From the Board of Directors of NRHA Germany: New Medications Policy of NRHA USA
A new Animal Welfare & Medications Policy was adopted at the NRHA USA Board of Directors meeting on August 21. The goal of this, according to NRHA USA President Rick Clark, was to develop stricter guidelines to specifically "ban medications from our industry for the benefit of our horses and for the integrity and fairness of our competitions." This decision, he said, is the first step toward an animal welfare and medication policy that does not allow sedatives or tranquilizers. To achieve this goal, however, compromises would have to be made, even unpleasant ones. For Rick Clark, this also includes the fact that the sedative Romifidin (Sedivet) was approved. This decision, which was not unanimous in the NRHA Board of Directors, triggered strong reactions and numerous expressions of opinion on social media. Parts of the NRHA Germany membership questioned what impact this decision would have on NRHA Germany shows.
NRHA Germany is a partner association of NRHA USA. This means that NRHA USA regulations are to be applied in all NRHA USA approved classes, as long as these NRHA USA rules do not violate national law and binding regulations. In the areas of animal welfare, doping and medication, the European and in particular the German animal welfare laws deviate quite considerably from the NRHA USA rules. They are much more narrowly defined. For this reason, NRHA Germany has drawn up its animal welfare and medication regulations independently of NRHA USA, within the framework of these legal provisions. Neither Romifidin (Sedivet) nor other sedatives or narcotics are permitted at NRHA Germany shows. NRHA Germany not only consistently upholds the animal welfare and doping regulations set forth by the laws of the Federal Republic of Germany and the European Union, as set forth in the German Animal Welfare Act and the Guidelines for Animal Welfare in Equestrian Sports, but also goes above and beyond to ensure a fair, sportsmanlike, and animal-friendly show environment.
The decision made by NRHA USA on Romifidin (Sedivet) therefore has no influence on the tournaments and regulations of NRHA Germany and brings no change to the long-standing and well-known approach of NRHA Germany in the area of doping and animal welfare and the control of these requirements at the tournaments.
Text: NRHA Germany