As COVID-19 continues to spread, with officials from the World Health Organization declaring a pandemic on March 11, the horse world has responded by canceling or postponing many events.

The Chronicle will continue to update this list as announcements are made.

March 16

4:15 p.m.

• The Land Rover Kentucky Three-Day Event has been canceled. 

•  The National Steeplechase Association announced that individual race meets have decided to postpone or cancel any events scheduled for the next eight weeks, in accordance with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control recommendation regarding public gatherings. “Our organization is working with the individual race meets to build a new schedule following the eight-week period plus an enhanced fall season,” the NSA said in a Facebook post.

11:45 a.m.

• Pin Oak Charity Horse Show (Texas), scheduled for March 18 through April 5, has been canceled.

• The Chattahoochee Hills Horse Trials (Tennessee), scheduled for April 3-5, has been canceled.

March 15

7:30 p.m.

• The Aiken Steeplechase (South Carolina), scheduled for March 21, has been canceled.

• The Tryon International Equestrian Center (North Carolina) announced that it would cancel equestrian competitions beginning March 14, including the TIEC Welcome Series. Additional changes to the competition schedule include cancellation of The Fork at TIEC on April 2-6, the Tryon Block House Races Pre-Race Party on April 10 and Steeplechase on April 11, and the Carolina Classic at TIEC Reining competition on May 6-10.

March 14

10:35 a.m.

• The U.S. Eventing Association has announced it is suspending recognized eventing starting on Monday, March 16. The suspension also extends to USEA recognized educational activities, Young Event Horse, Future Event Horse and New Event Horse competitions.

March 13

3:30 p.m.

Following a statement put out by USEF President Murray Kessler and Chief Executive Officer Bill Moroney suggesting all competitions be suspended for 30 days, additional competitions have canceled their competitions.

The Federation Equestre Internationale also issued a statement recommending all FEI events be canceled.

• Organizers of the Adequan Global Dressage Festival and Winter Equestrian Festival in Wellington, Florida, initially planned to run competition without spectators, but later announced they would be concluding both winter circuits following the end of competition on March 15.

• Blenheim EquiSports organizers announced they would be canceling the upcoming Blenheim Spring series in San Juan Capistrano, California.

• Organizers at the Carolina International in Southern Pines, South Carolina, canceled their spring event, scheduled for March 19-22.

• The CDCTA Spring Horse Trials, April 5, Berryville, Virginia, has been canceled.

• The Gulf Coast Classic series in Gulfport, Mississippi, will finish their winter series early following the conclusion of competition on March 15.

• Showplace Productions, which runs the Ledges Winter Series in Roscoe, Illinois, has canceled all competitions after March 15.

11:45 a.m.

• American National Riding Commission leadership announced on Facebook that the national championship has been canceled.

10:20 a.m.

• The FEI World Cup Finals in Las Vegas have been canceled.

• The HITS Ocala Winter Circuit in Ocala, Florida, will cease competition after March 15. Riders who have been competing for second-half and overall circuit awards will be honored prior to Sunday’s $200,000 CaptiveOne Grand Prix.

• Eurodressage lists the following CDIs as canceled: CDI Werribee (Australia), March 19-21;  CDI Ornago (Italy), March 19-22; CDI Ypaja (Finland), March 20-22; CDI Leudelange (Luxembourg); CDI Mannheim (Germany), May 1-5. Still taking place but closed to the public are: CDI Dortmund (Germany), March 12-15; CDI-W Wellington (Florida), March 25-29; and CDI Ebreichsdorf (Austria), April 2-5.

• The World Equestrian Center in Wilmington, Ohio, which had previously closed competitions to the public, is now canceling all competition.

• Organizers of the Event Rider Masters series, which holds four events in three countries (Burnham Market [England], Chatsworth [England], Arville [Belgium] and Jardy [France]), has canceled the entire series. All original host venue events will still run as planned.

March 12

10:30 p.m.

• Organizers at the Winter Equestrian Festival and Adequan Global Dressage Festival in Wellington, Florida, have announced that the competitions will be closed to the public. The ESP Spring Series, scheduled for April 1 through May 10, will run under the same restrictions.

• Competition at the Desert Circuit in Thermal, California, is ending after 7 1/2 weeks. “On a day when the Dow drops ten percent, the world faces a pandemic, and we see thunderstorms in the desert, it might just be time to declare victory,” organizers wrote in a Facebook post.

• The Galway Downs International Horse Trials in Temecula, California, will change its schedule to comply with the governor’s recommendation to restrict the size of public gatherings. Divisions will be split to run as two separate shows, one on Thursday/Friday and one on Saturday/Sunday. The show will be closed to the public; only competitors, family members, officials and volunteers may attend.

• The Thoroughbred Classic Horse Show, scheduled for March 21-22 at Galway Downs, has been postponed indefinitely.

• The Intercollegiate Horse Shows Association executive committee has announced that competition for the rest of the 2019-2020 season has been canceled as of midnight tonight. The cancellation applies to all IHSA shows, including Zones, Western Semi-Finals and Nationals.

• The National Collegiate Equestrian Association has canceled its national championship in Waco, Texas, which was scheduled for April 15-18.

• The Interscholastic Equestrian Association has recommended the cancellation of all competitions from March 16 through May 10, including Hunt Seat National Finals and Dressage National Finals.

• The Irish government has recommended indoor mass gatherings of 100 people or more and outdoor mass gatherings of 500 people or more should be canceled. Consequently, Horse Sport Ireland has recommended that all competitions, training and other events that exceed the limits be postponed.

4:20 p.m.

• Organizers at the World Equestrian Center in Wilmington, Ohio, have closed the horse show to the general public until further notice, limiting the grounds to exhibitors, their immediate families and staff. In addition to increased sanitation efforts, management has opened all barn and arena doorways to promote fresh air circulation.

2:30 p.m.

• Officials at the Dutch Masters in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands, which holds the final Western European League qualifier for the 2020 FEI World Cup Dressage Finals (Las Vegas), announced that the remainder of the competition was canceled following a press conference by Prime Minister Mark Rutte announcing new guidelines prohibiting gatherings of more than 100 people.

• Officials at the Longines Global Champions Tour and Global Champions League announced they will re-schedule the upcoming events in Mexico City, Mexico; Miami Beach, Florida; and Shanghai, China; due to the outbreak.

“We are working with the Alliance of Jumping Organisers (AJO) and the FEI (International Equestrian Federation) to find consensus about new dates this year for these upcoming events,” read the statement. “The health and wellbeing of our fans, stakeholders and staff are of the utmost importance in these unprecedented times, which are impacting events worldwide.”

• Officials in Interscholastic Equestrian Association Zone 2 announced in a letter to members that the Zone 2 Finals, scheduled for March 13-15, in Pawling, New York, have been postponed.

• The Carolina Cup Racing Association posted on their Facebook page that officials have canceled the 86^th running of the Carolina Cup Races on March 28 in Camden, South Carolina.

• Following an announcement from California Governor Gavin Newsom requesting all non-essential gatherings be postponed or canceled until the end of March, Copper Meadows organizers announced in an email to competitors that it would not run its event scheduled for March 14-15 in Ramona, California.

“The California Department of Public Health banned the non-essential gatherings of 250 or more people last night,” organizers wrote. “And after checking the footing and the weather forecast (calling for more rain), the decision was made to not hold the event this weekend and look into the possibility of alternative dates.”