Montevideo (URU) 18-21 November 2017

The Online Registration Platform opens.

Items proposed by the National Federations for the General Assembly agenda must be provided to the FEI in writing at least 12 weeks before the date of the General Assembly (FEI Statutes, 23rd edition, Annex I, Article 2.1).

Hotel bookings & registration for the General Assembly are to be made via the FEI Online Registration Platform. 

If you need assistance, please contact feigeneralassembly@fei.org.

FEI publishes the agenda and annexes of the General Assembly week on Inside.fei.org (FEI Statutes 23rd edition, Annex I, Article 2.2).

Final deadline to provide the FEI with the Power of Attorney Form to francisco.lima@fei.org (FEI Statutes, 23rd edition, Annex I, Article 3.3).

The Power of Attorney Form will be sent to the National Federations, attached to the email inviting them to register their delegate(s). The Power of Attorney Form is interactive and can be completed electronically.

Should your National Federation not be represented in person, please fill in the Proxy section of the Power of Attorney Form to nominate the delegation from another National Federation to act as your Proxy.

The minutes of the FEI Ordinary General Assembly and Group Meetings are published on Inside.fei.org (FEI Statutes, 23rd edition, Chapter III, Article 16.3).

20 November 2017

OTTO Sport International announced as FEI Campus Partner

OTTO Sport International, known globally for producing footing for equestrian arenas at the world’s biggest events, including the Olympic and Paralympic Games, will now help to drive the education strategy for the FEI - the global governing body for horse sport. More ...

20 November 2017

Final debates before voting at tomorrow’s FEI General Assembly

21 November 2017

Re-watch and read blog

The FEI General Assembly 2017 in Montevideo (URU), held on 21 November, is available to re-watch here.

The blog, which ran throughout yesterday, also contains all the news from yesterday’s session. To access the blog go here. More ...

22 November 2017

Because she’s Werth it! Unstoppable Isabell crowned 2017 best athlete at FEI Awards

Isabell Werth (GER) one of equestrian sports most decorated champions, has once again stolen the show, receiving the Best Athlete Award at the ninth edition of the FEI Awards Gala 2017 presented by Longines at the KIBON Avanza in Montevideo (URU) tonight. More ...

Welcome to the FEI General Assembly 2017 in Montevideo Uruguay!

The meeting is taking placed in Montevideo (URU) on 21 November, starting 9am. The whole event was streamed live and is now available to watch again here.

All annex documents relating to the General Assembly are available to view here.

09:15

Let’s get technical: There are 63 National Federations with Powers of Attorney actually on site attending the General Assembly here in Montevideo, and 42 proxies from National Federations not attending the session, meaning there are a total of 105 votes for today’s meeting. The required quorum is 67.

FEI President Ingmar De Vos opened today’s FEI General Assembly in the Uruguayan capital Montevideo, delivering the keynote address to just under 250 delegates representing 106 of the FEI’s 134 National Federations.

“Our sport continues to grow and is expanding at an amazing rate”, the FEI President said. “In 10 years the number of events have more than doubled and we are now seeing a steady and annual increase of around 8% in terms of events and 4 to 5 % in terms of registered athletes. These are incredible statistics – especially in this very diverse and competitive sports market. And not only is our sport growing but the quality and the presentation is better than ever.

“We have had some fantastic events this year, many World and Continental Championships for seniors, but also many aimed at the next generation, our youth athletes across all the FEI disciplines. We also had brilliant World Cup Finals in Omaha, great sport and an unbelievable atmosphere full of suspense and anticipation. And more recently, the first Longines FEI Nations Cup Jumping Final in Barcelona, it was everything we had hoped for and more.”

The FEI President also spoke about the incredible community spirit within the equestrian world: “I have had the pleasure of visiting many countries and getting to know the individuals working tirelessly behind the scenes to grow the sport. We are fortunate to have such a passionate community – we may be diverse, we may not always agree, but our heart is in the right place.”

10:00

Financial Reports

Following the President’s opening, the General Assembly received reports from the FEI Audit & Compliance Committee and the FEI Chief Financial Officer, for which the annex documents can be viewed here.

The CFO informed the Assembly that the FEI is on a sound financial footing, and strict expense control and a conservative budgeting approach in operational revenues resulted in an exceptional surplus CHF 6.8 million for the FEI in 2016.

