Equestrian Queensland, with its Sports Committees will continue to work to strengthen the relationship it has with its Clubs and Groups, as we recognise that this relationship is vital to the bright future of equestrian sports.
We appreciate any feedback or input you would like to offer in relation to how Equestrian Queensland can ensure that there is a bright future for equestrian sports or how Equestrian Queensland can service your Club more thoroughly.
EQ Club Affiliation
By becoming an Affiliate of EQ, your Club will have access to the most competitive Club Insurance Package, use of EA sport rules and intellectual property, access to EA coaches and officials, ability to deliver EA Accredited Programs (such as Ready Set Trot, Horse Management and Riding), access to EA and State communications (including the monthly EQ Club E-News), and the ability to hold Participant and Competitive Events.
Equestrian Queensland encourages all Clubs to recommend their members become competitor or participant members of Equestrian Queensland. The benefit to riders in having 24/7 personal accident insurance alone should be incentive enough to have them seriously consider this offer.
Equestrian Queensland is committed to facilitating Affiliate Member Groups in developing equestrian sports in Queensland.
To become an affiliate of EQ, please submit the required documents and application form. We look forward to welcoming your Club/Group to Equestrian Queensland and to working with you in the delivery of equestrian sports.
Holding EA Events
There are a number of different categories of competitions that affiliate clubs can hold. These include:
Closed Events: club activities for club members to compete against other members of the same club. Clubs may invite EQ members to participate in these activities, however they may choose to allow their club members only.
Participant Events: EQ Participant & Competitor members may compete at these events in ‘below the line’ classes. No grading points are acquired for horses in these events, and EA horse registration is not required (but Base Registration is recommended). For further information about what levels are classed as ‘below the line’ for each sport view our membership structure information. Many EQ affiliated clubs will hold Club & Participant events, where both club members and EQ Participant & Competitor members may compete.
Competitive Events: these are events that acquire grading points for horses. Only EQ Competitor members may enter these classes, and horses must be EA life registered and have the relevant competition licences issued.
For further information about the membership structure, membership benefits and current fees, visit the Join EQ page.
We wish to remind you that any Club that runs an ‘Above the Line Class’ Equestrian Australia (EA) event must be an Affiliate Member and must hold a Public Liability Insurance Policy. In the circumstances where a non-affiliate club holds an EA event, they will also be in breach of the intellectual property rights of EA as they will have illegally used EA rules that they have no right to use as a non-affiliate. Riders participating in such events also have no insurance cover as the event will not be considered an endorsed EQ event.
We require all Clubs/Groups that hold ‘Above the Line Class’ events to send in their results electronically to the Equestrian Queensland Office within 2 weeks of the Event - ([email protected]). The reason for this is to ensure our records are as up-to-date as possible on our web database. In addition, we are seeking to increase the exposure of equestrian sports. To do this, we would like to promote the events and results to the media as quickly as possible, as well as placing the results on our website.
Submitting events to the EQ calendar
The Equestrian Queensland Sport Committees aim to have a number of competitive and participant competitions running throughout Queensland, and to prevent clashes with similar events in the same area. Each sport committee plans their calendar prior to the start of the year, and may request your club to submit proposed dates for participation & competitive events to facilitate this.
Interschool Queensland tag-on events must be approved by the IQ committee and added to the IQ calendar in order for results from these events to be used as qualifiers for the IQ State Championships. If you would like your clubs event to be included as an IQ tag-on event, please email [email protected]
When submitting events to be uploaded to the EQ calendar, please use this template.
Risk Management Policy & Biosecurity Plan
Risk Management and Biosecurity are extremely important, and event organisers have a duty of care to participants and their horses. Risk management information, including how to assess what risks are relevant to your club can be found on the Affiliate Resources Page. Event organisers should keep event attendance records for two years. A horse health declaration is the best way of keeping this information in one place. For further information about Biosecurity, including a Biosecurity Plan Template which can be adapted for your event, horse health declaration and other useful resources visit our Biosecurity page.
