It is very clear that this global crisis causes some problems for everyone, but one profession seems to suffer more than others: the organizations of (inter-)national horse shows. We talked with Laurens Meynaerts of Sentower Park, who made a statement by cancelling the BWP-stallion approval in the middle of the event to secure the safety of everyone present.
It was a very brave decision to cancel the BWP-stallion approval, an event that was already running for two days when it got cancelled, ...
“It definitely was brave, but it also was the only right decision at that point. The safety and health of our visitors, our riders and their horses and our employees, has always been the top priority for us, so cancelling the event was the only thing we could do. Earlier that day we already asked the public to leave our accommodation to keep the risk of contagion as low as possible. At that point, the Belgian government didn't take a decision considering events yet, so we didn't really know what was going to happen. I was in contact with the mayor, the OC and the board of the BWP at that point. You can't make this kind of decision on our own and I'm very happy I got their support at that time. Together we decided to cancel the event".
With this cancellation, you were the first Belgian organizers that cancelled a show. Hopefully also the first ones to organize again...?
"Our GOLD competition was the first competition on the agenda so we were the first organization who got confronted with this problem. I don't know when we can organize again; as I don't know either whether organizing an international show is even smart or possible right now".
Yesterday someone had the idea to close international competitions for international riders and keep it open for the Belgian riders only. Do you think this can be a solution?
"Maybe. I think the most important thing right now is that the horses can jump again. It would be better for the rythm of the riders as well as their horses' and this could partly safe the horsetrading. I personally think it will be very difficult to keep your international competitions open for national riders only since a lot of international riders are living in Belgium. You can't expect them not to enter... But this is not a problem we have to face right now, only the future will tell how everything's going to go".
What does that future look like?
"For Sentower Park, I see everything in different phases. In the first phase, I hope our outdoors can soon open again to be rented. We have three outdoors that all look great and they are almost screaming to see horses on it. I hope it will soon be possible again for riders who want to come and train here. After that, in a second phase, I hope we can organize shows again without any audience present. In a third phase, I think everything would go back to normal with a busy calendar with regional, national and international shows WITH a lot of audience".
There are still some shows scheduled in April at Sentower. What's going to happen there?
"I'm still waiting to cancel but if I'm honest, I don't think it will be possible to host an international in April. I don't know if they can be postponed, you only get a few dates a year and once they're past, they're gone. We will see what happens, nobody knows how long this is going to take. Some thing I can be sure of and that's that we're already preparing ourselves the best we can for our first event".
It was a very brave decision to cancel the BWP-stallion approval, an event that was already running for two days when it got cancelled, ...
“It definitely was brave, but it also was the only right decision at that point. The safety and health of our visitors, our riders and their horses and our employees, has always been the top priority for us, so cancelling the event was the only thing we could do. Earlier that day we already asked the public to leave our accommodation to keep the risk of contagion as low as possible. At that point, the Belgian government didn't take a decision considering events yet, so we didn't really know what was going to happen. I was in contact with the mayor, the OC and the board of the BWP at that point. You can't make this kind of decision on our own and I'm very happy I got their support at that time. Together we decided to cancel the event".
With this cancellation, you were the first Belgian organizers that cancelled a show. Hopefully also the first ones to organize again...?
"Our GOLD competition was the first competition on the agenda so we were the first organization who got confronted with this problem. I don't know when we can organize again; as I don't know either whether organizing an international show is even smart or possible right now".
Yesterday someone had the idea to close international competitions for international riders and keep it open for the Belgian riders only. Do you think this can be a solution?
"Maybe. I think the most important thing right now is that the horses can jump again. It would be better for the rythm of the riders as well as their horses' and this could partly safe the horsetrading. I personally think it will be very difficult to keep your international competitions open for national riders only since a lot of international riders are living in Belgium. You can't expect them not to enter... But this is not a problem we have to face right now, only the future will tell how everything's going to go".
What does that future look like?
"For Sentower Park, I see everything in different phases. In the first phase, I hope our outdoors can soon open again to be rented. We have three outdoors that all look great and they are almost screaming to see horses on it. I hope it will soon be possible again for riders who want to come and train here. After that, in a second phase, I hope we can organize shows again without any audience present. In a third phase, I think everything would go back to normal with a busy calendar with regional, national and international shows WITH a lot of audience".
There are still some shows scheduled in April at Sentower. What's going to happen there?
"I'm still waiting to cancel but if I'm honest, I don't think it will be possible to host an international in April. I don't know if they can be postponed, you only get a few dates a year and once they're past, they're gone. We will see what happens, nobody knows how long this is going to take. Some thing I can be sure of and that's that we're already preparing ourselves the best we can for our first event".