The FEI has created a stakeholders survey to ensure the maintenance and continued improvement, of an already existing high standard, at FEI Events. This survey will help the FEI better understand the expectations of its key stakeholders, and the information collected will help guide the future approach of the FEI to ensuring that these are met.

The survey launches today and will be open until Monday 14 February 2022. We encourage everyone to take part in this survey, which should take no more than 10 minutes, and thank you in advance for your time.

Take the FEI Events Standards Stakeholder Survey - https://inside.fei.org/hub/fei-events-standards-stakeholders-survey

The entire showjumping community has been devastated by the current linked outbreaks in Spain of the neurological form of EHV-1 that has impacted horses in 10 countries in mainland Europe. Through the hard work and dedication of many in our community, progress is clearly being made towards bringing the immediate situation under control. However, many riders and owners are facing severe financial hardship due to the costs of emergency veterinary treatment for their horses during the crisis.

In order to provide support for those affected by these unforeseen and, in many cases, very substantial expenses, the EHV Relief Fund has been established. The brainchild of showjumping athletes Emile Hendrix, Peter Charles and Frederick Goltz, the Fund has the support of the FEI, European Equestrian Federation, International Jumping Riders Club, Jumping Owners Club and Equestrian Organisers. In addition, Riders Help Riders, the fundraising campaign set up by German event organiser and sports marketer Axel Milkau, has joined forces with the Fund. Collectively, this group have set themselves up as the Sponsors of the Fund.

The mandate of the Fund is to provide financial support to riders and owners for the legitimate veterinary expenses resulting directly from the EHV-1 outbreaks in Spain. All proceeds raised by the Fund will be applied to this mission. Any administrative or other costs of the Fund will be borne by the Sponsors. 

Guidelines for the submission of funding requests will be published in due course, but the basic principle will be to:

• compile all applicable expenses;
• raise as much money as possible;
• allocate funds raised to cover the greatest percentage of the applicable expenses possible.

The Sponsors have created an oversight committee to manage distribution of the funds based on this mandate. The Sponsors are committed to full transparency and the accounts of the Fund will be published when it is wound-up.

“Despite these desperately distressing times, it has been heartwarming to see in practice what we all know to be true: that in our sport, the welfare of the horse comes first, no matter the circumstance”, Frederick Goltz said. “As part of that special community ethos, we would hope that the broader showjumping community will help to bear some of the costs, particularly in an environment made all the more difficult by Covid-19.”

A total of €250,000 has already been pledged to the Fund, including monies committed by the Sponsors, other donors, and the very successful fundraising effort already undertaken by the Riders Help Riders team.

“Thank you to those who have already joined our effort and we very much hope that everyone in the showjumping community will consider helping as much as they are able”, Peter Charles said. 

Questions about the Fund can be addressed to EHVRelief@FEI.org

Donations can be paid directly to the dedicated bank account that has been set up through the FEI:

Banque Cantonale Vaudoise, Place St-François 14, 1003 Lausanne - Switzerland
Account holder: Federation Equestre Internationale, IBAN: CH72 0076 7000 E536 6418 5, Account: E 5366.41.85 EUR, BIC/Swift: BCVLCH2LXXX
Reference: EHV_relief_fund

Sponsors: Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI); European Equestrian Federation (EEF); International Jumping Riders Club (IJRC); Jumping Owners Club (JOC); Equestrian Organisers (EO); Riders Help Riders; Emile Hendrix; Peter Charles; Frederick Goltz.

The FEI Board has approved four recommendations from the FEI Jumping Calendar Task Force to allow greater flexibility around Date Clash Rules, Calendar Applications, Date Change Applications due to EHV-1, as well as new dates for the FEI WBFSH Jumping World Breeding Championship for Young Horses 2021, Lanaken (BEL).
These Calendar measures seek to mitigate the negative effects of Covid-19 and EHV-1, and in particular to allow as many Events as possible to take place leading up to Tokyo 2020. They will provide Athletes more opportunities to compete to obtain the Minimum Eligibility Requirements (MERs) and Confirmation Results, and to train for the Olympic Games as well as for other Championships, while for Organisers, these measures provide more flexibility to re-schedule their cancelled or postponed Events. 
The FEI Jumping Calendar measures approved by the FEI Board today are:

