A Successful FEI General Assembly Finishes in Estoril

More than 350 participants took part in the 2007 FEI General Assembly hosted by the Portuguese Equestrian Federation. The number of NFs represented was 97 (84 represented, 13 by proxy).

In connection with the General Assembly, the Bureau met twice.

AFFILIATIONS
Three new NFs were affiliated: Albania (Group I), Cambodia (Group VIII) and Yemen (Group VII).

Three NFs were excluded due to unpaid annual subscriptions: Suriname, Lesotho, Grenada.

FINANCE

The 2006 Accounts and the Auditors’ Report were approved as were the Financial Charges and Annual Subscriptions for 2007. The FEI Treasurer and the FEI Finance and Administration Director were congratulated on the new presentation of FEI’s accounts allowing for better understanding and greater transparency.

ELECTIONS
Driving Committee Chair: Richard Nicoll (USA)
Endurance Committee, Acting Chair: Ruth M. Carlson (CAN)
Audit & Compliance Committee Chair: Alain Guillet (SUI)
FEI Tribunal Chair: Ken Lalo (ISR)
Group EEA Chair: Sergey Buikevich (KAZ)
Group VII Chair: Sheikh Khaled Bin Abdullah Al Khalifa (BRN)
Audit & Compliance Committee, Member: Philip G. Billington (GBR)
FEI Tribunal, Members: Hernán Mendez Cañas (ARG); Pierre Ketterer (FRA); Philip O'Connor (IRL); Erik Elstad (NOR)

Nominations Committee Members:
Group I: Jacky Buchmann (BEL)
Group II: Martien van den Heuvel (NED)
Group EEA: Rakshan Radpour (IRI)
Group IV: John Long (USA)
Group V: Maribel Alonso de Quinzavos (MEX)
Group VI: Alejandro Amaya (ARG)
Group VII: De Ghazi Yehya (LIB)
Group VIII: Il-Hong Kim (KOR)
Group IX: Neil Fitt (BOT)

Atheletes Committee:
Lee Pearson (GBR) – Chairman
Isabel Werth (GER) – Dressage
Cayetano Martinez de Irujo (ESP) – Jumping
Andrew Hoy (AUS) – Eventing
Barry Capstick (IRL) – Driving
Megan Benjamin (USA) – Vaulting
Jeanette Krähenbühl (SUI) – Reining
Mercedes Tapia (ARG) – Endurance

For further details on the FEI Athletes Committee and its members, please see a separate news item.

APPOINTMENTS
The following committee members were appointed:
Dressage Committee: Dolores Fernández de Bobadilla (ESP); Monica Theodorescu (GER)
Jumping Member: John Madden (USA)
Eventing Member: Anne-Mette Binder (DEN)
Driving Member: Diana L. Brownlie (GBR); Michael Freund (GER)
Endurance Member: Jean-Louis Leclerc (FRA) - new position
Reining Member: Anat Kirshner (ISR) - new position
Vaulting Committee: Emma Seely (USA) - acting chairman 2006-2007); Jochen Schilffarth (GER)
Pony Committee: Clare Whitaker (GBR)
Children Committee Chair: Dr Yolanda Matallana (COL) - chairman, Arwa Mutabagani (KSA)
Veterinary Committee: Dr Gerit Matthesen (GER), Hallvard Sommerseth (NOR), Dr Kent Allen (USA)

CHAMPIONSHIPS

The following Championship was allocated:
CH-EU Young Riders Endurance – Oviedo (ESP), September 2008

JUMPING
A detailed report on the activities of the FEI Jumping Committee was presented. It dealt with, among other things:
- future and structure of Jumping;
- Categorization of both CSI and CSIO events: the need to align CSIO requirements with those already in place for CSIs and to provide a clearer perception of the structure of Jumping events to outsiders – media, spectators and sponsors – was acknowledged;
- Requirements for CSI and CSIO events concerning, among other things, prize money, maximum height of obstacles, maximum entry fee per horse, maximum number of competitors in the Grand Prix, minimum number of competitions counting for FEI World Ranking points, etc.

