Veterinary Department Updates

We would like to provide our community with additional information regarding the transition to new Equine Anti-Doping and Controlled Medication sampling kits manufactured by LockCon. The FEI’s Central Laboratory will continue to supply testing kits to FEI Official Veterinarians and the sample collection procedure will remain unchanged.

The kits are FEI branded to help the laboratory identify which samples are from FEI events. We therefore request that these kits are not used at national events to prevent confusion. The kits include four bottles instead of three, where the A sample will now be placed into a bottle instead of a security bag, and the bottles feature a modernised and secure locking mechanism.

Before ordering the new LockCon kits, we encourage our community to finish using the supplies of Berlinger and Australian Racing sampling kits during 2024.

If you have any questions, please contact us on veterinary@fei.org.

We are pleased to inform you that the FEI will be launching a new campaign tomorrow called “Think Outside The Box” to raise awareness and provide solutions to minimise the risk of potential contamination and Equine Anti-Doping and Medication Controlled Regulations (EADMCR) violations, as well as potential health risks for horses, arising from certain behaviours and actions or lack-of in and around the stables.

Initially created to attract the attention of the key stakeholders concerned by the EADMCRs ie riders, grooms and support personnel, and in a bid to inform and educate around contamination – often an unfortunate situation that could be avoided if the right precautions had been taken - the campaign was expanded to include general best-practice recommendations to make it relevant to the wider equestrian community and promote safety and wellbeing for horses, regardless of their competition status.

A joint collaboration between the Education and Legal departments at the FEI, with very engaging and “shareable” content (you will be surprised by the video), we encourage all our stakeholders to join us in the promotion of this campaign so we can reach as many people as possible, and hopefully reduce contamination cases emanating from ill-informed behaviour, as well as providing the best practice recommendations to avoid contamination for horses out of competition and any potential health threats this might entail. 

Dedicated Hub & Digital Assets To Download – English, French & Spanish
We have created a dedicated portal - www.fei.org/think - available in three languages (English, French and Spanish) and have an array of digital assets which you can download and use on all your channels to proactively promote the campaign to you members, fans and followers. Download assets directly on www.fei.org/think #FEIThinkOutsideTheBox 

They Support Us
You will see on the portal, we have a section – They Support Us – where we have included the logos of all our Official Stakeholders, so please do let us know if you would like to be removed from this section, simply by contacting Sebastien.Goyon@fei.org and alternatively if you are not included in this section, and would like to be featured, please also contact Sebastien.Goyon@fei.org and let him know you would like to be added to that section with your logo.   

Campaign Merchandising
And finally, we have produced some bright and impactful merchandising for this campaign, which is available to all our “supporters” so please don’t to hesitate contact Sebastien.Goyon@fei.org with the relevant delivery address and we will send you a pack of stickers, caps and tote bags with campaign branding. 

Ambassadors
We are also on the lookout for ambassadors – so if you would like to nominate/introduce us to potential ambassadors for the campaign, we are open to suggestions! 

EMBARGOED
Please note all of the above is EMBARGOED until Friday 17 November 20:00 CET when the campaign is officially launched. We kindly ask that you refrain from posting any information, assets, visual, etc until 16:00 on Friday unless reposting from FEI channels.  

#FEIThinkOutsideTheBox

The FEI Board held a teleconference on 29 August. The main resolutions taken on this occasion are listed below.

Veterinary

FEI Equine Prohibited Substance List- proposed changes
The Board approved the proposed changes to the FEI Equine Prohibited Substance List. It was clarified that cannabidiol is not a Banned Substance, but is listed as Controlled Medication (Specified Substance).
The list will be effective as of 1 January 2024 and will be published here.

Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games

Paralympic Games Appointment of the Assistant Technical Delegate
The Board approved the appointment of Hanneke Gerritsen (NED) as Assistant Technical Delegate for the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.
The list of Officials for the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games appointed to date will be published here.

FEI Annual Report 2022
The Board approved the FEI Annual Report 2022. The Annual Report will be published online here in the coming days.

The FEI Veterinary Department, FEI Solidarity Department and Turkish Equestrian Federation are pleased to invite all National Head Veterinarians to attend the NHV Conference to be held at the Olympic House, Istanbul (TUR) on 1-4 February 2024.

National Head Veterinarians (NHV) play an essential role within the FEI network, being the primary reference to the Veterinary Department, national veterinary authorities and national equine veterinarians. They are responsible for distributing information received from the FEI, their government or other official bodies, recruiting new FEI Veterinarians, coordinating courses and overseeing promotions, contributing to the anti-doping programme and providing feedback and suggestions to the Veterinary Department on regulatory changes, prohibited substances and any other veterinary matters.

The NHV Conference will be a good opportunity for the National Head Veterinarians to interact with their counterparts and the Veterinary Department, address problematic issues and find common solutions for the betterment of equestrian sport and further promotion of horse welfare.

