1 May 2008 - New Testing for Prohibited Substances

UK Sport, as part of its overall sporting excellence remit, is committed to promoting ethically fair and drug-free sport, with the aim of producing sportsmen and women who are competing safely and winning fairly.

As Horseball is part of the British Equestrian Federation, any athlete that has entered an affiliated BHA competition or has been named as a member of a team participating in a competition at International level can be tested as part of the UK 's drug-testing programme.

The selection of athletes to provide a sample is determined by the rules of the governing body. The selection policy may target:

1. placing in the event
2. discipline, category or round
3. random selection
4. a set number of players from each team (usually using random selection)
5. qualifying for national representation 
 
Following a complaint about the use of illegal substances at Horseball, the BHA committee has decided to commit to the third option - random selection and will potentially commence random testing from the 12th July at the Berkshire league competition. The process and penalties will be agreed by the committee with official Sport England guidance. This notice gives anyone who currently uses prohibited substances, the time to clear their system.

Due to recent concerns over riding whilst under the influence of alcohol, it has been agreed to commence the policy of ad hoc alcohol testing for players and ridden referees from Brooksby weekend forwards  with random selection to take place one hour before competition. The full procedure and penalties are still to be agreed and will be finalised before testing commences and is likely to include contingencies such as where there is a reasonable doubt as to the fitness of an individual to play who was not selected randomly and may include juniors where parents give their written permission. 

It should be remembered that on average, the body can breakdown alcohol at a rate of one unit per hour (depending on your weight, sex, age, metabolism, stress levels, amount of food eaten, medication taken and type of alcohol consumed). Approx 4 units for men and 3 units for women will provide a positive test if consumed within a couple of hours of a competition.
1 pint of strong lager = 3 units 1 pint of ordinary lager, bitter or cider, 175ml glass of wine = 2 units 1 alcopop = 1.5 units 1 measure of spirits = 1 unit many wines are around 11 or 12 per cent alcohol therefore a small glass = 1.5 units

It is quite clear in the BHA and FIHB policies and rules that members are not allowed to compete whilst under the influence of banned substances and all members have signed a form committing to those rules. Refusal to take a test will be penalised as a positive result.

For more information or to read the UKSport manifesto for drug free sport or the UK National Anti-doping policy, please look on ww.uksport.gov.uk. There is a list of prohibited substances available on the BEF web site or search for individual substances on the world data base - http://www.didglobal.com  

BHA Directors Jim Copeland, Mary Pettifor, John Kerry

On behalf of the BHA committee