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 postvaccine stand-down before being allowed entry to any Pony Club activity.
The Pony Club Safety & Welfare
November 2023
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.
BHA (British Horseracing Authority) / Racecourse Requirements
1. All equines visiting a racecourse on race day must conform with the current BHA
vaccination rules, regardless of where they will be sited.
2. All equines visiting a racecourse in the 8 days before a race meeting must conform
with the current BHA vaccination rule, regardless of where they will be sited.
3. All equines visiting a racecourse and staying in the stable yard outside of a race day
or the preceding 8 days, must conform with the current BHA vaccination rule or the current
FEI vaccination rule.
Advice from BHA (November 2023)
In order to be compliant with the BHA guidelines, BHA require:
• Racehorses that had a compliant record (using old intervals and 12 month boosters)
to have had a booster vaccination within 6 months of 15.01.2023, otherwise a restart
(using new intervals) is required
• 6 monthly booster vaccinations have been compulsory from 15.01.2023
• all primary courses started in 2022 or after must have followed the new vaccination
intervals (V1-V2 21-60d; V2-V3 120-180d, plus 6 month boosters)
• For clarity, the BHA does not recognise the vaccination amnesty that was granted at
the end of 2022 allowing ponies to have 2 vaccinations within 24 month period (ie
one after 15 months followed by a 9 month booster).
Booster Summary:
BHA rule requires booster vaccinations every 6 months; the FEI rule requires booster
vaccinations within 6 months +21 days of attending the event.
https://pcuk.org/media/giyibtuw/hat-rule-2024.pdf
https://pcuk.org/media/3c3hiisf/body-protector-rule-2024.pdf