National Federations are highly encouraged to support and arrange the participation of their NHV in the conference. Delegates must be registered using the attached Registration Form, by 30 September 2023 at the latest.

Participants are expected to arrive on Thursday, 1 February and attend the welcome reception, which will be followed by 3 days of full programme ending no later than 16:00 on Sunday, 4 February 2024. The detailed programme will be sent to the participants after the closing date of registration. The FEI will cover the room and full board for one delegate per National Federation for the duration of the conference (4 nights).

Anne Saez (anne.saez@fei.org) will be available to answer enquires and provide further details.

We look forward to meeting your NHV in Istanbul!

We would like to remind you that the consultation period regarding the proposed changes to the Equine Prohibited Substances List (EPSL) will be ending soon.

The changes proposed by the FEI List Group, which is the sub-committee of the Veterinary Committee, can be found here and any accepted changes will come into effect as of 1 January 2024.

Please submit all comments regarding the proposed changes, together with a clear scientific reasoning, to Caterina Termine by Friday 28 July 2023. All comments received within this deadline will be considered by the FEI List Group before finalising their conclusions.

The Rules Revision Process 2023 is well underway with the first draft of the proposed changes now available to National Federations and Stakeholders for review and feedback by 16 August 2023 prior to being submitted to the General Assembly for approval in November as per the timeline below: 
1 March 2023
National Federations and Stakeholders with whom the FEI has signed an MOU have the opportunity to propose Rules changes as per the FEI Periodical Rules Revision Policy.
28 June 2023
The FEI provides National Federations and Stakeholders with the first Draft of proposed Rules change.
IMPORTANT
The 1st Draft of proposed Rules changes Memos as well as the Templates to provide feedback by 16 August 2023 can be found HERE. ONLY proposals submitted online on the Rules Revision Platform using the respective Templates will be accepted.
16 August 2023
National Federations and Stakeholders are given seven weeks to review the first Draft and the proposed amendments in this first Draft and make comments and/or propose any changes in relation to the first Draft.
24 October 2023
Final Draft of the proposed Rules changes is provided to National Federations and Stakeholders.
20 November 2023
Rules Session at FEI General Assembly in Mexico City (MEX).
21 November 2023
Voting of Rules at the FEI General Assembly.

For more information on the FEI Rules Revision processes and timelines, click here.

If you have any questions please contact the FEI Director Governance & Institutional Affairs at Francisco.lima@fei.org

The names of candidates vetted by the FEI Nominations Committee for the Elections & Appointments 2023 are available on Inside.FEI.org. For the positions to be elected by the FEI General Assembly 2023, the candidacy files can also be consulted.

The open positions are:

Elections 
•    Chair of Regional Group EEA – Board Member
•    Chair of Regional Group VII – Board Member
•    Chair of Driving Technical Committee – Board Member
•    Chair of FEI Tribunal
•    Members of FEI Tribunal
•    Member of Audit & Compliance Committee
•    Members of Nominations Committee, all Regional Groups

Appointments 
•    Member of Jumping Committee          
•    Member of Dressage Committee
•    Member of Para Equestrian Committee     
•    Member of Eventing Committee      
•    Member of Driving Committee      
•    Member of Vaulting Committee            
•    Members of Veterinary Committee
•    Member of Medical Committee
Should you have any questions regarding the FEI Elections & Appointments 2023, please contact the Director of Governance & Institutional Affairs, Francisco Lima.

The FEI Sports and Veterinary Department would like to draw your attention to the application deadline to host FEI Transfer Up or CES (FEI Competency-based Evaluation System) Maintenance Courses in 2024.

We kindly ask you to download the relevant application & budget forms, which can be accessed via the links provided below, and to send them to the FEI via the corresponding email address also provided below, no later than the 31 July 2023.

Should you have any questions regarding the administration of our courses, please contact the relevant FEI Sport or Veterinary Department who will be able to assist you.

The FEI Board held a teleconference on 2 May. The Paris 2024 resolution taken on this occasion is listed below.

PARIS 2024 OLYMPIC AND PARALYMPIC GAMES
The Board approved the following appointments of International Technical Officials for the 2024 Olympic Games:

Eventing Technical Delegate: Marcin Konarski (POL)

Jumping Technical Delegate: Guilherme Nogueira Jorge (BRA)

Foreign Veterinary Delegate: Dr Emily Sandler (USA)

President of the Veterinary Commission: Dr Thierry Grisard (FRA)

Member of the Veterinary Commission: Dr Juliana Freitas (BRA)

Member of the Veterinary Commission: Dr Julius Peters (NED)

Overall Chief Steward: Cesar Hirsch (VEN)

The FEI Board held a teleconference on 2 May. The Veterinary resolution taken on this occasion is listed below.

Veterinary
FEI Central Laboratory 2023-2026
Further to the recommendations of the Veterinary Chair, the Veterinary Director and the Legal Director, the Board approved LGC, Newmarket Road, Fordham, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom as the FEI Central Laboratory from 2023 to 2026.