Department updates in Main Para Dressage

The FEI, in cooperation with the Organiser of the CPEDI 3* Waregem (BEL) and the International Blind Sports Federation (IBSA), is pleased to inform you that Para Equestrian Athletes with vision impairments will have the opportunity to be internationally classified in Waregem on 19 April 2023.
No fee will be charged to athletes attending this particular Classification Evaluation.
 
National Federations are kindly requested to submit their VI Classification requests to the Para Dressage Department by Wednesday, 8 March 2023 at the latest with the following documents:

• The FEI Classification Request Form
• The FEI Consent for Classification Form
• The IBSA Medical Diagnostics Form completed by a registered ophthalmologist.

All of the above forms can be found on the FEI Para Equestrian Classification webpage and must be completed in full, legibly and in English or with a signed translation in copy. All Athletes, including Athletes with a Review status, must supply all of the above documents, which must be current, i.e. completed in the last 12 months.

Please also note if the Athlete will be competing at the CPEDI 3* Waregem (BEL) and will require transportation to the Classification Evaluation.

We are pleased to inform you that the FEI Secretary General has approved the FEI Calendar for 2023 for all disciplines. It can be consulted online in the FEI Database.

In accordance with the FEI General Regulations, Article 112 Official Calendar, National Federations (NFs) had until 1 October 2022 at the latest to send in applications and modifications to CIs taking place in 2023 to the Secretary General. The Secretary General approves the official Calendar for the following year.

Approval of the 5* Jumping Calendar for 2024 is scheduled for late November/early December 2022 but could be postponed should the FEI General Assembly in Cape Town (RSA) approve FEI’s proposal to change the deadline for receipt of applications for 5* to 1 May (the year before the Event takes place).

In addition, the Secretary General has extended the measure taken on 28 February 2022 to remove all international equestrian events in Russia and Belarus from the FEI Calendar. As a consequence, no FEI events will be accepted/entered in either country in the FEI Calendar for 2023.

The other measures approved by the FEI Executive Board in February remain in place, as follows:

• Cancellation or relocation of Officials’ course scheduled to be held in Russia and Belarus (if any);
• Freezing all FEI Solidarity projects planned for/ongoing in Russia and Belarus; and
• Cancellation of any other FEI activities scheduled to take place in Russia and Belarus.

Detailed information on the decision taken by the FEI Executive Board on 28 February is available here.

The Secretary General has also confirmed that the FEI Board’s Emergency Board Resolution of 2 March 2022 prohibiting all Russian and Belarusian Athletes, Horses and Officials from participating in FEI Events remains in place until further notice.

Should you have any questions, please send an email to calendar@fei.org.

FEI Hybrid General Assembly 2022 - Agenda & Annexes
We are pleased to inform you that the Agenda & Annexes for the FEI Hybrid General Assembly taking place in Cape Town (RSA) from 10 to 13 November 2022, have been published in the GA hub on Inside.FEI.org.

You will also find the supporting documents for the FEI Sessions (Equine Ethics & Wellbeing Commission; General Regulations & Calendar related proposals; Rules Session; and, Paris 2024 Rules) to be held on 12 November also available in the Meeting Documents section of the GA hub.

For further information on the FEI Hybrid General Assembly 2022, visit the GA hub and don’t hesitate to contact us should you have any questions.

Recruitment begins for new FEI Director Dressage, Para Dressage & Vaulting
The FEI is looking to recruit a new Director for the Dressage, Para Dressage & Vaulting Department to replace outgoing Director Bettina De Rham, who will be leaving at the end of the year to explore new horizons and to whom we wish all the very best and thank for her many years of service.

The detailed job description can be found here and the FEI encourages NFs and Associate Members to share this news with relevant professionals that meet the requirements of this important role.   

The deadline to apply is 25 November 2022.

