Rallies Return.

15 November

Since the outbreak of Equine Influenza in August, all Pony Club and Adult Riding Club rallies in the Eastern States have been cancelled. Today we caught up with three of the major bodies to see how they were going.

Des Miller from Horse Riding Clubs of Victoria stated, “As long as there is no outbreak of EI in Victoria we plan to start HRCAV rallies and competitions as normal in January 2008. Obviously with all the necessary bio-security measures put in place by the DPI. Our first competitions will be Showing events in January, followed by our first State Championship, the TTT Showjumping, scheduled for the 15th and 16th of March in Sale The TTT Combined Training will be in April at Wandin and the TTT Horse Trials at Werribee in July. In conjunction with the Barastoc Horse of the Year show at Werribee in February, we will be running a full program of HRCAV showing events. We hope members will support these early events, as people seem to be influenced by what other people are saying, rather than assessing the situation logically themselves”. Keep up to date with all the HRCAV events and rallies at http://www.hrcav.com.au/ and your Chaff Chat newsletter.

Our next call was to Claire Lewin, Chief Instructor of the Pony Club Association of Victoria. “We hope to start rallies in January with all bio-security requirements in place. On Friday 16th all the Victorian Equestrian groups are meeting with the DPI to try and work on more user friendly bio-security requirements. At the moment the bio-security protocols make Pony Club rallies very difficult. We would then like to start competitions once rallies are running smoothly.

“Clubs have been very innovative during the EI outbreak at promoting the youth side of Pony Club movement. Clubs have organised art competitions, meetings at swimming pools, dog shows and unmounted rallies. Clubs have been working with their members to help them through the non-riding parts of their efficiency certificates. PCAV have also worked at helping members who live along the NSW/Victorian border, who may have their horse on one side of the border and attending a Pony Club on the other side of the border. Host clubs will be found until the EI crisis is over. A concern to us is the State Showjumping Championships to be held at Swan Hill. We have changed the date from February to the 30th of March, but being so close to the NSW border may cause problems. ” Keep up to date with all the PCAV news at http://www.ponyclubvic.org/.

Our final call was to Jenny Amadio of Pony Clubs NSW. “We have suspended all rallies and competitions until the end of the year and we will not make a decision about next year until later in December. Our situation is very difficult, as some clubs have a catchment area over three different zones. Before starting rallies we need to look at both bio-security measures and horse movements. We also need to look at how many members are in each zone and where horses live compared to where they attend rallies.”

“Our first major event planned is our State camp at SIEC, but this is looking unlikely. It is a State event so we will not run it if it can be participants from the Purple Zone only. Some of the clubs have organised social activities during the stand still, I know Yass Pony Club organised a Cave tour and Orange Pony Club had a picnic day, but Clubs have had to be very careful of bio-security even for social events. A number of clubs are now organising un-mounted Christmas parties.”

“PCA of NSW has been very mindful of keeping our members informed about EI. In September we sent a hard copy letter to every financial member, with maps about zoning and the different restrictions, symptoms of EI and what to do if the owner suspected EI. Information about the grants available and contact details for various organisations was also included.

“The Pony Club movement is the kindergarten of the Equestrian world and it is very important to keep the momentum going, if we loose kids now they may be lost to Equestrian sports forever.” PCA of NSW have a good website with lots of up to date information and online competitions at http://www.pcansw.org.au/

SA Pony clubs are in a very similar situation to Victoria however, they also have concerns with insurance, http://www.ponyclub.asn.au/ . Qld Pony Clubs have cancelled all rallies until the end of the year and plan to start competition in March 2008. There is a PCAQ Management Committee Meeting on the 6th of December. http://www.pcaq.asn.au/index.htm

In Tasmania Pony Club rallies are mainly being conducted as normal with good bio-security, however The Kentish Pony & Hack Club held their Topsy ODE with a difference. The club used the day to give riders and new mums and dads the opportunity to have fun and learn eventing rules with help from their other four legged family pets. If you did not have pooch or he was not very co-operative, some riders used their hobby horses. With the condition of having a vet come to events being very costly, Kentish used their initiative and consequently had a great day. There are some good photos of the doggy ODE at http://www.pcat.org.au/?page=6512 . Unfortunately the Tasmanian Pony Club event Calendar is in disarray due to the uncertainty of events being held. Please check with the clubs concerned for updates.

In the Northern Territory Pony Clubs seem to be operating as per normal and in WA rallies and competitions are going ahead with bio-security and a permit system. http://www.pcawa.com/equine_influenza