As the FEI is a not-for-profit organisation CHF 5.5 million of this surplus was put back into the sport, including allocation to projects such as:

• 1.7 million to FEI Solidarity fund 
• 2.0 million provision for the prize money NC final 2017, prior to the announcement of Longines title partnership for the series from 2018 onwards
• 1.4 million to promote increased EADMCP controls and further develop human anti-doping.
• 400,000 to the FEI IT fund

10:40

Affiliation

Seven National Federations have applied for affiliation to the FEI: Afghanistan; Aruba; Burkina Faso; DPR Korea; Nepal; Nigeria; Uganda. These applications are now being studied according to the FEI procedure for affiliation and the seven countries will be visited by their respective Group Chairs. An updated report will be presented to next year’s General Assembly.

11:10

Olympic qualification procedures for Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games

The proposed Olympic Qualification procedures for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games for all three Olympic disciplines: Jumping, Dressage and Eventing were approved by the General Assembly and will now go to the IOC Executive Board for final approval in 2018.

Clarification was given on the deadline to achieve Minimum Eligibility Requirements (Certificate of Capability) across all three disciplines, changing 18 May 2020 to “five weeks before the sports entry deadline for Tokyo2020”.

The sports entry deadline will be agreed between the IOC and Tokyo2020 next year.

The reallocation of unused individual quota places in Jumping for the Pan American Games was also clarified:

“If the unused individual quota place is earned through the 2019 Pan Am Games, the quota place will be reallocated to the NOC of the next best ranked Athlete on the overall individual classification at the 2019 Pan Am Games, excluding NOCs already qualified.”

The Annex 14.3 can be found here.

11:18

11:20

Discipline Rules modifications

Jumping 

The General Assembly voted separately on the phased implementation of the rule from 2019 that only hind boots used solely for protective purposes, as described in the FEI Jumping Stewards’ Manual, may be used in FEI Competitions. The proposal was approved.

The timeline for implementation is as follows:

• For implementation on 1 January 2019: for Pony Riders, Children, Amateur Owners and Veterans.
• For implementation as of 1 January 2020: for Juniors, Young Riders and U-25.
• For implementation on 1 January 2021: for all FEI Jumping Competitions.

The phased introduction of this rule takes into account the current Olympic qualification cycle.

The proposal for CSI Invitation Rules (Annex V) was also voted on separately and approved.

The remaining changes and modifications to the Jumping Rules were approved en bloc.

11:23

Dressage

The General Assembly approved modifications to the Dressage Rules including the introduction of a Medium Tour Freestyle test.

The General Assembly voted separately on the proposed change to collective marks – the removal of marks for Paces, Impulsion and Submission and replaced with one single criteria for the Athlete's position and seat; correctness and effect of the aids. This was approved, with five National Federations voting against and two abstentions.

As announced yesterday, following extensive debate, the proposal to implement a HiLo drop score for Dressage was withdrawn, and the Dressage Judges Working Group will now look at a testing plan for 2018 to trial the HiLo drop score and other proposals, including those from the Italian and Norwegian National Federations. An independent panel will analyse the results of the testing.

All changes can be viewed here.

11:25

Para-Equestrian Dressage

The General Assembly approved modifications to the Para-Equestrian Dressage Rules. The main amendments included:

Piaffe and Passage may not be shown intentionally by Athletes at any time while riding their Horse in the competition arena prior, during and immediately after the Test. Contravening this rule may result in a Yellow Warning Card.

Any Athlete who changes Grade as a result of a Classification Evaluation will be required to compete in their allocated Grade from the time that it appears on the FEI Masterlist. Where the new Grade is allocated at a Competition, the Athlete can choose to compete in their new Grade or compete in the entered Grade. Where the entered Grade is lower than the newly allocated Grade, each of the Athlete’s test’s final result will be reduced by ten (10) percentage points. Such a decision must be reported to the President of the Ground Jury and Foreign Technical Delegate/Foreign Judge by the Chief Classifier. The Athlete may only compete in a Championship or Paralympic Games in their newly assigned Grade, providing that they meet the qualification requirements.

In addition, the General Assembly approved modifications to the Para-Equestrian Classification Rules. The FEI Classification Manual now becomes the FEI Classification Rules to be in line with the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Code of Compliance.

All changes can be viewed here.

11:30

Eventing

The General Assembly approved modifications to the Eventing Rules. The main amendments included:

The implementation of the new competition structure as of 1 January 2019.