It was acknowledged that the FEI World Cup™ Series, the Samsung Super League with FEI and CSIO-5* and CSI-5* events were the showcase of the sport and should, therefore, all be of 5* level as these were the events upon which the FEI would concentrate its marketing efforts.

Modifications to the current invitation system for CSI-3* and 4* events were approved and will come into effect on 1 January 2008.

Other significant matters dealt with were:
- Examining the working conditions for grooms during and following International events due to extremely long days at the shows;
- System for the promotion of Judges and Course Designers to “Official” International status;
- The format for the FEI European Championships to conform to the Olympic Games format due to the large number of participating countries;

A strong move was made to have the Olympic Qualifiers for Olympic Regional Groups F and G in their own regions instead of in Europe (Australasia still selects a show in Europe).

Modifications relating to the distribution of FEI World Ranking points for FEI Nations Cup competitions at CSIO-1* to CSIO4* events will come into effect on 1 January 2008.

DRESSAGE
The FEI Rules for FEI World Cup Dressage Rules for Young Riders 2007 were accepted as well as some minor changes/corrections to the FEI Rules for Dressage Events as from 1 January 2007. In her address, the Committee Chair mentioned some of the main activities of the Dressage committee such as the adoption of a Codex for Judges, changes to the FEI World Cup™ Dressage formula for 2008, introduction of a separate Foreign Rider report, and introduction on a trial basis a Young Rider Grand Prix category for riders aged 20-25 during 2007.

EVENTING
A detailed report on the activities of the FEI Eventing Committee was presented. The discipline had continued to expand thanks to the general acceptance of the format without steeple-chase and roads and tracks. The Eventing Development programme and especially the efforts of the FEI Development Officers Jose Ortelli (ARG) for Central America and Andrew Griffiths (GBR) for Eastern Europe had produced very significant results.

The corrections / modifications to the Rules of the FEI World CupTM Eventing applying to the 2007 qualifiers were approved.

Safety Programme
The FEI is in the sixth year of collecting reports from all international events worldwide. The 2006 report is being reviewed for publication and is showing some interesting trends. The FEI Standing Committee on Safety has adopted a casualty reduction programme the goals of which are to reduce the percentage of riders who are seriously injured and the percentage of horse falls per number of competitors. To meet the above objectives, the FEI has set itself the following targets:
- to eliminate horse falls which involve the horse somersaulting;
- to reduce the number of falls where a horse falls, but does not somersault.

To assess whether the FEI is meeting these aims, some Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) have been developed. The five KPIs will be used to monitor FEI casualty reduction strategy and will aid the continuing analysis of the FEI falls database, in assessing the risk to riders in Eventing and identify areas where potential improvements can be made to reduce this risk.

DRIVING
A report on the activities of the Driving Committee was presented.

An increase in the number of summer events functioning as qualifiers for the FEI World Cup™ seriesand an increase in the number of indoor FEI World Cup™ events for the 2006/2007 season was noted.

The Corrections/modifications to the Rules for both FEI World Cup™ events and for Combined Driving Events were approved.

ENDURANCE
A report on the activities of the Endurance Committee was presented.

Alongside the competitions held in 2006, it was noted that nine courses for officials and veterinarians were held around the world.

It was noted that the introduction of the star rating system for all Endurance officials ensures that only those officials who have the required educational knowledge and competition experience, matching the star rating of a competition, officiate at those FEI events.

The Committee expressed the wish that this Star Rating system be extended to riders and to horses in 2007/8 in order to continue the process of lifting the level of expertise across all aspects of the discipline and to further enhance the level of care exercised over Endurance horses.

Lastly, the World Endurance Forum held in Paris at end of March 2007 where National Federation Delegates were invited to discuss the future of the sport was reported. It was noted that the Forum was the beginning to a comprehensive and detailed study of the discipline.

VAULTING
A report on the activities of the Vaulting Committee was presented.

