Focus on unforgettable horses and devoted grooms in FEI Focus online magazine

The new edition of FEI Focus, the official magazine of the Fédération Equestre Internationale, is now available online and from Apple Newsstand.

The magazine includes features on the best horse of all time, as selected by the FEI Committee discipline chairs, the indispensable grooms, an interview with Norman, mascot for the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games™ 2014 in Normandy, an article on French Vaulting star Jacques Ferrari, and lots more.

FEI Focus talks to the grooms, the unsung heroes of our sport, who will be in Lyon next week helping to make sure that their equine charges are ready for the Longines FEI World Cup Jumping™ and Reem Acra FEI World Cup Dressage™ Finals.

“Trust is a big deal in everything,” said Clark Shipley, groom for Beezie Madden, the highest ranked female athlete in the Longines Rankings, who will be going all out to defend her title in Lyon. “We know we can rely on each other.”

“My favourite moment at a show is when the horse and the rider look really good going to the arena. I feel very happy, and very proud”, says Miriam Borner, groom to defending Reem Acra champion, Germany’s Helen Langehanenberg.

The latest edition of FEI Focus celebrates the Chinese Year of the Horse with a stunning photo gallery of driftwood horse sculptures, created by artist James Doran-Webb.

Real horses are also in the spotlight. The “What’s on your mind” feature reveals the FEI Committee chairs’ favourite horses, including Charisma, as picked by Eventing’s Giuseppe della Chiesa, and Authentic, the choice of Jumping’s John Madden. Bob Thomson, “the father” of Reining in Canada, has fond memories of the wonderful Boomernic, who sadly died recently: “This horse elevated the level of degree of difficulty while combining beauty and finesse that brought Reiners to a new level of training and expectation”, he said.

Norman, the charismatic jet-setting mascot for the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games™ in Normandy, is the focus for the “Life in a Day” feature. The Games will be the largest sporting event in France this year, on the back of the double Finals in Lyon, with eight world championships held at spectacular venues like the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Mont Saint-Michel.

“Seen from the outside”, a new feature in FEI Focus, looks at how non-equestrian athletes view the equestrian world. “Jumping is a very beautiful sport and I realise that there is a lot of work and discipline behind it”, says Switzerland’s Sergei Aschwanden, bronze medal judoka at the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games.

The “grand finale” is FEI President HRH Princess Haya’s about how FEI Solidarity can change people’s lives and that equestrian sports have the power to change the world for the better.

About FEI Focus

FEI Focus is the official magazine of the Fédération Equestre Internationale. Launched in 2009, it is produced three times a year. Through stunning photography, exclusive features, interviews and news articles, it portrays and promotes the many facets of the FEI’s seven disciplines and numerous topics surrounding the equine industry. The magazine shares news from the FEI’s 132 Member Federations, turns the spotlight on equestrian athletes and major events, and explores the life and work of grooms, volunteers, event officials, veterinarians and all the other people who make the sport possible.