Groups Collaborate On Sport Horse Movement In Asia, Oceania

The OIE, FEI, and IFHA have been collaborating to develop the high-health, high-performance horse concept, based on existing OIE standards. Photo: Anne M. Eberhardt The World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) today (Feb. 18) opened a three-day workshop for government veterinary and animal health experts from 20 nations across Asia and Oceania at the Happy Valley Racecourse, in Hong Kong, focusing on the international movement of sport horses. The workshop, which is the first of its kind to be held in Asia, is co-organized by the Federation Equestre Internationale (FEI); the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities (IFHA); the Agriculture, Fisheries, and Conservation Department of the Hong Kong government; and the Hong Kong Jockey Club (HKJC). Sessions at the workshop will focus on the extensive global growth of the sport horse industry over the last decade, which has resulted in far-reaching socioeconomic benefits for national economies and the horse sport industry, and has significantly strengthened the progression of equestrian athletes competing on the world stage. The sport still faces serious challenges due to inconsistent approaches to the application of health regulations and quarantine on competition horses, leading to excessive and irregular health requirements for temporary importation. The OIE, FEI, and IFHA have been collaborating to develop the high-health, high-performance horse (HHP) concept, based on existing OIE standards. The advantages of this solution to meeting global requirements for horse importation will be presented to government experts from Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, Chinese Taipei, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, New Caledonia, New Zealand, Philippines, Singapore, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Korea, and Vietnam. The HHP concept will be presented within the new OIE terrestrial animal health code chapter during the 2014 OIE General Session, taking place May 25-30 in Paris, France, for a vote by all 178 member countries. Group Effort The OIE recognizes the value of the equine industry, not only because of the increased number of equestrian events worldwide, but also in terms of creating employment, said Bernard Vallat, DVM, director general of the OIE. However, we recognize that much of the growth in the horse industry is taking place in the traditional horse sport regions of the world: Europe, North America, Canada, and Australia," he continued. "So facilitation of international horse movement would also allow for emerging countries and regions to tap into the economic potential associated with an increase in numbers of equestrian events, be it FEI sport or horse racing. The concept of identifying a sub population of high health, high performance horses, in line with the OIE standards and principles, is designed to address the perceived issues in terms of global movement of horses. FEI President HRH Princess Haya added by video message, Some of the worlds most valuable and supervised horses are now competing for the biggest prizes on the planet here in Asia. Recently, we saw the South East Asian Games in Myanmar; next year the Asian Games will be held in Incheon, in the Republic of Korea; and in 2020, the Olympic Games will come once again to Asia (when the games return to Tokyo, Japan) and the eyes of the world will be focused on this region. "But international equestrian sport cannot take place without the temporary importation of high-health, high-performance horses and at present the approach to moving these horses between countries in the region is extremely disharmonized and does not take into account their lower disease risk or their high level of supervision," she continued.
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magnetic Notice Boards – Great For Kids

Magnetic notice boards are most commonly associated with the classroom or office but they more and more often they are creeping into our homes and with good reason too. You may like the idea of having one in your kitchen, especially if your fridge is installed inside one of your kitchen cupboards because it's quite strange how much we rely on our fridge fronts to store memos. Magnetic notice boards are useful in your office too – a great way to create a little bit of organisation in something that can be a little bit of a disaster zone. It may well be forgotten however that your children might enjoy having a magnetic notice board in their bedroom.

It certainly is a way to encourage good old-fashioned games into your child's daily play and can be extremely educational. I remember the enjoyment me and my best friend got out of a large notice board she had in her bedroom – something I was always rather jealous of! We would spend hours playing teachers and I'm afraid to say we would even take home some of the spare sheets from school so we could create 'real' lessons. I have a collection of the exercise books in a memory box I found only a couple of weeks ago – certainly good memories.

The great thing about magnetic notice boards is the fact that they are extremely educational, and can allow your child to continue learning in a fun environment outside of school hours. Buying magnetic letters to place on the noticeboard is a great idea, it allows you to spell out words or funny sentences and when they get a little bit older you can purchase the magnetic word packs which mean that they can be a little bit more advanced and make up stories and poems.

Other than sticking magnets onto the notice board, you can of course also write on the boards with dry-wipe pens (they really can pretend to be teachers!). There are a range of colours available and it is very simply cleaned which is always a bonus.

And finally if your children are older and at secondary school they may be 'too cool' to play but they can use it as an organisational tool, especially when the homework starts flying in thick and fast. They can use it as a tick list or write when deadlines are so they can keep on top of their work easily.