FEI resolves sporting arena safety, tech, endurance rule revisions.

” of [International Olympic Committee] The president once told me that our sport and our federation are the most complicated in the Olympic movement,” said Fédération Equestre Internationale President Ingmar de Vos in his opening speech at the FEI Sports Forum in Lausanne, Switzerland, April 24-25. “We have two athletes, six different sports and as a result we have a large number of stakeholders who have a strong interest in what the FEI does. So open dialogue with stakeholders is key to the success of our sport and ensuring that what we decide is appropriate.”

The FEI Sports Forum has been held annually since 2012, with the aim of “supporting community consultation”. [to] Be normal,” De Vos continued. “I believe we can say we are in a permanent ‘state of consultation’. It became an integral part of the way we operate, which is probably why the FEI is considered the governing body, but also why we as a sport have been able to meet the challenges so effectively.

Chief among these was the continued focus on horse safety and welfare, which was the focus of the Forum’s first day. “Confirming and strengthening our social license to operate may be the most important challenge of this century,” de Vos said. “We need to redefine and re-establish the essence of our relationship with the horse, and therefore our sport, if we are to continue to be accepted by the wider community and have a sustainable future.”

Welfare is front and center.

The first day of the meeting began with a presentation by the Equine Ethics and Welfare Commission, which released an interim report on its work to date. The Commission proposed 24 draft recommendations to ensure what they termed “the good life for the horse” in equestrian sports.

The recommendations—which include steps the FEI and the wider equestrian community can take to achieve high standards of horse safety through individual and collective responsibility, trust, transparency, responsiveness and independent assessment—sparked lively discussion and feedback in the talks. He followed. This is the first time since the EEWB Commission was created by the FEI in June 2022 that the wider equestrian community has been consulted in person on its work and findings.

“The Equine Ethics and Wellbeing Commission’s welfare-oriented FEI vision aims to address ethical issues related to peer participation in sport to sustain equal participation in sport now and in the future,” said Natalie Waran. , PhD, BSc (Hons), Chairman of the Commission.

We hope and look forward to researching and collaborating with the equestrian community and the public to help inform and inspire a positive direction in the “Good Life for Horses” vision and associated draft recommendations. To participate more in the FEI sports arena. By embracing this vision of the future, we believe the FEI will have a strong starting point to bring about real change in the way equestrian sport is thought and practiced.

“This vision and these draft recommendations, as well as the FEI Charter, are the starting point for effecting change in equestrian sport. They are built around the responsibility of providing a good life for our horses and all of us to achieve that. This is not only for the FEI, but for everyone who wants to ensure a bright future for equestrian sport.” It takes commitment.

New technology offers

During Monday’s second session, titled “TechQuestrian—Going for Gold,” the FEI Technology and Sports Services Division presented a number of technology updates on 10 of the FEI’s 36 digital platforms.

They highlighted their digital solutions, including the FEI World Challenges Platform, the FEI Database and FEI. HorseappPage. Among the new features introduced are comprehensive horse registration data protocols, horse document management and vaccination recording, tools aimed at streamlining processes for national federations, horse owners and athletes.

Updates to the FEI’s entry and invitational systems have also been introduced, and the much-anticipated launch of the online showjumping program will be in May. These improvements will help manage contests and entries, making the scheduling and registration process easier for organizers and participants.

One of the highlights of the session was the announcement that the equine influenza vaccine will be rolled out to all FEI horses using the FEI HorseApp.

The initiative aims to improve horse health management and biosecurity measures. The FEI is currently working on a new feature for the existing HorseApp that will help veterinarians and horse owners better monitor and track all vaccination requirements.

With this new system, FEI veterinarians will be able to enter vaccination information directly into the application and will also be able to access information on the vaccination status of any horse at any event, such as administration date, group number and validity.

The FEI has announced that it is working on an “offline mode” that can be used without internet access to solve connectivity issues at events and events. This will start with the new injection module and later spread to other HorseApp functions.

In the year There will be a pilot phase in 2023 and a continuous rollout in 2024, with all FEI horses expected to have influenza vaccination lists on HorseApp by 2025.

The FEI RuleApp and the newly launched FEI TackApp have been introduced as key resources for athletes, their supporters, FEI officials and horse owners, providing easy access to information about approved tack and FEI disciplines.

Specifically, the FEI TackApp was launched as access to all tack and equipment related to horses and athletes in all FEI disciplines. The app is a regularly updated platform to provide a comprehensive, user-friendly database of tack and equipment, making it convenient for athletes to ensure compliance with FEI regulations.

Tying all these innovations together is the new FEI Hub, which has been unveiled as a central hub for users to access all of FEI’s online platforms, providing a seamless and convenient experience for the equestrian community. It features all FEI platforms and applications in a user-friendly layout based on a periodic table of contents.

“These excellent tools and resources are designed to support our athletes at every level of the sport, and we are committed to providing innovative solutions that promote horse safety and streamline processes,” said Gaspard Dufour, director of technology and sports services. “It’s all about making our sport better for everyone involved, and we’re excited about the opportunities these new platforms bring.”

Costs and rewards at show jumping

Day 2 began with a discussion of the financial situation surrounding show jumping prize money requirements, including differences in the current conversion system. In the year A new proposed system is proposed for 2024, which sees the FEI break away from the Swiss franc, making the euro the new base currency, the US dollar the secondary currency, and an exchange rate of 1.10 today.

A second proposal to introduce a minimum prize money requirement for CSI1* also sparked heated debate as it was considered unrealistic for most regions outside of Western Europe, and US FEI Jumping Committee Chairman Stefan Ellenbruch assured delegates that the FEI Jumping Committee would do so. Find solutions that work for all regions of the world.

Access to youth and the sport were also discussed as key points of discussion, along with costs associated with entry fees and mandatory fees. For the panelists and delegates, these discussions will ultimately force each stakeholder to ask what they want for the sport, its future and access to the top echelon of the sport for young riders and emerging riders.

Revision of endurance rules

The last session of the FEI Sports Forum 2023 was dedicated to the FEI Endurance Rules, which are being completely revised this year.

The session featured keynotes from a panel consisting of FEI Endurance Committee Chair Christian Lozano, Vice Chair Sarah Coombs and FEI Endurance Director Christina Abu-Daih.

“This process has attracted great interest from the community, and the proposed rule changes have been accepted by more than 20 national federations,” Lozano said in his introduction. “We are always looking to improve and better protect horse safety, as well as find systems that reward positive actions. The reforms proposed today go in that direction.”

The FEI’s Endurance Committee will include input from the Sports Forum when finalizing the rule changes that will be put to a vote by the General Assembly in November.

Watch videos of each day’s session on the FEI website.