Horseball's top event heads to Bishop Burton

A combination of basketball and rugby, played at speed on horseback, horseball may become an Olympic sport.

It began in France in the 1970s and was introduced in this country 17 years ago, since when it has been going from strength to strength.

This will be the third time that the European Horseball Championships have been run in conjunction with the European Pony Championships, having been held previously in Rome in 2005 and Saumur, France in 2006.

Dave Pettifor, the British Horseball Association's head of training, said: "It really raises the profile of horseball when it is included alongside the Olympic disciplines. It gives our junior players something to aim for and the spectators something different to see."

There will be four days of horseball action in the college's arena and at least six European teams, including Great Britain, are expected to take part.

Our squad will now start working towards the championships but a team will not be chosen just yet.

"We don't want to select too early as junior competitors can improve quite dramatically, so we'll be keeping a close eye on the riders and selecting as soon as we can," said Dave.

The British Horseball Association runs an annual league of senior and junior matches, Open Championships and regional, riding school and university competitions. For more information about events in the North, go to www.midlands-horseball.btik.com.

AS we mentioned in Country Week at the weekend, horses can cope with snowy conditions much better than people think but that doesn't stop members of the public being concerned about them.

Lee Hackett, of the British Horse Society, has been fielding many more calls than usual.

"We have received huge numbers of calls to our welfare line reporting horses in distress. Although well meaning, quite a number of them have turned out to be unfounded, as horses generally cope quite well with cold weather even though they may look miserable."

Even so, the BHS would like to remind owners of some steps they can take to ensure their horses keep well during this cold period.

They generate a lot of heat from fibre digestion, so a constant supply of hay should be left for those turned out in snow-covered fields.

Those that are confined to their stables should have hard feed reduced and hay levels increased in order to keep them warm and stop them putting on weight.

Water troughs can freeze over very quickly and the BHS says that some vets have seen an increase in the number of colic cases when thirsty horses drink large quantities of freezing cold water.

To prevent this, try and make sure the horse has access to water all the time so he doesn't feel the need to drink large quantities in one go and add a little warm water when possible.

The BHS welfare department is happy to offer advice to owners and can be contacted on 01926 707804 or email, [email protected].

THE Yorkshire Area Point-to-Point Club's first meeting of the season should have been held this Sunday at Sheriff Hutton. Because of the snowy conditions, it has been postponed until Sunday, January 24 when it is hoped the course will be clear of snow.

Entries will remain open for another week, closing at 8pm this Sunday.

It will be the third point-to-point run on this course for the club with over 13,000 being raised for the Yorkshire Air Ambulance which will again benefit. If all goes ahead as planned, the meeting will begin with pony racing, starting at 10.45am, with the first point-to-point race at 12 noon.

NOT everything has ground to a halt because of the snow, however. Intrepid riders from the Vale of York Polo Club headed for the beach at Cleethorpes recently to do battle in full festive fancy dress. The Snowmen had the advantage so far as camouflage went, with Adam Vincent proving particularly stealthy. The Santas worked hard to keep in the match which ended in a two-all draw. If anybody is interested in going to watch the next beach polo match, or in learning to play, contact Paul Piddington on 07788 426968.