The new competition structure has adapted to the current global level of the sport, supporting the implementation of the Olympic strategy. It is also part of the continued effort to address risk management and the cost effectiveness of the discipline together with encouraging the development of the number of nations participating in Eventing.

For implementation in 2018: the new non-compulsory level at 1m05 max height for cross country, defined as “Introductory”.

The removal of the Dressage coefficient, as of 1 January 2018, to address risk management issues through rebalancing the importance of cross country skills.

It is now possible that NFs can take over the responsibility of implement the FEI minimum requirements for Arena Eventing. The Organising Committee can either apply to hold the competition through the FEI system or the National Federation will be responsible for the enforcement of these minimum compulsory requirements, to manage and limit risk.

These changes can be viewed here.

The Annex 18 can be found here.

11:32

Driving

The General Assembly approved modifications to the Driving Rules.

There was also a clarification on Article 948.2.1 (Starting Order for Dressage and Marathon for CAIOs and Championships)

The proposed amendments to Article 963.5 (Time Penalties) and Article 963.42 (Times) were withdrawn.

The changes to the Driving Rules can be viewed here.

11:40

Endurance 

The General Assembly approved changes to the Endurance Rules to be implemented on 1 January 2019.

The General Assembly voted separately on a proposal to reduce the minimum weight for CEI 3, 4 and 5* and Championships from 75kgs to 70kgs. This was approved.

The General Assembly also voted separately on raising the competition age of horses for 5*, CEIOs and Championships, where horses must now be at least nine years of age (previously eight years) and for Young Horse Championships and Championships under 130km, where the minimum age must now be eight years (previously seven). This was approved.

Other main amendments approved en bloc (also to be implemented as of 1 January 2019) include: Increases in mandatory rest periods, based on scientific presentations at the FEI Sports Forum last April and the FEI Endurance Forum last May. An additional rest period of seven days will apply for horses that reach average speeds of 20 km/hr or higher at completion. This rest period will also apply to horses which do not complete the competition whose average speed of completed phases is 20 km/hr or higher.

A new star system for Endurance events, CEI 4* and CEI 5*, will be introduced to have prime events and a higher standard of competition for horses and athletes. The new star system is not solely defined by prize money, but sets specific requirements for organisers to ensure compliance with FEI rules and high standards of horse welfare.

In order to avoid having minors registered as trainers, the minimum age of a registered trainer has been set at 18 years old.

Qualifying criteria established for new 4* and 5* events, proving the full experience of athletes and horses to guarantee a high standard of competition level, and clarification to novice qualifying criteria in relation to experienced horses and athletes. Plus a new set of rules to define qualifications of horses and athletes for Regional Championships.

New general requirements and test event rules for Championships.

These changes can be viewed here. 

11:45

Vaulting

The General Assembly approved clarifications to the Vaulting Rules.

These changes can be viewed here.

11:46

Reining

The General Assembly approved modifications to the Reining Rules.

These changes can be viewed here. 

11:50

FEI Nominations Committee Report

The Chair of the Nominations Committee presented a report to the General Assembly.

This included an update on gender and representation showing a positive trend from the work on encouraging increased candidacies from women and National Federations with low levels of representation.

The number of women on committees in 2017 has increased to 33% from 32% in 2016 and 28% in 2015, and there is also a significant increase in the overall number of candidates coming forward for consideration in 2017 - 78 candidates have been vetted from a good cross section of National Federations.

12:00

The assembly

12:40

Veterinary Regulations

The FEI Veterinary Department carried out a complete revision of the Veterinary Regulations during 2017 and this full revision was approved by the General Assembly.

The principle aims of the revision were to bring a more logical structure to the Veterinary Regulations, clarifications and a clear focus on regulatory matters. A number of notable changes to the Veterinary Regulations include:

Pony measuring - The FEI reserves the right to carry out unannounced pony measuring. The FEI also reserves the right to request out of competition measurements and, where requested by the Ground Jury, this must be carried out within 72 hours of the conclusion of the event. The procedure for out of competition measuring, regulatory height and funding has been determined and is in the regulations.

Veterinary Treatment - under the newly approved rules, Horses can no longer be treated by injection with any substance prior to competition on the day they are competing. An exception will be granted for emergency treatments and classes starting at 18:00 or later. In addition to changes in the treatment of horses at events, vaccines must not be given to horses at events.

