteria for entry is being met.   All of these activities will be in strict accordance with government regulations and COVID-19 protocols.

The remainder of the pathway will be in line with the sport resumption plans, with our usual pathway events running as normal.

Sport protocols

We are reviewing all the guidance from the government to ensure that our protocols are compliant and that our events are COVID safe.  We will update you all with any changes, as well as a reminder of those protocols still in place – please watch this space!

Contacting the Office Team

In line with Government guidance, the team will be continuing to work from home. As a consequence, phone lines are not being manned so please email your enquiries to info@britisheventing.com. We will work diligently to respond to your queries as quickly as possible but please do bear with us.

There are a few ways that you can help us to help you:

  • Vouchers for discounted memberships and horse season tickets – please ensure that you click apply when adding each voucher at the checkout process. Please note there is a maximum of five vouchers that can be used in any one purchase transaction.
  • Logging in to the website – If you have previously logged in to the website but have forgotten your password, please use the Forgotten Password link. This will provide you a link to reset the password.
  • Membership, Horse Registration and Season Tickets – Please complete the horse registration process, renew your membership and purchase your season tickets/day passes ahead of the ballot date of the event to which you wish to compete. Contact to the office increases exponentially on these dates and we may not be able to respond as quickly as we might on other days.
  • Horse Passports – Please remember to send your horse passport details when you first register your horse. Delays in doing so may result in you being unable to complete your entries.
  • FEI Registrations and Passport Applications – Please submit these well ahead of the event for which they are required. We will endeavor to process these as quickly as possible and within our normal timescales but this cannot be guaranteed and we are unable to offer a fast track service

Refund Requests – We are receiving an increasing number of requests to provide refunds for vouchers not added at the checkout. We will action these requests as quickly as possible but these may take a few weeks as we assist members with sport resumption queries. We very much look forward to seeing you out enjoying our fantastic sport again soon.

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EHOA International Membership Owners

Travelling horses post Brexit

As some of you might be aware travelling horses to Europe has become a little more complex since the beginning of the year, while you have the time this article might well be worth a read to help you understand what is going on and all the implications around transiting horses currently: https://www.britishequestrian.org.uk/news/moving-horses-to-the-eu-what-s-the-situation

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RIDERS MINDS

Riders Minds is an online bespoke resource dedicated to supporting the mental health and well-being of all horse riders.  It was formed by International event rider Matthew Wright whom sadly died earlier this week.  The whole of the eventing community’s thoughts are with his friends and family at this time.

Click here for more information or if you need help at any time

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EHOA Events Membership Owners

EHOA Member Questionnaire

Please can you help us?

We value your opinion and would love to have your feedback on the organisation.

Please do click here for the survey,  it should not take more than 8 minutes of your time.

Help us to make the EHOA an even better Owners Organisation.

One lucky member will win a bottle of Pol Roger champagne.