Last week’s move to place the entire country under Level 3 COVID-19 restrictions, means there are some changes to how the sport horse industry can operate.

As published in Horse Sport Ireland’s (HSI) Equestrian Covid-19 Framework, events which cater for elite, high performance and professional athletes can continue and those athletes can travel outside of their of their home county to participate in competitions. Coaches, trainers or essential support personnel and high performance youth athletes are also exempted.

Standalone competitions at amateur and youth level must cease.

For training, outdoor training in pods of up to 15 can continue. Indoor training is restricted to an individual basis only, with the exemption of indoor equestrian arenas that are primarily of an outdoor structure with open ventilation these are permitted to hold no more than six people.

Organisers and participants should consider their local conditions in respect of COVID-19 and the community transmission rate in advance of any event. Organisers also reserve the right to restrict entries from participants, should they deem it appropriate.

Individuals are advised that participation at Level 3 should be done on an opt-in basis only.