Permitted Equine Therapists & Supportive Therapies - Clarification has been provided regarding the supportive therapies that can be used during FEI events and the personnel permitted to carry them out. Supportive therapies have been categorised into Non-Restricted and Restricted Therapies. Restricted Therapies must be carried out by trained personnel, known as Permitted Equine Therapists. Permitted Equine Therapists will be listed on the FEI database and issued with an FEI ID card. Separate guidelines will be produced and circulated to National Federations concerning the training requirements and enrolment of Permitted Equine Therapists. Stewards will be able to carry out checks to inspect the Permitted Equine Therapist’s ID card and verify the therapy they are carrying out. 

12:42

Clean Sport

The Chair of the Veterinary Committee presented an update on the Global Equine Anti-Doping Control Medication Programme (EADCMP).

The General Assembly approved modifications to the Equine Anti-Doping & Controlled Medication Regulations (EADCMR) including a new Special Procedure for Minors which will come into effect on 1 January 2018, operating in a similar way to the current Administrative/FastTrack Procedure for Controlled Medication cases.

Details on all changes can be viewed here.

12:50

Elections

The following regional Group Chairs were re-elected for the four-year term 2017-2021: Group I - Armagan Özgörkey (TUR) and Group V - Carmen Barrera (ESA).

Stephan Ellenbruch (GER) was elected as Chair of the FEI Jumping Committee. Mr Ellenbruch will resign his post as President of the International Jumping Officials' Club (IJOC) at the General Assembly in February 2018.

David O’Connor (USA) was elected as Chair of the FEI Eventing Committee for the four-year term 2017-2021.

The General Assembly also re-elected Frank Kemperman (NED) as Chair of the FEI Dressage Committee for the four-year term 2017–2021.

Vicki Glynn (NZL) was elected as Audit & Compliance Committee Member for the two-year term 2017-2019.

Henrik Arle (FIN) was elected as the new FEI Tribunal Chair for the two-year term 2017–2019. Three new FEI Tribunal Committee member were also elected:  Constance Popineau (FRA) for a two-year term 2017-2019 , Cesar Torrente (COL) for a four-year term 2017-2021 and Harveen Thauli (CAN) for a two-year term 2017-2019. The respective terms have been attributed by a draw conducted with the Chair of the Nominations Committee later today.

The following Nominations Committee Members were also elected by the General Assembly for a two-year term 2017-2019:

Group I: Nayla Stössel (SUI)
Group II: Ellen Damhaug Scheel (NOR)
Group EEA: Alesia Machulskaya (BLR)
Group IV: Betty Wates (JAM)
Group V: Diego Vallejo (COL)
Group VI: Guillermo Lockhart (URU)
Group VII: Hussam Zummit (LBA)
Group VIII: Melanie Chew (SIN)
Group IX: Zara Nicolle (ZAM)

14:10

Medical Committee report

The Chair of the Medical Committee updated the General Assembly on the work being carried out in relation to athlete health and safety following the FEI Bureau’s April 2017 mandate to the Medical Committee to address a number of matters (in priority order) and to develop the corresponding projects. The Committee will implement measures in the areas outlined below:

Concussion

• Education / encouraging use of concussion recognition and assessment tools (available on FEI website)
• More user-friendly version of the guidelines for the management of concussion at FEI Events

Return to Play policy

• Review and possibly complete existing regulatory frame
• Provide best practice guidelines to NFs that do not have a return to play policy

Injury reporting & surveillance

• All disciplines (except Eventing which has an extensive data collection system already in place): improve reporting forms; set criteria for follow up with athlete’s NF in case of serious accidents
• Develop an injury surveillance system

Helmet rules

• Simplify rules; consider harmonising to offer equal protection to all

Prize giving protocols

• Review all protocols to improve safety

Other areas of concern that the Medical Chair highlighted were harassment and abuse, and recreational drug use at events.

14:30

Commercial and Marketing strategy update
The FEI Commercial Director gave a presentation on Marketing & Communications to the General Assembly, outlining how the FEI is changing and the new approach to the presentation of the sport.

“When presenting the FEI, we present equestrian as one sport”, he said. “And it is true, many demographics and many attributes are valid for all equestrian disciplines. But, each discipline is also unique: unique in its characteristics, unique in its rules, unique in the participants, unique in the fan base and unique in terms of the companies interested in the discipline.”