The new and updated Draft Schedules 2023, to be used for all international events taking place next year, are now available on inside.FEI.org.
Below you will find the direct links to the schedules for each discipline as well as the relevant contact email should you require further information and/or assistance:
 
Click here for Jumping // Person in charge : jenni.saynajarvi@fei.org and/or kevin.Guttmann@fei.org
Click here for Dressage // Person in charge: philippe.maynier@fei.org
Click here for Para Dressage // Person in charge: laetitia.gillieron@fei.org
Click here for Eventing // Contact email: eventingschedules@fei.org
Click here for Vaulting // Person in charge: laetitia.gillieron@fei.org
Click here for Driving // Contact email:  driving@fei.org
Click here for Endurance // Contact email: endurance@fei.org

In view of frequent questions concerning FEI Dressage and FEI Para Dressage Tack, Equipment and Dress, these Guidelines have been created to help stakeholders better understand the Rules. The Guidelines are published on the FEI Dressage Rules page and FEI Para Dressage Rules page. It is a document to be used by Athletes, Officials as well as other stakeholders, and will be updated as necessary with any clarifications needed. The Guidelines are based on a non-exhaustive list of questions asked about the use of Equipment and Dress at FEI Dressage and FEI Para Dressage competitions.

The Guidelines are to be read in conjunction with the FEI Dressage Rules and FEI Para Dressage Rules, current versions. In case of any discrepancies, the FEI Dressage/Para Dressage Rules will prevail.

Please share these Guidelines amongst the Dressage and Para Dressage Officials and Athletes. The most current version of the Guidelines will always be published on the relevant Rules pages linked above and the FEI Rules App.

For any questions please contact the FEI Dressage and Para Dressage department.

Para Dressage Qualification System for the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games
The Para Dressage Qualification System for the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, which was approved at FEI Hybrid General Assembly in Antwerp (BEL) on 17 November 2021, was published by the IPC on 10 June 2022. You will find the approved document in the Paris 2024 Paralympic Hub on Inside.FEI.org.
As explained at the FEI Hybrid General Assembly 2021 and the FEI Sports Forum 2022, the FEI Regulations for Equestrian Events at Paralympic Games will be fully reviewed in 2022, and put forward for approval at the FEI General Assembly 2022 in Cape Town (RSA) on 13 November 2022. The draft proposals will be circulated on 6 July 2022 (as part of the rules revision process).
For any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the Para Dressage Department.

You will find below two NF News for your attention:

Classification for Athletes with Vision Impairment
The FEI, in cooperation with the OC of CPEDI Hartpury and the International Blind Sports Federation (IBSA), is pleased to inform that Para Equestrian Athletes with Vision Impairments will have the opportunity to be internationally classified in Birmingham (GBR), on 4 July 2022 in connection with the CPEDI3* Hartpury (GBR).
No fee will be charged to athletes attending this particular Classification Evaluation. 
National Federations are kindly requested to submit the VI Classification requests to the Para Dressage Department by Wednesday 15 June at the latest with the following documents:

• The FEI Classification Request Form,
• The FEI Consent for Classification Form,
• The IBSA Medical Diagnostics Form, completed by a registered ophthalmologist.

All of the above forms can be found on the FEI Para Equestrian Classification webpage and must be completed in full, legibly and in English or with a signed translation in copy. All Athletes, including Athletes with a Review status, must supply all of the above documents, which must be current, i.e. completed in the last 12 months. Please also note if the Athlete will be competing at CPEDI Hartpury and be requiring transport to the Classification.
As the deadline is very tight, we please ask that you send any classification requests as soon as possible.

Para Equestrian Classification Research Project
The FEI are funding a three-year study, which aims to develop a comprehensive understanding of the effect of different impairment types on performance in Dressage. This information will inform recommendations for an evidence-based, sport-specific Classification system for Para Equestrian Dressage.
We invite all National Federations to forward this email to all Para Dressage and able-bodied Dressage Athletes who might be interested in participating in the final phase of testing for this research which will take place alongside CPEDI Hartpury (GBR) with testing taking place on 5 and 6 July 2022. Please forward this email to FEI registered Para Dressage Athletes who may be interested to take part.
Attached you will find a Participant Information Sheet, which includes further details about the study. If athletes are interested in participating in this study, they should please take the time to read this Participant Information Sheet to decide whether they would like to take part. If they do, the Information Sheet provides details about how to contact the researchers to arrange their inclusion in the study. More information can also be found on the FEI Classification Research Page.

The project involves a biomechanics study to quantify performance measures from riders during ridden tests on a riding simulator. The study also involves the quantification of impairment, using tests from the current FEI Classification system, as well as additional clinical measures of impairment. This information will be used to investigate and define measures of impairment, measures of performance and the strength of association between impairment and activity limitation, which will be used to inform the development of the current Para Dressage Classification system.

