Useful Information
On this page you will find useful information about British Riding Clubs, the VWH Riding Club and things you may need to know to participate in Club events or compete for the Club such as flu vaccination requirements and safety standards for riding hats and body protectors.
Data Protection Act:
The VWH RC holds details of its members' names, addresses, telephone numbers & email addresses on a password protected database. The information is used to maintain a complete listing of all members, to ensure you receive your membership benefits and to tell you about news, activities and events. This includes sending you regular email updates, information on other membership benefits, and publishing competition times and results in the public domain. It should be noted that as we are affiliated to the British Horse Society as a British Riding Club, your personal information will be shared with them in order to fulfil your BRC membership benefits and they may share these with their associates for the purpose of fulfilling your full membership benefits i.e. insurance providers.
Your email address may be visible to other members on the mailing list. If any member objects to VWH RC holding and using their data for these purposes please notify Jo Thornton (vwhridingclub@yahoo.co.uk) in writing and your details will be removed. To see our full Privacy Notice, please download the document below:
Insurance:
Please note that British Riding Club insurance covers you whilst at BRC organised events only. It is recommended that all members take out adequate personal insurance.
Safety Standards:
From 1st January 2023 PAS015 1998 and SNELL E2001 are NO LONGER ACCEPTED. These have been updated to PAS015 2011 and SNELL E2016. Please ensure your hat is to the correct standard before any competition day or Riding Club activity to avoid disappointment, you will not be allowed to compete if your hat is not to the required standard. The latest BRC guidelines for both can be downloaded from the BRC website:
Hats from 1st January 2023 onwards must be tagged with a PINK tag (by either BRC, BE or the Pony Club) in order to compete at any Area qualifier.
Body protectors must be worn for XC and from 1st January 2024 must have the BETA level 3 2018 blue label. BETA 2009 body protectors are no longer acceptable . The latest BRC guidelines for both are available on the BRC website - link to the 2024 BRC Handbook is below.
BRC Horse Passport and Flu Vaccination Requirements:
To compete at a BRC Area qualifier, your horses vaccination history MUST be correct and complete. Horse passports are checked at each Area qualifier event so as an area we hold a database of our members' horse's vaccination history to ensure they are correct before you enter a competition. If your horses details aren't on the database and are found to be incorrect on the day of competition you will be eliminated and unable to compete.
We request that you send a good quality scanned copy of your horse's Name and Ownership page, the picture page and all vaccinations to date page to area9vaccinations@outlook.com. On the email title please put your name, your club name and your horses full passport name.
Once you are on the database each year after your horses annual booster please send an updated copy of the vaccinations page.
Flu Vaccinations - amendments from 1st Jan 2024:
Following advice from British Equestrian, BRC are amending the intervals of new or restarting flu vaccination courses from 1st January 2024. Vaccinations that are up to date and correct are not affected by this change. Only courses starting after 1st January 2024 are affected.
-
Courses started pre 1st Jan 2024: First vaccine, 2nd vaccine between 21-92 days later, 3rd vaccine between 150-215 days later. Boosters - annually not more than 1 year apart.
-
Courses starting after 1st Jan 2024: First vaccine, 2nd vaccine between 21-60 days later, 3rd vaccine between 120-180 days later. Boosters - annually not more than 1 year apart.
Please note: Some of the venues we run at are now requiring flu vaccinations to have been within the six months prior to the date of the competition, over and above standard BRC requirements.
BRC Rules:
All Area qualifers are run under BRC rules. These are set out in the BRC handbook which can be downloaded below. In particular, BRC have strict eligibility criteria, and they check every combination at every event, so please familiarise yourself with the relevant criteria before entering.
Downgrading Horses:
It is possible to downgrade horses, but this must be done well in advance of the competition. BRC publish a list of FAQs and the downgrading form, which must be sent directly to the BRC head office, which can be downloaded from the BRC website.