The Italian Horse Protection Onlus has written to the relevant departments of the Ministries of Health and Agriculture & Forestry, requesting an urgent meeting be set up to work out a general regulation covering palios, and local festivals which use horses and other equids in their celebrations.

While IHP aims to see the abolition of the use of equids altogether in palios and other traditional parades etc, our Association recognises the need for interim regulations governing them, before they spin even further out of control than they are currently doing.

In spite of the 2011 Ministry of Health Order, and the improvements seen following that, there are still numerous loopholes in the system of authorisation and – above all – of controls, such as the absence of any coordination among the various authorities and institutions involved.

One glaring example of this is the recent change to Article 72 in the rulebook governing flat racing – the responsibility of Mipaaf – whereby thoroughbred (TB) horses which also ran in palios and were used in local traditional events, were banned from regular flat racing competitions. This meant conversely that horses of this very fast but also very fragile breed, if registered to run in official flat races were permitted to run only in those, and if they were caught racing also in palios they were immediately disqualified from the flat races. The recent change means this proviso is no longer in the rule book.

It is true, of course, that from one point of view this change to the rules merely puts an end to cheating and hypocrisy, since everybody has always known that the rule was got around by giving the horses a nickname, or failing to present official ID documentation or in some cases even by more subtle illegal means such as substituting the microchips (see the recent case in Siena, where a jockey had changed three horses’ microchips, all three being thoroughbreds).

However, it just is not possible to pretend that liberalising the use of TBs would have anything but a deleterious effect, in the context of confusion and lack of official regulation in such events as palios and traditional local events. We have illustrated this to both Ministries in the following terms:

- The Ministry of Health Order makes only generic reference to equids, without requiring specification (by the ASL vets and the technical experts involved in the events) of the sort of equids (from ponies to donkeys, to TBs) eligible to take part IN SAFETY, with regard to the course to be covered; and this in spite of the fact that it is clear that different breeds etc have very different limitations;
- strictly connected to the preceding point, is the lack of a DNA test to identify any TBs to be used in these races and events;
- there is no indication whatsoever in the regulations as to when the minimum requirements in official racecourses might be waived regarding the use of TBs in other events such as palios and traditional events. This potentially places the consequences of the change to Article 72 beyond any measures of control.
- In the former regulations (and in particular the Ministry of Health Order) the responsibility lay with the ASL vet, Mipaaf not having any part in it. The fact that the change to Article 72 hands over to Mipaaf the choice of who to subject to anti-doping checks as well as the checks themselves could – in our opinion – add to the confusion surrounding who is responsible for what, as well as setting up the potential for abuse of Mipaaf’s role, given that the authorisation for, and administration of, such anti-doping tests has to be put before a commission within which both an ASL vet and an organising committee member have to be present.
- In any case, the obligation to apply Mipaaf’s anti-doping Regulation (revised Article 72 para b) would be improper, since everyone knows that the procedures described in the regulation itself are not always superimposable on traditional local festivals.
- The revised Article 72 quotes the, presumably reconfirmed, safety conditions imposed by the former Order of the Ministry of Health. However, these conditions are anyway only in part effective, as demonstrated by the continuing number of serious accidents which occur each year, notwithstanding the improvements made over the years.
- No database of palios or traditional local events using equids, exists.
- There is no transparency regarding the horses used in such events, nor is there any way of tracing them.
- The regulations governing local festivals using equids do not extend to the elimination heats and other preliminaries prior to the events and competitions themselves, even when these trials take place under identical conditions to the actual races or events themselves. One clear example is the Siena palio, where dozens of horses go through various heats and selection trials on ad hoc tracks replicating exactly the one in Piazza del Campo. These are used all year round, both for training and for the selection heats.

In conclusion we consider urgent both the need for stronger and wider measures that take into account the realities of these events, and an organised coordination among the various authorities and institutions involved. For example:

- Creation of a database and monitoring of official events which use equids (including a database of the animals and of the jockeys);
- Establishment, by means of a special commission, of the types of equid which can be used within the context of each event, its tracks or itinerary, the footing, and the individual event’s own rules and regulations, with the aim of eliminating all risks of accident and injury due to speed or control of the horses (equids in general);
- Set up specific guidelines regarding identification of the equids, and covering the use of banned substances.

In order to discuss these and other proposals we have asked both Ministries to set up a working group, to which the staff of IHP is willing to contribute our years of experience and professional know-how, while still remaining clear that our log-term goal is to eventually abolish altogether the use of equids in these events.

We await a reply to our request, hoping that no further serious accidents occur in the meantime, underling once more the urgency of this matter.