This insight is the essence of the FEI’s Marketing and Communications strategy, shaping content development and delivery, and this has been well received in the market. 2017 was a successful year for the FEI in terms of sponsorship sales, with five new deals signed on top of the already existing deals with FEI Top Partner and Official Timekeeper Longines, Official Equestrian Footwear and Apparel Supplier Ariat, and Official Hospitality Provider of the FEI for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, JetSet Sports.

The most significant was the extended global partnership with Longines in terms of both duration and rights and now also includes the Title Partnership of the Longines FEI Nations Cup™ Jumping Series. SAP was announced as the Official Analytics Sponsor of the FEI World Cup™ Dressage Series. Boehringer Ingelheim became FEI Equine Health Partner and FEI Campus Partner. In October, CNSI became the Official Business Partner of the FEI in China and it was announced yesterday that OTTO Sports has become Official FEI Campus Partner.

The FEI has also made a number of changes in the way content is being developed and distributed and has increased its focus on digital and social media, developing new types of content. Page views on the FEI website, FEI.org, have almost quadrupled in 2017. Facebook video views are almost nine times greater than in 2015, and each discipline now has its own Facebook page. Instagram followers have gone up close to 800%, while YouTube views have increased by more than 30%.

14:40

FEI Solidarity Update

FEI President and Chair of the FEI Solidarity Committee Ingmar De Vos updated the General Assembly on the latest highlights from FEI Solidarity, the FEI’s global sport development programme.

221 National Federation projects were approved and financed by FEI Solidarity over the last six years, of which 73 are ongoing. At its September 2017 meeting, the FEI Solidarity Committee allocated further financial assistance, technical assistance and/or consultancy services to 63 new projects from 33 National Federations.

Globally the biggest achievement has been education of human resources, with the FEI Solidarity programme having now produced Technical Experts in a majority of the nine FEI Regional Groups. In addition, the FEI Solidarity programme has expanded its assistance to new National Federations, including Lithuania, Latvia, Serbia, Kyrgyzstan, Iran, Algeria, Tunisia, India, Thailand, Philippines. The role of the regional Technical Experts is invaluable in bringing equestrian people together and promoting and developing the sport in each region.

National Federation achievements have also been impressive this year. Thanks to their continuous efforts and with the help of FEI Solidarity, the Cambodian National Federation achieved their objective to train and send a team of three Jumping Athletes to Le Mondial des Clubs (World “Clubs” Championship) in France.

Several courses for Farriers and Grooms have been organised recently or are in process of being organised across the world including in Haiti, Madagascar and Sri Lanka.

Sport for All projects linked to disadvantaged youth, which promote social integration for underprivileged youth through sport, and development and promotion of the sport are taking place in Cambodia, Haiti, Puerto Rico, Singapore, Slovenia, Uruguay, Zambia and Tunisia.

Equestrian Sport Educative Events (ESEEs) have, to date, seen 40 Technical Experts from five continents delivering these events in their respective language. In total 257 national Officials from 34 National Federations have received education through ESEEs in all FEI disciplines. The aim is to build the foundations of a discipline in a country through the education of national Officials (Judges/Course Designers), Coaches and Organisers to the benefit of the Athletes.

The General Assembly was also updated on the achievements and progression of ongoing training for National Head Veterinarians, Coach Education and the FEI World Jumping and Dressage Challenge.

15:05

FEI Solidarity Retraining of Racehorses in partnership with Longines

Juan-Carlos Capelli, Vice President of Longines and Head of International Marketing made an exciting announcement to delegates about the new FEI Solidarity Retraining of Racehorses in partnership with Longines. The long-term objectives of the project are to:

• Increase participation in equestrian sports in specific countries and regions by providing more horses
• Grow equestrian sports in countries and regions where the access to sport horses is limited by educating riders and trainers
• Give racehorses a second chance at the end of their flat racing career. Those horses will be retrained as sport horses and have the possibility to perform in the disciplines of Jumping, Dressage, Eventing and Endurance

Announcing the new project Mr Capelli said “As you know, Longines has always been closely related to the equestrian world. Horses have always been our passion and we have been involved in flat racing and showjumping since more than a century. Today, our brand is also engaged in dressage, driving, eventing and endurance. All those disciplines are perfectly in line with the values dear to our heart: Tradition, Elegance and Performance.

“Besides, our brand has a long tradition in supporting worthy causes. As stated in our slogan “Elegance is an Attitude”, we are also very proud to celebrate another kind of elegance, the elegance of the heart!”

