Competition Improvement Program
Helping competition organizers expand and improve their competition sites.
About the program
The purpose of the Competition Improvement Program (CIP) is to help Organizers improve and expand their competition sites, which will improve and enhance the sport of Eventing in Ontario for competitors at all levels. It is available to all Organizers with events listed in the current year’s Omnibus. The Board of Directors of the OEA reviews and revises this funding program on a periodic basis. It will continue to be in effect as long as there are sufficient funds to support it. All claims must be substantiated by receipts/invoices.
At present, the Program is broken down into the following four sections:
Part A – Course Design
Part B – Annual Site Maintenance and Improvement
Part C – Frangible Devices
Part D – EV105 Grants *2023 & 2024 only*
Should there be insufficient funds in any fiscal year to accommodate all qualified applications, approval will be granted on a first-come, first-served basis.
Part A: Course design
50% to a maximum of $750 for the costs of:
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A certified cross-country course designer or certified cross-country course builder to analyze existing courses, design new course layouts, outline steps to bring courses up to standard and develop a plan to implement the required improvements.
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This funding can be claimed every year.
50% to a maximum of $200 for the cost of:
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A certified stadium course designer
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This funding can be claimed for each horse trial during the season
Organizers who are certified designers/builders are not eligible to claim under this section for their own courses.
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Part B: Annual site maintenance and improvements
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50% to a maximum of $2,000 for the costs of:
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New cross-country jumps or refurbishing of existing jumps
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Improvement to cross country footing, including aeration
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New stadium jumps or refurbishing of existing jumps
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Improvement to stadium footing
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Improvement to all warm-up areas
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Construction of Judges booths for stadium and dressage
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Replacement/refurbishing of dressage rings & letter markers
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Improvement to dressage footing
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Items (either mandatory or recommended) required for the improvement of safety such as frangible pins, plastic jump cups and pins, breakaway flag clamps, shatter proof safety flags.
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Organizers may not claim their own labour for any activity eligible under this section.
100% to a maximum of $500 for first time organizers for the costs of:
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Clipboards, radios, stopwatches, whistles, PA system
This funding can only be claimed in the first year of a new event.
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Part C: Frangible devices
100% to a maximum of $500 for the cost of frangible devices (pins or MIM kits). Incremental $500 (total of $1,000) available for Organizers who purchase and install $3,000 worth of frangible devices in year.
Reimbursement under Part C requires photos of the installed frangible devices in addition to expenditure receipts/invoices.​
Part D: EV 105 grants (2023 and 2024 only)
EV105 is now widely viewed nationally and internationally as a vital division for preparing horses and riders for upper-level Eventing by promoting them safely through to the higher divisions. To support this division in Ontario, the OEA Board approved a program for 2023 to assist Organizers who are willing to invest in building new jumps specifically with EV105 in mind. In December 2023, this program was extended for one year and amended to allow Organizers to grandfather in years that they have already run EV105, when calculating their mandatory 5-year commitment to that level.
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Part D of the CIP Program will reimburse 100% to a maximum of $5,000 for the cost of materials to build unique jumps designed to complement existing EV105 courses or to create new EV105 courses. The grants will be allocated to Organizers who submit invoices incurred in 2023 or 2024 or applications for building in 2025.
These one-time EV105 grants are repayable in full in the event that an Organizer ceases to run the EV105 division within 5 years of receiving the grant. Organizers are entitled to take into account years that they have already run the EV105 division when calculating this mandatory 5-year commitment to the division.
Applications and deadlines
The funding period each year is November 1 to October 31. Reimbursable expenses must be within this time period; they may not carry over from year to year. All requests must be supported by a completed application form and expenditure receipts/invoices and must be submitted by October 31 of each year.
Obligations of the OEA and organizer
The OEA Board has an obligation to the membership to manage the assets of the Association responsibly. All claims under CIP are checked and verified before any reimbursement is made.
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Complete and accurate claims submitted for reimbursement under CIP during the stated submission period will be processed in a timely manner. Applications for funding must be properly and completely filled out and accompanied by substantiating receipts/invoices for materials and/or services. Organizers are not required to include original invoices; clear photocopies are acceptable. The OEA reserves the right to randomly inspect any work that has been done with CIP funds.