It was noted that a productive Committee Meeting was held in June 2006 where it was agreed that increased and continued education of officials in relation to the scoring of the Horse score should be undertaken.

It was further noted that an international series already approved at the Bureau Meeting in Dubai in November would begin in April 2008. It was suggested that the introduction of this series would encourage and facilitate the increase in the number of CVIs annually.

REINING
Some minor changes to the FEI Reining Rules for 2007 were accepted. In his presentation, the Chair of the Reining Committee expressed his satisfaction with a full spread picture of a Reining horse from the FEI World Equestrian Games 2006 Aachen. The Reining horse picture was featured in the most recent issue of the National Geographic, the world’s second largest magazine.

PONY RIDERS
A report on the activities of the Pony Riders Committee was presented.

It was reported that a productive Pony Riders Committee Meeting took place immediately after a successful CH-EU-P held in Saumur (FRA) and several important issues were discussed at length.

The new rules on pony measurement and the procedures to be carried out at the FEI European Pony Championships were approved.

CHILDREN
A report on the activities of the Children’s Committee was presented.

It was reported on the success of the FEI European Jumping Championship for Children held in Istanbul, introduced in 2006.

It was noted that the Children’s Committee Meeting was held in Spruce Meadows, Calgary Alberta (CAN) during the Final of the Children’s International Jumping Competition Final.

The modifications to the Rules for the Children’s International Jumping Competition and Final for 2007 were approved.

PARA-EQUESTRIAN
A momentous year was presented to the General Assembly by the newest member of the FEI family. Indeed, after some six years of discussion, the International Paralympic Equestrian Committee (IPEC) finally joined the FEI in 2006 to become the eighth official FEI discipline, having been part of the Iinternational Paralympic Committeee (IPC) since 1991. The FEI agreed to fully incorporate Para-Equestrian into its organisational structure and reflect this designation within its Statutes.

The transition has been very effective and perceived by all as a step in the right direction for both Para-Equestrian and horsesport as a whole. While the FEI is the natural home for Para-Equestrian, much credit is due to IPEC for having developed the sport so significantly and their contribution to the realization of so many dreams.

Some of the main achievements for 2006 include the major task of re-writing the Rules to the FEI format, which also led to the production of a Classification Manual given the varying degrees of impairment within Para-Equestrian as well as PE adaptations for the Stewards’ Manual. The FEI formally adopted the rules and regulations governing equestrian sport for riders with a disability and has aligned them with the FEI regulations.

As far as the sport is concerned, the World Championships for Para-Equestrian drivers held in The Netherlands was a great success, marking the first World Para-Equestrian Driving Championships organized under the patronage of the FEI. While in 2007, this will be repeated with the World Para-Equestrian Dressage Championships to be held in Great Britain; riders with disabilities will be the first to use a magnificent new indoor arena at Hartpury College.

The development and integration of Para-Equestrian Sport within the FEI is ongoing, with, to name but a few, some of the objectives for the future: to initiate and enhance development opportunities for riders with a disability at the grassroots to elite level; to provide opportunities for the participation of riders with a disability in FEI recognised events, Championships and the Paralympic Games; and to include targeted FEI events for riders with a disability at major national events and Championships.

OTHER MEETINGS
The nine FEI Geographical Groups met on the morning of 13 April. In addition, the Pan American Equestrian Confederation and the Asian Equestrian Federation held their annual meetings.

AWARDS
During the FEI Annual Award Ceremony, Jacques Schoufour (NED) and Giacomo Muccioli on behalf of the San Patrignano community received the FEI Special Recognition for Outstanding Services.

2007 GENERAL ASSEMBLY
The Bureau accepted the invitation of the Argentinean Equestrian Federation to host the 2008 General Assembly in Buenos Aires (ARG).

The friendliness and ever smiling support of the General Assembly’s team of the Portuguese Equestrian Federation led by President Dom Luiz Vaz De Almada and Secretary General Manuel Bandeira De Mello, largely contributed to the success of this year’s General Assembly.