Pursuant to a request by the AERC President and the Chair of the Rules Committee, the Veterinary Committee offers the following recommendations in regards to blind horses competing in AERC events: The Veterinary Committee acknowledges that some completely blind horses have competed successfully in other equestrian disciplines. However, given the rugged nature of endurance events and oftentimes unpredictable nature of the equine species, it is the judgment of the Veterinary Committee that allowing blind horses to participate in endurance events constitutes an unacceptably high risk to the health and safety of all participants, both equine and human, including the blind horse and its rider. Therefore, it is the recommendation of the Veterinary Committee that horses lacking functional vision in both eyes should
not be allowed to participate in any AERC sanctioned event in either a competitive or non-competitive capacity. Horses that are blind in only one eye, or still retain significant partial vision in both eyes,
may potentially be allowed to participate in AERC events if the horse’s limited vision in and of itself does not constitute an unreasonable risk to the health and safety of all participants. Final decisions concerning partially sighted horses shall be made on a case-by-case basis by the Head Control Judge at each event. Previous decisions made at other AERC events should not be considered binding upon the judgment of any subsequent Head Control Judges. (December 2012)
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