Please do not hesitate to contact the FEI Para Dressage department or the Principal Investigator of the study, Dr Sarah Jane Hobbs (SJHobbs1@uclan.ac.uk) if you have any questions.

Online consultations on the FEI Regulations for Equestrian Events at the Olympic and Paralympic Games Paris 2024 were conducted on 21 and 22 March.

Participants had the opportunity to discuss the Jumping, Dressage and Para Dressage Regulations in individual sessions as part of the wide-ranging Paris 2024 consultation process. The discussion on the Eventing Regulations will take place on 28 March.

The consultations are an opportunity for stakeholders to review and comment on the feedback that was received on the pre-competition and competition Regulations for each discipline.

This feedback was collected through an online questionnaire circulated to stakeholders on 7 December 2021, and the information was reviewed by Consultative Groups set up for each Olympic and Paralympic discipline.

The questionnaire was sent to athletes, officials and other Tokyo 2020 stakeholders, in addition to representatives of the International Jumping Riders Club (IJRC), the International Jumping Officials Club (IJOC), the Jumping Owner’s Club (JOC), the International Dressage Riders Club (IDRC), the International Dressage Trainers Club (IDTC), the International Dressage Officials Club (IDOC), the International Eventing Officials Club (IEOC), FEI Regional Group Chairs, and the relevant FEI Technical Committees.

The information from the consultation sessions will now be consolidated and discussed by the relevant FEI Technical Committees before being put forward to the FEI Sports Forum for discussion on 25 April. The documents for discussion at the FEI Sports Forum, which will include the proposals of the Technical Committees, will be published in advance on the FEI Sports Forum Hub.

Key dates in the consultation process are as follows:

7 December 2021
Online questionnaire circulated to 302 Athletes; 51 National Federations; 35 Officials; 7 MOUs Stakeholders and 3 Discipline Managers. All of these stakeholders participated directly at Tokyo 2020 Olympic or Paralympic Games. The deadline for returning the questionnaire was 15 February 2022.

21 March 2022
Online Session - Paris 2024 Olympic Dressage Regulations
Online Session - Paris 2024 Paralympic Regulations

22 March 2022
Online Session - Paris 2024 Olympic Jumping Regulations

28 March
Online Session - Paris 2024 Olympic Eventing Regulations

25 April
FEI Sports Forum – Sessions dedicated to all the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Regulations.

July 2022
Revised Regulations to be sent to National Federations for further feedback.

October 2022
Proposed Olympic and Paralympic Regulations for Paris 2024 will be published, four weeks prior to the FEI General Assembly.

November 2022
NFs and other stakeholders will have one last opportunity to comment on the Regulations during the Rules Session, which will take place the day before the General Assembly.

The regulations will be put to a vote at the FEI General Assembly and the documents will be submitted to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) in 2023 for approval.

Dr Sarah Jane Hobbs and her team from the University of Central Lancashire and Hartpury University are continuing their recruitment of Athletes for the testing phase of the Classification Research project. The next session of testing will take place 23 – 27 March, and we invite all Athletes who are interested in taking part to contact Dr Sarah Jane Hobbs. Should there be Athletes interested in taking part, but who are unavailable on those dates, please contact the Para Dressage Department as there may be the possibility to run further sessions.

All information regarding the Classification Research project, including information about taking part in the testing phase, can be found on the FEI Classification Research web page, and Dr Sarah Jane Hobbs’ presentation from the Para Equestrian Forum on the project is published on the FEI Para Equestrian Forum Hub.

We would like to ask National Federations to please share this news with all Para Dressage and Dressage Athletes.

For any questions, please contact the Para Dressage Department.

Over 130 participants, including Officials, Athletes, Trainers and National Federation representatives, took part in the 2022 edition of the Para Equestrian Forum, which was held online due to the pandemic.  
 
The Forum was held over three days with sessions which looked at the Development of Para Dressage, the structure of the sport and Classification.
 
While the Forum discussions were conducted with a view to developing the sport structure in 2022 and the Paralympics Games in Paris 2024, the meeting was also an opportunity to reflect on past accomplishments.
 
We would like to thank all participants for joining the Forum and for providing such interactive discussions which will serve a solid basis for the upcoming full Rules Revision process and developments to take place in 2022.
 
All the relevant information, documents and presentations relating to the Forum can be found in the Para Equestrian Forum Hub. For any questions, please do not hesitate to contact the Para Dressage Department.