Rufford Pony Club Games Training 2nd May 2024

Session time 18:30 to 19:30 – may be lead rein or unassisted

Rules of the Rally: Dress Code Members for all Rufford Pony Club Games Training: Rufford Polo and Sweatshirt or white Shirt and Pony Club Tie, Black, Brown, Navy White or Beige Jodhpurs. Plain navy polo shirts acceptable if you do not own Rufford branded clothing. Short jodphur boots should be worn with long socks over jodphurs or jodphur clips (No Long Riding Boots, Trainers, Wellies or Muckers allowed whilst riding). Riding hat conforming to Pony Club Standard (tagged with aqua marine tag) Any new members attending for the first time or if any member has recently purchased a new hat your hat must be checked and tagged before you are allowed to ride. Long hair must be tied back and worn in a hair net. No Jewellery allowed. No gloves should be worn as these may interfere with handling equipment No whips Tack: Tack rules for games are different to other pony club disciplines. For competitions ponies must be ridden in snaffle bits (please see rule book for full list of acceptable bits and tackrulebook-mounted-games-2024-final_web-v050124.pdf (pcuk.org)) ) . Parent helpers / volunteers: Parent helpers / volunteers will be needed to assist with equipment throughout the rally.  Please be prepared to get involved!  Games rallies cannot be held without parents volunteering on the day.

The Pony Club Equine Influenza VACCINATION RULE 2024

To protect the health of all horses and ponies and the biosecurity of the venue, the following rules will apply to all Pony Club activities. Members competing with other organisations, such as FEI, BHA and HPA, or at certain venues, for example racecourses, will need to comply with their vaccination requirements.

1. Passports

A valid passport (registered on the Central Equine Database) and vaccination record:

• must accompany the horse / pony to all activities

• must be available for inspection by the event officials

• must be produced on request at any other time during the activity

2. Equine Influenza Vaccination Schedule:

No horse / pony may attend an activity, compete or be present as a companion unless it has a Record of Vaccination against equine influenza completed by the veterinary surgeon who gave the vaccination, signed and stamped line by line, which complies with the Minimum Vaccination Requirements set out in the Equine Influenza Vaccination Schedule below.

All horses and ponies receiving a new primary course of vaccinations from 1 January 2024 must be vaccinated according to this schedule:

• initial primary course of two vaccinations (V1 and V2) must be given: the second vaccination (V2) must be administered within 21-60 days of the first initial vaccination (V1)

• Horses may attend activities 7 full days after receiving the second vaccination of the primary course (V2).

• A first booster vaccination (V3) must be administered within 120 – 180 days of the administration of the second vaccination of the primary course.

• Thereafter booster vaccinations must be administered at a maximum of 12 months intervals.

Horses and ponies must not attend activities within 7 days of receiving any vaccination. For clarity: no horse or pony may compete on the same day as a relevant injection is given or on any of the 6 days following such an injection. 

NB: This is the minimally appropriate booster schedule; it is highly recommended that horses and ponies competing regularly and travelling around the UK and abroad follow an optimal schedule and receive a booster within 6 months +21 days prior to arrival at the event or activity, in line with the FEI protocol.

Restart

Any horse which is found to have breached the requirements above in relation to V1 (initial vaccination); V2 (second vaccination) and V3 (first booster), or exceeded 12 months between subsequent boosters, must restart and receive a minimum of V1 & V2 and had a 7 day post-vaccine stand-down before being allowed entry to any Pony Club activity.

Historic Vaccinations

o    Horses that received the primary course prior to 1 January 2024 are permitted to have an interval of up to 92 days between the first (V1) and second (V2) vaccination of the primary course and for the first booster (V3) an interval of up to 7 months following the date of the administration of vaccination V2.

o    For the period 1st October 2022 to 31st December 2022, lower risk equines may have, with veterinary advice and approval, extended the annual booster period to 15 months if there was a genuine veterinary shortage of vaccine. The subsequent booster should have been made within 9 months, resulting in 2 booster vaccinations in 2 years and making the 2023 vaccine booster date no more than 24 months from the 2021 due date. Vaccination records which have this extension clearly approved and annotated by the vet will be accepted at Pony Club and BHS Riding Club events, but other venues and competitive bodies may insist on a 12month interval and hence if a booster is missed a restart may be necessary.