Horse & Hound – 22 August 2019

10 Horse& Hound22 August 2019

Pictures

by

British Horse Society/HRSA/Northumberland

County Council, Peter Nixon and PA Archive/PA Images

NEWSInsider

HORSES

IN THE NEWS

KILRODANSAILORETTE

The15.1hhchestnutmare

andriderNickyHillwonthe

eventersgrandprixatthe

EquitopBolesworthYoung

HorseChampionshipson

14 August,threeweeks

afterwinningtheeventers

challenge at Hickstead.

BOSTONSANGEL

ThehorsewhogaveRobbie

PowerhisfirstCheltenham

Festivalwinner,inthe

2011 RSAChase,hasdied

aged15.TrainedbyJessica

Harringtonformostofhis

racingcareer,hewonthree

Grade Ones before retiring.

COOLEYEARL

The12-year-oldgelding

hasmovedtoBelgium

afternearlysevenyears

withGeorgieStrang.

Georgieproducedthe

Irish-bredRamiroB gelding

fromBE100totheirfirst

Badminton together in 2018.

ROADsignsdesignedtoeducate

drivershowtopasshorsessafely

havebeeninstalledbythefirst

localauthorityina newcampaign.

TheBritishHorseSociety

(BHS)andtheHorses& Road

SafetyAwareness(HRSA)

organisationhaveworkedwith

NorthumberlandCountyCouncil

(NCC)tointroducemorethan 70

signsinthearea.Thesignsdisplay

theBHSDeadorDeadSlow?and

theHRSAlogos,designedtomake

driversawareofwhattodowhen

theyencounterhorsesontheroad.

TheBHSdirectorofsafety

AlanHiscoxtoldH&Hit is hoped

theinitiativewill“snowball”to

othercouncilsthroughouttheUK.

“It’sa brilliantpartnership

betweenthecouncil,BHSand

HRSAworkingtogetherto

achievethisresult,”hesaid.

“I’dliketoseeallcouncilsin

theUKtakethisup,butwe’re

takingit onecouncilata time.”

Thesignshavebeeninstalled

ona temporarybasiswithinput

fromriders,BHSstatisticsandthe

councilidentifying“hotspots”.

“Thesignshavegoneupwhere

ridersareconcernedaboutthe

wayvehiclesarepassing.They

willcomedownaftera coupleof

months,otherwisetheycanlose

theireffectandpeoplecanbecome

numbtothem.Theywillgo

backupinsixmonths’timeorin

differentareasaround the county,”

said Mr Hiscox.

Thecampaignhasreceivedpositivefeedback,butriders

need to continue to report incidents ontheroadstohelp

MrHiscoxaddedit is

importantforriderstoreportall

incidentsontheBHSwebsiteto

strengthentheircase.

“Weusetheinformationto

workwithcouncilsandthepolice.

Councilshavetoputthesignsup

whereevidencehasshownit is a

challengingareaforriders;the

weightofthiscomesfromthe

BHSincidentswebsite,”hesaid.

HRSAvolunteerWendyAvery

fromNorthumberlandsaidthe

councilis very“forward-thinking”.

“Youonlyhavea splitsecond

to get the message out to a driver

witha signandit is makinga

difference,”shesaid.

“Wewouldliketoseeother

councilssay,‘Whatcanwedo?’.

insteadof,‘Wecan’tdothat’.”

CouncillorGlenSanderson,

cabinetmemberforenvironment

andlocalserviceforNCC,told

H&Hthereactionfromthepublic

hasbeen“exceptionallypositive”.

“Wewantedtosayina non-

confrontationalway,beawareof

horses;treatthemwithrespect,

don’tdrivetoofastandgivethem

plentyofspace,”hesaid.

“Theproblemdoesn’tjustexist

inNorthumberlandandI’dloveto

seeothercouncilshelp with this

brilliant initiative.”

ByBECKYMURRAY

New road signs hoped to

‘snowball’ across Britain

New look for point-to-pointfixtures

POINT-TO-POINTfanscanlook

forwardtoextraSaturdayfixtures

duringthe2019/20season.

Thefixtureslist,releasedon

12 August,featuresa number

ofchangestoavoidcongestion

withinthecalendar.Italsosees

theadditionofthreenewvenues.

DunsmoreinDevon,Shelfield

ParkinWarwickshireand

ChilfromeinDorsetarethethree

newcoursesjoiningthesport.

TheywillhosttheDunsmore

Racingfixtureon 17 November—

theopeningdayoftheseason—

CroomeandWestWarwickshire

on 21 MarchandCattistock on 2

May respectively.

Thenumberofpre-Christmas

meetingshasdroppedfrom 12 in

2018/19toninethisseason.

Saturdaymeetingshave

increasedfrom 54 to64,withthe

helpoffinancialincentives,while

congestioninthecalendarduring

Aprilhasbeenreduced.

WalesandtheWelshborders

havebeenparticularlyhitinterms

oflosses,withColdharbourand

LowerMachenmissingfromthis

season’svenues,whichwillbea

blowtothesportinthatregion.

TattersallsCheltenham,

OrientalClub,TheJockeyClub

andRetrainingofRacehorses

have signed new sponsorship

deals,whilethemixedopenand

intermediateseriesareseeking

newtitlesponsors.

“Therearesome

disappointmentswhichbecome

apparentinthefixtures’list,not

leastinthelossofmeetingsin

theWelshborders,butwemove

forwardandwelcomethenew

coursesandnationalsponsors,”

saidPoint-to-PointAuthority

chiefexecutivePeterWright.

“Thisis a challengingtime

formanysports,butI detecta

lotoffreshthinking,anda lotof

forwardthinking,comingfrom

fixturesecretaries,manyofwhom

are relatively new to their role.”

The temporary road signs are designed to educate drivers