15:10

Election: Deputy Group Chairs and FEI Vice Presidents

The following Deputy Group Chairs were elected for the four-year term 2017-2021: Group I – Sandra Widmer (SUI) and Group V – Daniela Garcia Nigaglione (MEX).

As John Madden, 1^st Vice President and Chair of the Jumping Committee, has now finished his term, the proposal to put forward HE Sheikh Khalid Bin Hamad Al Khalifa for election to FEI 1^st Vice President was unanimously supported by the FEI Bureau. The appointment of Sheikh Khalid was also unanimously supported by the General Assembly.

Mark Samuel (CAN), Chair of Group IV, was unanimously elected to replace Sheikh Khalid as FEI 2^nd Vice President.

15:15

IT Update

Delegates at the General Assembly were provided with an update on the work of the FEI IT Department. Notable work streams this year include:

FEI Campus: The e-learning platform FEI Campus was fully launched in June 2017. The IT and Education & Standards Departments managed the project providing an efficient education platform for FEI Officials as well as the larger equestrian community.

FEI Entry System: The FEI Online Entry System has been operational for five years for Jumping and is now also used in Endurance, Dressage, Eventing and Driving. A new version of the FEI online Entry System with improved interfaces and workflows is now being developed on the basis of the experience and feedback gathered. This new version of the FEI Entry System will be released together with the FEI Online Invitation System for Jumping in 2018.

Dressage Freestyle Scoring: The new Dressage Freestyle Scoring system was successfully implemented for the entire FEI World Cup™ Dressage Western European League 2016/17 series and Final, and is being used again for the 2017/18 season of the FEI World Cup™ Dressage Western European League.

Risk Management in Eventing: In order to continuously improve the risk monitoring in Eventing, an important functionality has been added to the Risk Management software to track the details of all obstacles on each FEI cross country course. This will allow for the collection of additional data to be used for analytical and statistical purposes. The IT and Eventing Departments conducted a first pilot year with the Irish company EquiRatings, to study the future implementation and use of the EquiRatings Quality Index (ERQI) for FEI competitions.

Tokyo2020 Equestrian Sport Manager Haruta Yasuhiko gave a progress report to the General Assembly, talking delegates through the two venues at Baji Koen and Sea Forest. He talked through the history of Baji Koen, which was used for the Tokyo 1964 Olympic Games, its location, construction timelines as well as an overview of quarantine and stabling plans.

The project is on schedule with a very high standard of equestrian facilities planned with support from the Japan Racing Association. Demolition of the old facilities at the main site at Baji Koen has now been completed and construction work will commence next year.

The Olympic Test Event is provisionally scheduled for August 10-12 2019, with Dressage and Jumping at Baji Koen and cross country at Sea Forest.

Visit the Tokyo2020 website here.

16:05

International Paralympic Committee (IPC)

Andrew Parsons (BRA), who was elected as the new IPC President on 8 September in Abu Dhabi, spoke about the importance of strengthening the relationships between the IPC and the International Federations, revealing that the FEI was the first of the International Federations that he has visited since his election.

“It was a great pleasure when the IPC transferred Para-Equestrian to the FEI in 2008”, he said, “and the development of the sport since then has been amazing. To see how big the sport has become, and the level of the sport in Rio was fantastic to see. It gave us the assurance that it was the right step to have taken at the time.”

He encouraged National Federations who currently do not have a Para-Equestrian Dressage programme to come to the FEI and the IPC “so we can have more Para riders at the Paralympic Games. Together, the National Federations, the International Federations and the IPC can deliver great Paralympic sport.”

The IPC President is a huge equestrian fan and told delegates that he attended the FEI World Equestrian Games™ in both Kentucky (2010) and Normandy (2014).

16:10

Youth Olympic Games

Leandro Larrosa, CEO of the Buenos Aires 2018 Youth Olympic Games and Gregorio Werthein, President of the Argentinian National Federation, gave a presentation on the 2018 Youth Olympic Games in Argentina. All information on the Games, which will take place from 6-18 October, is available at www.buenosaires2018.com.

16:30

FEI World Equestrian Games™ Tryon 2018

An update on the FEI World Equestrian Games™ 2018 was given to the General Assembly by Sharon Decker, Chief Operations Officer at the Tryon International Equestrian Center (TIEC). The Tryon International Equestrian Center in North Carolina (USA) will host these Games from 10-23 September and promises a spectacular event.

