WITH show jumping back on the calander, competitors now face a very different arena post the Covid-19 lockdown. Some have suggested that the new restrictions will see an improved sport emerged and there are many positives to the new way of hosting events.

Last Thursday, CoilÓg Equestrian Centre held its first training shows for horses and ponies under the HSE guidelines and by all accounts, competitors and organisers were happy at how the show went.

Jumping began at 12.30pm with 80cm horses and finished with 148cm ponies with the last pony going into the ring at 19:47pm. Competitors had to provide details of all parties travelling, including the driver and no spectators were allowed. All classes were by pre-entry and prepayment online. The start list and drawn order was issued on their website by 6pm the evening before the show.

Watershed

CoilÓg’s Chris Byrne said: “I think this will be a watershed for show jumping, it will make the sport more professional. The scheduled times makes it easier for everyone. The rider knows what time they are scheduled to jump, we know who to expect, we can plan how many coffees and sandwiches that we are going to sell. People will be able to plan their day and for those that have to return to work or family they will have a good idea what time they will be home at. It won’t be a whole day at a show waiting around. It will make our sport more professional.

“In the past, with various delays, classes did not run on time and people got frustrated. Riders could be waiting hours to jump; judges were in boxes all day. Now they know how long they will be judging a class and riders will know their start and end time. Owners and trainers will know what time to turn up, instead of waiting around much of the day for their horse to jump.

“This system will work and we won’t be returning to the days without a schedule. The important thing to make this work is that all centres strict to the guidelines and scheduled times. If you bend the rules once, all is lost. We did have a few people ring who did not realise that it was pre-entered. We did not accept any late entries and so they had to enter for Saturday. We had 53 entries on Thursday and I was glad with these numbers as it allowed us to have a trial run for bigger numbers.”

“Our judges’ box is four metres in length so we can divide the box with a screen when we need to. Our canteen is for take away only and it is a one-way system, whereby you come in one door and leave another. Our toilets are cleaned twice a day and we use a sanitiser which sanitises the toilets. We have all the signs directed customers,” added Byrne.

Regarding the atmosphere around the ring, Byrne said: “On a wet day, how much atmosphere is there around a ring when you are waiting hours for a horse to come in? On Thursday, everybody left the ring smiling and generally happy that they jumped their round and were heading home.”

CoilÓg allotted 3.5 minutes per horse per round, this allowed for horses that may have encountered problems on the course. A further 20 minutes was allowed for course change and another 20 for the course walk. The centre opted to allow riders to walk the course mounted in the less technical tracks as they felt that this was the best way to ensure social distance.

Carpark

In the carpark, spaces are numbered with the appropriate social distance space is marked out. Once numbers increase, competitors will be given a car park number and can be reallocated during the day as competitors leave. “If we have a competitor that has horses in more classes and is there for the day, we will put them in a space where they can stay. On the other hand if you are only in one competition, we reallocate that place during the day because we have a schedule, we can do that.

“We have been asking for scheduled times for many years and now we have them. I think once riders get used to times, they won’t return to the old ways. They won’t accept venues that bend the rules for riders that delay classes. They will look for structure too.”

Back in the ring: Edie Murray-Hayden in action at first training show held at CoilÓg post-Covid 19 \ Emer Bermingham

Abiding by the rules

Barnadown Equestrian and Wexford Equestrian also held training days on the same day and they were pleased at how events went.

Orla Roche of Wexford Equestrian said: “We had someone on the gate checking people in and explaining the protocols and directing them to parking. The scheduled times worked well with most, but got a bit tricky when someone had multiple rides. When this happened, we had a cool down arena that we could also use for warming up. We just had to use our heads and make it work. Scheduled times does lend itself to a more orgainsed show, but I think it more suited to bigger shows as opposed to training shows where you have novice horses that aren’t simple to warm-up.”

Maurice Cousins of Barnadown also had a good day, saying: “Everyone was happy to abide by the social distancing rules. People knew to keep their social distance and no one was on top of anyone. I think that the sport lends itself to social distancing.” Maurice was also in favour of scheduled times for the bigger shows as opposed to trainings shows where green horses are jumping for the first time and where riders may need to make allowances for their lack of experience in the ring.