Government Plan – Resilience and Recovery 2020-2021 – Equestrian Events

Revised 21 Sept'20:

Further to the Horse Sport Irelands press release on Friday afternoon , Dressage Ireland would like to clarify that with regards to any counties that go into level 3 lock down in response to Covid that Equestrian sports operate under Elite/ Professional Sport:

• Professional / Elite Sport can take place behind closed doors;
• Riders can be either Professional Sports people OR Sports people who participate in professional competition;
• In cases of Professional competition, travel is allowed by participants and supporting personnel to professional competitions;
• Trailblazers and Sportsman's classes are not allowed.

All riders and supporting personnel are required to complete contact tracing details and comply with Covid guidelines, still sadly No Spectators allowed.

Revised 18 Sept'20:

Link to HSI News link.

Horse Sport Ireland have engaged with Sport Ireland in respect of the recently announced Government plan – Resilience and Recovery 2020-2021: Plan for Living with COVID-19. Stakeholders should be advised that Horse Sport Ireland will move to publish a comprehensive guide for equestrian in line with the Government plan in due course following further engagement with our Government partners.

In the meantime, noting the categorisation of Dublin City and County to Level 3, the following applies:

Equestrian Events

As per previous communications, Equestrian events will continue to operate within the benefit of the exemption professional/elite which can only strictly operate behind closed doors. A behind closed doors event can include: ‘Any individual involved in the participation, running, delivery, and broadcasting (if relevant) of the event’. Events are reminded that strict adherence to COVID compliance Protocols is required at all times, inclusive of COVID Track and Trace measures.

Where Sporting Activity is allowed i.e. for professional, elite, inter-county sports, senior club championship etc. travel will be permissible by participants and support personnel to fulfil these pre-existing fixtures/events.

Training

Outdoors: Non-contact training only in pods of up to 15 (exemption for professional/elite/inter-county sports/senior club championship).

Indoors: Currently, pursuant to Level 3 restrictions, indoor activity is restricted to individual basis only. However, in the case of Equestrian Arenas where the facility is primarily of an open type structure, the activity can proceed, with numbers no more than 6.

Horse Sport Ireland continues to remind all stakeholders about the significant need for adherence to the guidance and the COVID protocols. This is required to protect our sport and our community.