The presentation included updates and information on the site development, hotels and other accommodation, equestrian facilities and the overall Tryon ambitions for this event.

“We’re going to provide a Games-changing experience!”

Tickets are now on sale and media accreditation is open. For all information and videos visit at https://tryon2018.com/

16:32

FEI World Equestrian Games™ 2022

The FEI President updated the General Assembly on the FEI World Equestrian Games™ 2022.

Following the very recent decision of the bidder from Samorin (SVK) not to sign the host agreement, despite lengthy discussions with the FEI, the Samorin team has withdrawn its bid. As a result, the FEI Bureau has decided to re-open the bidding process for the 2022 edition of the Games.

Under a revised timeline, the FEI World Equestrian Games™ 2022 will be allocated at the in-person FEI Bureau meeting in November 2018.

“We are confident there will be candidates, but these are complex Games and we need to make sure we do it right”, the FEI President told the General Assembly.

16:33

FEI Sports Forum 2018

The FEI Sports Forum 2018 will be held in Lausanne (SUI) on 26-27 March 2018. The draft programme will be available shortly on the FEI Sports Forum hub here.

16:35

FEI General Assembly 2018

The 2018 FEI General Assembly will take place in Manama (Bahrain) in November 2018. Provisional dates are 16-20 November.

16:40

International Movement of Horses

The General Assembly was also provided with an update on the IHSC OIE Regional Workshops and Research project. This ongoing project sees the FEI working together with the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities (IFHA), the FEI’s partner in the International Sports Horse Confederation (IHSC), and the Office International des Epizooties (OIE), conducting research and working to enable the continuous growth of and improvement to the international movement of horses.

Key milestones and achievements include the development and roll-out of Regional Workshops. A methodology has been created to enable self-improvement for National Federations, Veterinary and Customs Authorities and, with the support of the IHSC and OIE, it is the aim for all countries, veterinary services, customs and National Federations to work together to improve procedures, both within their region and with the goal that international movement will be facilitated with a strong infrastructure in place so that other countries trust and welcome movement.

In addition, several projects researching a safe and traceable vaccine for African Horse Sickness are showing promising results for the future. 

16:55

World Horse Welfare

Roly Owers, Chief Executive of World Horse Welfare, addressed the General Assembly on the work of the global charity before announcing the concept of World Horse Day, which will be launched jointly by the FEI and World Horse Welfare.

“World Horse Welfare is delighted to be working with the FEI to establish 17 September as World Horse Day”, he said. “We will celebrate the first World Horse Day at the FEI World Equestrian Games in Tryon next year, launching a joint campaign to create a day as a celebration of the importance, contributions and societal value of horses, to highlight how unique the horse-human partnership is in equestrian competition, and the huge respect our equine athletes are held in by equestrians.” 

The FEI and WHW will be reaching out to all National Federations, national and local riding groups to help spread the word on this exciting initiative, which is currently in the concept phase. World Horse Day will celebrate all horses, ponies, donkeys and mules. 

“Horses are the most versatile of all animals that humans have ever domesticated, and have contributed and still contribute more to civilisation, society and economies than any other animal.  There is a world day for tuna fish and we believe that it is only right for horses to be given their rightful day in the calendar. We will be developing the campaign throughout next year and urge you all to get involved.

“The more the world realises how useful, intrinsic and relevant horses are to all of our lives, the more they will understand that horses do not just belong in fields, but are celebrated and cherished for their multitude of partnerships with mankind. That will help show the passion of equestrianism for this incredible, unique and much loved animal.”

Closing

Just before closing the 2017 FEI General Assembly, the FEI President made special presentations to individuals leaving the FEI, starting with the Chair of the Nominations Committtee, Andrew Finding, and Chair of the FEI Tribunal Erik Elstad.

Outgoing Chair of the FEI Eventing Committee Giuseppe Della Chiesa, who finished an eight-year term at the General Assembly, was also appointed as an Honorary Bureau Member.

John Madden, outgoing 1st Vice President and Chair of the FEI Jumping Committee, and was made Honorary Vice President of the FEI.

The FEI President also made presentations to Rudolfo Rodriguez, President of the Uruguayan National Federation, and Guillermo (Willy) Lockhart Secretary General of the Uruguayan National Federation, thanking them for generosity in hosting the General Assembly.

Next up are the FEI Awards and from 20:00 local time you can follow the evening with us on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.