Medication Control/Swabbing
Swabbing is the testing of a horses urine and blood samples to ensure that all horses are competing under the national EA and FEI competition rules without being influence by prohibited substances. Anti-Doping programs seek to preserve what is intrinsically valuable about sport. This intrinsic value is often referred to as "the spirit of sport"; it is the essence of Olympism; it is how we play true. The spirit of sport is the celebration of the human spirit, body and mind, Doping is fundamentally contrary to the spirit of sport
In 2005 EA launched a National approach to Medication Control of Horses competing at EA and FEI events. CLICK HERE for more information.
Blue Cards
It is a requirement of EQ that all Officials, Coaches and sports committee members are to hold a current Blue Card in Queensland. It is likely that members of your clubs committee are also required by legislation to hold a current Blue Card.
The purpose of the blue card system is to contribute to the creation of safe and supportive environments for children and young people when receiving services and participating in activities which are essential to their development and wellbeing, such as child care, education, sport, and cultural activities. For further information about Blue Cards and to check if you are required to hold one, visit our Blue Card page.
Official/Participant Competition Entry Checks and Official Results
EQ offer an entry checking service to affiliated clubs. This ensures that all riders hold the correct level of membership for the classes they have entered, and that horses are registered with EA where required and hold the relevant performance cards. It is important that entries are checked prior to the competition to ensure that all riders are eligible to compete in the clases they have nominated for, and to prevent riders being awarded prizes for clasess that they should not have competed in under the rules of the sport.
If you have taken entries through Nominate, you can send us the excel report that can be created. If you are holding a range of classes (i.e. participation, official and closed club classes) please indicate what type each class is so that the EQ office know what level of membership or horse registration is required. It is greatly appreciated if you can send the entries to us as soon as possible after close of nominations to enable us to check and follow up on any potential problems that may prevent riders competing. We are able to follow up with the riders to ensure they meet the requirements of their class prior to the day of the competition.
Official results should be sent in to the EQ office within 2 weeks of the event for uploading to the official results database.
EA Accredited Coaches
By using EA accredited coaches, you can be assured that the coaches have undergone training, professional development, first aid, hold current blue cards and coaching insurance. To search for current EA accredited coaches click here.
Equestrian Qld Membership
Any of your club members who are also EQ members will have their own personal accident and public liability insurance as part of their membership package. This gives further peace of mind to club committees when riders are able to access the grounds outside of organised events.
Participant & Competitive Competitions
We strongly encourage clubs to open their events to EQ members to increase participation in the sport. There are different categories of competitions that EQ Affiliated Clubs are able to hold. For further information about these categories click here.
Calendar Updates
EQ are able to promote participant and official competitions being held by our affiliated clubs through our website and social media channels. When submitting events to be uploaded to the EQ calendar, please use this template. Please note: your annual calendar of events should still be submitted to the relevant sport committee, however this template should be used for including additonal information about your event (such as your program) that can be added to the EQ online calendar.
Play By The Rules Courses
Play By The Rules offer free courses on some of the most important topics in sport, including: child protection, harassment and discrimination and complaint handling. They also offer free online training for Member Protection Information Officers (MPIOs).
By taking these courses you will upgrade your knowledge and skills, which will help to create safer, fairer and more inclusive environments for all people involved in sport.
To register for any of these courses, visit the Play By The Rules website.
Education Forums and Seminars
EQ are committed to bringing new coaches, judges and officials into the sport, as well as continuing to educate existing coaches, judges and officials.
If you are interested in holding an education forum or seminar please contact the EQ office on (07) 3891 6611 or [email protected]
Sports Community Webinars
EQ recognises the work of our clubs and sport committees in developing equestrian sports, and has purchased a series of webinars delivered by Sports Community. These webinars are designed to empower clubs and their volunteers in a range of topics. We highly recommend these to our affiliated clubs. For further information about the webinars available, visit the Club Resources page.
ASC Club Health Check
The Club Health Check is an online self-assessment tool aimed at helping clubs examine how they are operating. The checklist looks at a number of different factors that are crucial to success at club level and together these factors are used to build an overall picture of the way your club carries out its operations.
To start the Club Health Check click here.