• Application of Date Clash Rules until Tokyo 2020 (Emergency Board Resolution)
  The FEI Board approved that all Jumping Event Organisers may, until the end of the Tokyo 2020 Games (Sunday 8 August 2021), organise their Events (subject to the Calendar applications deadline mentioned below) on their selected dates and no Dates Clash Rules shall apply during that time.
• Deadlines for Calendar Applications (Emergency Board Resolution)
  The FEI Board approved the reduction of deadlines for Calendar applications as follows:

• CSI5*/ CSI4: from 10 weeks to 6 weeks
• CSIO5*/CSIO4*/CSIO3*/CSIO2*/CSIO1*/CSI3*/CSIOY/J/P/Ch: from 8 weeks to 6 weeks

• Date change Applications due to EHV-1
  Taking into account the above Deadlines for Calendar Applications, the FEI Board consequently approved that for any Event taking place between 12 April and 30 April 2021, the 6 weeks deadline shall be considered as met if the request for the date change was made at least 6 weeks prior to the new date of the Event.
• New Dates for the FEI WBFSH Jumping World Breeding Championship for Young Horses 2021, Lanaken (BEL)
  The FEI Board approved the new dates requested by the Organiser, which are 22-25 September 2021.

A communication is also being sent to FEI Jumping Athletes informing them of changes to the deadlines for calendar applications as well as Jumping Events that have been added or moved in the FEI Calendar today.
And lastly, we would like to also highlight that the FEI will be announcing Calendar Measures for the other disciplines in the coming days, following input from each of the dedicated Calendar Task Forces.

Information on date clash between the CSI5*-W Helsinki (FIN) and CSI5* GCT/GCL Shanghai (CHN)

Due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the FEI Calendar and in the interest of the sport, the FEI has agreed to the date clash between the CSI5*-W Helsinki (FIN) and CSI5* GCT/GCL Shanghai (CHN). Both Organisers have agreed that any NF will be entitled to select and enter any Athlete for the CSI5*-W Helsinki (FIN) without any consequences or sanction from GCT/GCL against Athletes that are members of a GCL Team and that this should not be regarded as a breach of any contractual obligation between the Athlete and GCT/GCL and/or Team owner.

Furthermore, neither Event will make a special effort to attract Athletes from each other, while being aware that the choice ultimately rests with the Athletes and the National Federations. Chefs d’équipe and national selectors, together with the IJRC, will be requested to cooperate to attract top Athletes to both Events. The FEI will work with NFs and the IJRC to attract top athletes to both events.

The FEI Education & Officials Department have recently published explainer videos for the major FEI Jumping 2021 Rule changes.

These videos are mainly aimed at Officials and Athletes who are required to be up-to-date with the different rules. For the wider audience these videos will serve a rather informative purpose, providing a deeper understanding of our sport. The goal of these short videos is to highlight the most impactful rule changes and their rationale in each discipline, as well as more general regulations including the Equine Anti-Doping Controlled Medication Regulations and the Anti-Doping Rules for Human Athletes which underwent a full review in 2020.

Here are the direct links to the below listed videos on FEI Campus by clicking on the relevant name:

• FEI Veterinary Regulations Changes 2021
• FEI General Regulations Changes 2021
• FEI Equine Anti-Doping Controlled Medication Regulations Changes 2021
• FEI Anti-Doping Rules for Human Athletes Changes 2021

Following discussions between the United States Equestrian Federation (USEF) and the World Equestrian Center (WEC), which are still ongoing, an interim agreement has been reached that will allow the Ocala Winter Spectacular to go ahead from 6 January 2021.

As a result of the agreement, the USEF has withdrawn its request to the FEI to apply the Unsanctioned Event rule against Ocala. The request has been acknowledged by the FEI Executive Board and the FEI confirms that it will not apply the Unsanctioned Event provisions against Athletes, Horses or Officials that participate in Ocala during the 12-week Winter Spectacular.

Together with the USEF, the FEI will look at potential alternative plans for the US leg of the FEI Jumping Nations Cup™ in 2021, as the CSIO5* scheduled to run at the WEC from 16-21 March 2021 will now not take place.

A joint-statement is available on the USEF and WEC websites.

The FEI Board’s decision on 24 September 2020 to suspend the United Arab Emirates National Federation for breaches of FEI Rules has resulted in a number of enquiries.

In order to provide clarity to our community, we have created a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) portal that provides guidance on the many practical consequences, not only for the UAE NF, but for other NFs, their Athletes, Owners, Trainers, Officials and Organisers. The FAQs also include an explanation on the status of UAE NF events as Unsanctioned Events.

The FEI Jumping Consultation Round Table took place on 4 and 5 June 2019 in Lausanne (SUI). Its executive summary is now available here.