Passport and Vaccination Rules for Pony Club 
Please ensure that your horse or pony has up to date Vaccinations and remember to bring your horses passport with you to PC competitions.

The following rules will apply to all Pony Club Competitions:

Passports

The Vaccination Rule 2023 is available on the  Pony Club website with the rulebooks. This has been simplified so that the vaccination schedule for Pony Club activities requires a booster every 12 months. Please be aware that other organisations and event venues may have different requirements, including Pony Racing and some racecourses.

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. Events that are held at some venues may be subject to additional
rules. e.g. any horse /pony entering a licensed racecourse property must comply with the vaccination
requirements as set by the British Horseracing Authority.
1. Passports
A valid passport and vaccination record:
• must accompany the horse / pony to all events
• must be available for inspection by the event officials
• must be produced on request at any other time during the event
2. No horse / pony may should attend an activity, compete or be present at the event 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:
3. Equine Influenza Vaccination Schedule:
• An initial primary course of two vaccinations must be given: the second vaccination must be
administered within 21-92 days of the first vaccination.
• Horses may attend events 7 days after receiving the second vaccination of the primary course. (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)
• The first booster must be administered within 7 calendar months following the date of the
administration of the second vaccination of the primary course.
• Booster vaccinations must be administered at a maximum of 12 months intervals.
Please note, as a result of the vaccine shortage in 2022, and in line with other BEF Member bodies, the
requirement for boosters to be within 6 months +21 days of Area level and above competitions has
been suspended for 2023.
For the period 1st October 2022 to 31st December 2022, lower-risk equines may, with veterinary
advice and approval, extend the annual booster period to 15 months if there was a genuine veterinary
shortage of vaccine. The subsequent booster should be 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 that 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.

EVH 1
PC advice is that organizers must prevent horses from being presented for admission to a gathering in the following circumstances:

• Any horse with recent cough or nasal discharge of unknown cause,  enlarged lymph nodes or fever.
• Any horse which is known or under investigation for EHV infection (whether associated with respiratory or neurological signs).
• Any horse which has been in contact with, or lives on the same premises as, a horse known or under investigation for EHV associated with neurological signs.
• Where a horse has been excluded due to neurological EHV or neurological EHV-contact, future admission should require that:
  • EITHER all horses on the property have close clinical monitoring with twice-daily temperature recording and the excluded status should apply until all horses on the premises have been free of clinical signs for at least 28 days.
  • OR a detailed veterinary report should be presented to the Pony Club Veterinarian Advisor including robust laboratory evidence to show that the horse intended for admission to a gathering has not been infected with neurological EHV
    https://www.britishequestrian.org.uk/news/ehv-1-outbreak-in-valencia-and-several-other-eu-countries