Too Dry for Horse Trials

THE Scone Horse Trials to be held on March 3 and 4, have been postponed due to the ongoing drought conditions in the Upper Hunter.

Blair Richardson, president of the Scone Horse Trials, said they had to consider the welfare of the horses and hope they can reschedule for the event for spring.

Nikki Richardson hosing off Maverick after competing in the Scone Horse Trials.

“Our main concern is the water situation when you have 500 to 600 horses on a property for a weekend they use a lot of water, it’s a hot time of year the horses have to gallop 4 to 5 kilometres jumping jumps, they need to be cooled off properly and due to the drought the underground water tables are lowering and the access for us to have adequate water is not there,” said Mr Richardson.

“The dry conditions also mean there is no grass cover making it harder on the horses on the landing side of the jumps,” he said.

“We have the welfare of the horses to think about and unfortunately we’ve had to come to the conclusion that we need to cancel the March event and look at rescheduling when things improve,” Blair Richardson said.