The Saudi Ministry of Agriculture announced last Sunday lifting of the ban on the import of horses from Jordan to participate in sporting events.
The ministry has set the conditions and regulations to import horses from Jordan, including that «participating horses from Jordanian side have permanent residence in the Kingdom of Jordan, and their presence there exceeds a period of not less than 40 days, and that they should have an official letter of acceptance from the unions or organizations responsible for regulating competition stating the acceptance of horses participation.
In addition, every horse should have a microchip complying with the specifications of ISO of identification numbers 11784 and 11785, and that every horse should have a separate veterinary certificate for competitions issued by the government veterinary authorities in Jordan.
It is also stipulated that «horses be vaccinated against the equine influenza with two doses, at least of the same vaccine that was given at an interval of between 21 to 42 days as an initial immunization, or booster dose of no more than 12 months annually after giving the horse the initial immunization within 90 days prior to export, and not less than 14 days with the need to clarify all immunizations received by the horse in the horse’s identity document (passport), and that test samples should be sent to a veterinary laboratory accredited by the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), the result of which samples is negative for the following diseases: glanders, equine infectious anemia (EIA), durine, and the African horse sickness (AHS), provided that analytical validity is 60 days from the date of the withdrawal of the sample ».
The ministry indicated that the stipulations of the horse entry to Saudi Arabia to participate in various events in the Kingdom of Jordan include: Horse keeping in isolation centers at the venue of the competition, under the supervision of the government and veterinary authorities, and the isolation be in a separate stables divided into groups according to the country of export and under strict conditions, where mixing with other horses is not allowed except during competitions or performances. A re-export certificate should also be issued at the end of the specified import period for these horses to be exported to the Jordan or any other country.