It would appear that we are in the early stages of an outbreak of Fungal Dermatitis / Ringworm.

This is a statewide alert, and I urge all members to be vigilant and assess their horses daily for outbreaks. If it is found, you will need to wash and disinfect your horses, their rugs and saddlery.

If this gets away it will be EXTREMELY hard to slow down, let alone stop the spread of this condition, and it will require all members to be diligent in their home biosecurity, along with the transfer of tack from horse to horse, including rugs and the interaction with other horses both on and off the field.

There has been a major outbreak in Queensland polocrosse horses recently, that saw them postpone carnivals and reports of ringworm in polocrosse horses in NSW. I can tell you that managing your horses is possible, but expensive, time consuming and difficult, as it is days or weeks after exposure that horses become affected and in this time gear has been shared widely! Some of the older horses may have built up an immunity and get a far less response but the younger unexposed ones may get hit very hard. At this point we don’t know exactly which horses have been exposed and are now potentially spreading the fungus. At least 2, or potentially 3 different Zones are affected and may have played at various venues around the State in recent weeks.

You are not allowed to play a horse at a carnival in NSW if it is affected and not treated, with any contagious condition be it skin or respiratory. If your horse has been affected and treated for a skin condition and you wish to play your horse, you must obtain and show a veterinary certificate declaring the condition and that the horse has been treated and is no longer contagious.

I urge all NSW members to be on the lookout at their home stable and when at carnivals.

In my experience, there are a number of products available to help with these outbreaks and some will need to be supplied by a veterinary surgeon.

AS ALWAYS, SEEK VETERINARY ADVICE IF YOU REQUIRE ASSISTANCE WITH TREATMENT OR A CLEARANCE TO COMPETE ON YOUR HORSE.

Sara Grills, PANSW Horse Welfare Officer

It is great to be back at carnivals all around the state, and playing polocrosse again.

I have had a few conversations recently, and this update serves as a gentle reminder for all members, whether you are hosting or just competing to be vigilant about horse welfare.

A couple of topics that require urgent attention are:

Fungal Dermatitis / Ringworm skin conditions….. these are sneaking into NSW horses presently, see article in this newsletter.

Horses being tied up at carnivals rather than yarded. The NSW Policy requires that no horses are tied up overnight or for the duration of a carnival. We all understand that some very small ponies are not easily contained in panels, but they require the same attention as a bigger playing horse, sufficient room, feed and water and somewhere to lie down if they would like.

Field conditions: It has become apparent over recent weeks that some of our playing surfaces have become harder than we would like, most likely assisted by the cold conditions and frost. Whilst this is unfortunate, we need to be diligent in providing a safe playing surface for players and their horses. Also included in this are the run off areas behind the goals. Sometimes players need to be reminded how to ride in these conditions, however clubs need to provide safe and soft surfaces for all.

Each month we will endeavour to bring some general interest and informative articles to our players via our newsletter. This month's article is provided by our well known veterinarian and PANSW Board member, Ben Sykes.

Did you know?

Did you know that most fractures that occur in high performance horses (e.g. racehorses and polocrosse horses) are not the result of a single bad step or field conditions per se?  Instead, most horses that break legs during high speed activities have evidence of underlying disease that precedes the fracture.

Why?

Most catastrophic bone injury is the result of cyclical trauma and microfractures that ultimately break during a high load.  So hard fields may increase the risk of a fracture but in most cases they are “the straw the breaks the camel’s back”, not the primary cause.  The primary cause is cyclical loading of bone and in the same way that bending a paper clip back and forwards will ultimately break the paper clip, bending bone back and forward will do the same.  Contrary to popular belief, extended durations of trotting does not strengthen bones for high intensity exercise.  In fact, extended trotting, especially on hard flat surfaces, actually weakens bone through the creation of microfractures.  The only thing that strengthens bone for high intensity exercise is high intensity exercise and it is about quality, not quantity as bone needs as little as 36 cycles (strides) to activate the process of strengthening. 

What to do?

 How we train our horses has a big impact on their risk of catastrophic fracture.  Instead of long extended trot periods we should reduce the time spent trotting, build variation into our horses’ workload, and make sure to include short bursts of high speed work which increase over time as the horse’s overall fitness improves. 

Following consultation with the State Selection Committees, PANSW would like to advise that the following carnivals have been nominated as selection carnivals.

1. NSW Club Championships, hosted by Macksville club at Grafton on 30 July to 1 August 2021

2. NSW Zone Championships, hosted by Dunedoo on 28/29 August 2021.

In line with the PANSW OPM each division are to nominate a third carnival which the majority of selectors will be in attendance.  The following are the named third carnivals for each division:-

Mens - Narrabri, 3/4 July 2021

Women - Sydney, 17/18 July 2021 (squad weekend)

Intermediates - No third selection carnvial but coaching and development weekend @Sydney carnival, 17/18 July 2021

Juniors - Narrabri, 3/4 July 2021

Sub Juniors - Narrabri, 3/4 July 2021

Attendance at every selection carnivals is NOT compulsory for players, they are merely an opportunity to attend a carnival with the majority of the selectors present.

Players interested in Selection for the 2022 Ballarat Nationals can now register their nomination via the SZ App or by following the link below.  Nominations will assist selectors with horse and player identification. Nomination forms will be closed on the app at midnight, Saturday 26/06/21 so that lists can be distributed to selectors.

PANSW have received concerns from members in relation to hosting a selection carnival in the greater Sydney area during this unfolding current COVID-19 situation. We intend monitoring this closely over the next few weeks and will maintain communications with the Sydney Polcrosse club and PANSW members.

Expressions of interest are now being sought for coaches and managers for Ballarat Nationals 2022.  Please complete form attached below or on the SZApp.

PANSW would like to invite expressions of interest from interested members for the forming of a sponsorship committee to assist with fundraising efforts for the 2022 Ballarat Nationals campaign.  PANSW are endeavouring to raise funds to assist teams in the costs associated with attending the Nationals as it has been agreed that funding for representative teams will not come from membership fees.

If you are interested in being a part of this committee please register your interest via the SZApp or the link below.