New mandatory text on the entry forms / online or paper version

In the past it wasnot quite clear where the liability of owners and officials. Starting the new show season, all entry forms, whether it is online, downloadable or on a paper version, needs to declare the following clauses:

• Regardless of who signs this entry-form, the registered owner or current lessee of the horse will be primarily regarded as the person responsible and liable for the horse with regard to the jurisdiction of ECAHO.
• ECAHO officials are acting on behalf of ECAHO and therefore are not personally liable for any acts, omissions or decisions undertaken in good faith in connection with their duties.
• ECAHO as an organization is not liable for any physical and/or material damages occurring at the showground. The show organizer is solely liable for those.

It is strongly advised that those who sign entry forms on behalf of any owner or lessee, inform them of these clauses as it may change their perception of liability in the past. ECAHO will change the sample forms for download and will inform the major online entry companies of the required changes.

New Affiliations will need to confirm insurance coverage

All organizers need to declare that they have a mandatory insurance coverage, covering any and all indemnity and/or liability in connection with the conduct of the event. (ECAHO assumes no indemnity and/or liability in connection with any event on behalf of organizers). This is already in force for some years now.  On the affiliation forms for show season 2019, there will be a declaration section where the show organizer signs to confirm that this insurance is in place. When, upon an actual claim, it appears that no insurance was arranged, the show organizer will be held personally responsible for the cost of damages and/or injuries.

New conflict of interest: Show organizers who are also ECAHO show-officials

In the recent Show Commission meeting in Verona it was confirmed that sponsoring of a show organized by an ECAHO show official is a conflict of interest based on having a business with an exhibitor at the show. As sponsoring a show clearly is to be considered a business relationship, the associated official and show organizer cannot, within 365 days of his own organized show-date, officiate any of his sponsor's horses. Officials that are linked to shows that are organized by National Arabian Horse associations are not considered as a conflict of interest.

Mandatory sending of the list of exhibitors to all officials at the closing day of entries

In accordance with the previous paragraph, it needs to be emphasized that a "conflict of interest" is not at all a bad thing, as long as the associated official declares it to the show organization or DC team in a timely matter. To comply with this requirement to declare, all officials shall receive by the closing date of entries a list of the expected exhibitors at the show from the organizer, consisting of the names of owners and/or their associated stud farm names where applicable.  This way the official can easily declare any conflict of interest and can never say he or she did not know. 

Please be ware this new rule may strongly degrade the full use of an official at times, therefore it is highly recommended to have proper backup and a replacement option if necessary. 

The Show Commission also gave approval for a try-out to release the complete catalogue to all officials and the public before the show. This trial will take place at two shows in 2018.

C European shows will be now called European Show

Discussions were held in advance of the Verona meetings whether a European B show would be an option to consider. As the level between a European C- and a possible European B show would not be that considerable to distinguish it was decided by the Show Commission not make any level indication anymore and refer to those shows as "European Show" only. The rules of affiliation for European shows will remain as the old European C show. 

ECAHO appoints one DC member for A and Title shows

To improve the quality of DC reports from A and Title shows, the Show Commission voted in favor of an ECAHO appointed DC at A and Title shows. That means that one of the members of the DC team who also will be responsible for the report will be chosen by ECAHO out of the A list of ECAHO DC's. In practice this will be done in cooperation with the Show Organizer, if both parties can agree. If no agreement can be made, the A DC will single sided be appointed by ECAHO, considering traveling-distance as related cost for the organizer.

All show results need to comply with ECAHO online results database

As the website of ECAHO is slowly becoming the source of all ECAHO event results, it will be mandatory for show organizers to comply with the synchronization of data. Either the show organizers use a score system that has a recognized export to the ECAHO data system like Arabian Horse Results or Arabian Essence. If other systems are used they need to comply with a mandatory JSON export of data for ECAHO to import the scores. 

Payments for officials

Maybe a little longer ago, in Rome earlier this year, the Show Commission approved a daily allowance for officials.  All officials at C International, and B shows will receive € 100 per day they officiated. At A shows this is € 150 and Title shows this amount is € 200 per day.  For DC's, if it is necessary to identify horses a day prior to the event, such a day also counts as an officiating day, and will also have to be paid. This daily allowance is to be paid by the show organizer together with all other regular reimbursement of cost according to the Blue Book.

Use the ECAHO points according to the rules

The standard ECAHO point system consists of grading 5 topics with a maximum of 10 or 20 points for a maximum of 50 or 100 points respectively. The separation of the topic head & neck is often used and extends both accuracy in judging, ranking and information to the spectators. It must however be emphasized that when using this option, the average of the points for head and for neck must be used to calculate the total percentage points.  If not done like this, the ranking may change in some cases, which would be highly inappropriate. Please inform your scoring team for the correct calculation! 

Some show organizers expressed the necessity of deleting the highest and the lowest score per topic from the judges. It was agreed that this may be applied on a trial basis if there are at least 5 judges actively judging in the ring. This trial will be evaluated on yearly basis.