Local equestrian volunteers help organise Hastings show

Gai and Neville Edge were among the advance guard for  the thousands of equestrian competitors and aficionados heading for the undisputed Mecca of equestrian competition - the Horse of the Year show in Hastings - this week.
Unlike the majority of the Northland contingent, the Whananaki South husband and wife team have not taken  horses.
They are among the huge team of volunteers that organise and run the  show, which opened today and runs until Sunday.
The couple became involved in pony club events in Northland about 30 years ago but maintained their interest and moved on to become involved in the sport at the national level.
They are filling  important positions at this week's show.
 Neville is the show's assistant technical delegate - a position that sees him make sure the competition during the week is run under the correct rules.
He acts as a kind of trouble-shooter - taking the side of riders who have fallen foul of technical rulings.
 He is also in charge of rider safety and public safety at the huge event that is expected to attract  more than 70,000 people. Gai is the show's chief steward and as such is in charge of the practice areas, horse welfare and drug testing.
"We're looking for any substance ... anything that's had an effect on the horse's system," she said.
"Throughout the year, all around the country officials have been carrying out tests, and of course because there's a greater concentration of horses at the Horse of the Year - all across the disciplines - there will be a lot of testing."
Because equestrian is an Olympic sport  it has to keep up with drug testing as stipulated by the World Anti Doping Agency's (WADA) guidelines - on the mounts but also on the riders.
"It's sort of double trouble, really.
"You've got your athletes - they're not called riders now, they changed all the rule books - and of course the horse's welfare to consider."
There have been an increased use of unregistered and illegal medications to increase a horse's performance in horse racing but fortunately Gai said the same  could not be said of equestrian competition - internationally, or in New Zealand.
"The testing that's been done around the country over the last year hasn't revealed any positive tests but the fact that we're testing and that testing will now become a normal part of competition, will be promoted at this year's Horse of The Year show," she said.
The testing is carried out on a random basis, with  about 25 tests on horses expected to be taken throughout the week.
Gai  said there had been out of competition drug testing for elite athletes for quite a while but that had not yet spread further throughout the sport.
"Most testing at the moment is carried out on people being considered for Olympic competition," Gai  said.