The ned of the two-day-conference FEI sport Forum was summarized by a closing speak my President Ingemar de Vos and followed by a Question & Answer session for the assembled press on-site and online.

Closing words by Ingemar de Vos,

After touching upon the many sessions held at the forum Mr De Vos came to a point on the two-day conference that obviously was very important for him.

“We signed the Grooms Charter and that opens also a new chapter in our relationship with the stakeholders in our groups. As I said, it took 100 years for the FEI to recognize the grooms as part of our family, part of our community –  an essential part of our family. I look forward to continuing that work as well as with the International Grooms Association, but also with the grooms. I also look forward to the Grooms Consultative Group, which is still a committee at the level of the FEI where all the relevant stakeholders that have a relationship with grooms are very present together with the grooms to look at how we can continue to help them in order to improve things.”

Mr de Vos commented on the session about hosting championships and the bidding drought when it comes to championship bids from organisers.

“The session was a bit more complicated, I must say. I think we identified the fact that everybody needs and wants championships, also continuing championships in the non-Olympic qualification years. That’s an important information for us. We all identified a lot of issues that are hindering organizers from putting forward their applications. We will probably need to create a group of people with all the relevant stakeholders represented like athletes, organizers, and national federations. With the purpose to see what we can do to make it better and easier and more viable for organizers to bid.
And to be honest, I don’t have a solution for the European championships in jumping, eventing, and para-dressage for 2025. We are still working on some possibilities, and we need to see what we can do.

But I must be honest with you, I cannot promise anything. Because you need a couple of parties to make that happen. You need an organizer that wants to do it and we need to see how far we can go to convince this organizer. We need to be also very careful not to create precedents.”

He then moved on to touch upon a few concerns raised from all the initiatives that were presented during the day regarding how to make championships more appealing for organizers.

“I could hear the cashier wriggling. Ka-Ching, ka-ching, ka-ching.

As I said some years ago, we do not have a printer in the basement of the FEI HQ that prints money. So we need to be realistic. But I can only commit that we will try to do our utmost to have these championships in 2025. But what we really need to look at the future additions, and what we can do to make life easier for organizers. To organize and to have viable and successful championships. “

Q & A with president and Secretary General Sabrina Ibáñez

The Q & A session kickoff with the Secretary-General and the President giving a brief view of their perception during the two days spent with delegates, over 240 signed up to visit on-site in Lausanne.

Secretary General Sabrina Ibáñez spoke about the importance of the Sports Forum.

“I think what this year, yet again, showed is that it’s really about dialogue, that we admit that we don’t have all the answers, but it’s really important to talk with our constituents directly, with all the stakeholders. Because It’s not that easy to figure everything out. And we really need, our riders, our organizers, our national federations, and even those people who are interested in the sport in general, to provide us with their feedback. This is why there is a call for action with the Equine Ethics and Wellbeing Action Plan as with the championships, safeguarding, and the whole sustainability topic. It’s really like, we need to work together as a community.

And I think this is the great thing about the sports forum. It’s not us dictating to others the way things are, but really trying to come up with proposals and really say, this is our thoughts about a certain topic – And what do you guys think about this? And how can you help us?

It is no longer only what the FEI should do, but it’s what everybody should do. And so, it’s more a dialogue than it was in the past, it was sometimes very much restricted and limited to looking at proposed rules, and revisions. But now it’s more like a dialogue about much larger topics that concern all the levels of the pyramid and all types of stakeholders. It’s sometimes very important to have a dialogue just to identify some issues and how we can address them together.

In the past, perhaps when we would send out a document before the sports forum or whatever, everybody thought it was a done deal. And It wasn’t. It was just, this is one way of looking at it. And maybe now, after all these years, there is an understanding that this is just a thought. Please provide us with your feedback because we can’t do this alone.”

Q: from IAEJ, Kim C Lundin
When you received the huge report, 51 pages from the Equine and Ethics Wellbeing Commission, was it as expected? It seems like there’s a lot of tasks handed over to you. And for the FEI to act out on in detail, will you need to increase the workforce in Lausanne to do all these tasks?

A:Sabrina Ibáñez

“Some of the tasks are going to require financing. I think this is why for us it was very…

It was kind of daunting when we saw the final report and when we realized there were actually 62 or 64 action points. And they were like, oh my God. Oh my goodness.

And for a short while I thought maybe some of these things are already being tackled, but no. So for us, it was really important to come up with this matrix. And it took us for ages just to figure out what this was going to look like. So we could really understand. It’s like the statistics that were shown today with the gender. What are the issues? What are the problems? So that really helped. I don’t really think we’re going to have to increase the staff.

I think we’re just going to have to organize ourselves a little bit differently. But it is true. There are some recommendations in there and some possible proposals that are going to cost money.

And then we need to figure out how we’re going to finance that stuff. Does it mean that we’re going to be required to look at some of the things that we’re doing now and maybe not do them anymore and concentrate on that? Because as Ingmar mentioned, we don’t have a money machine in the basement. And there’s only so much we can do with the operational income that we’re receiving.

But again, daunting, as I said, specifically trying to figure out what it is that needs to be done. But we know we’re not alone in this and I think that is one important factor that everybody appears to have really understood now. Everybody has a responsibility.

Everybody now realizes more so than two years ago or three years ago that we all have to adapt the way we work and the way we think. And that is comforting.

A: Ingmar de Vos

“But I think we also knew what was coming to us because there were updates, Interim

reports, updates at the sports forum, at the session of the General Assembly. So sometimes even we asked the commission to tackle some additional points. Just explaining these relationships and giving some scientific background about these relationships that we are telling everybody that existed for thousands and thousands

of years is necessary to have some more justification and motivation for that. But I think we knew what was coming to us. And that’s very good. But we will probably also have to set some rules. We will have to set some priorities. There are things, quick fixes and there are things that need some further research probably. And there are some things that we need to look at in what timeline we can do it. But we are ambitious to do the right thing.”

Q: from IAEJ, Kim C Lundin

You stated yesterday in the inaugural speech that you invited “critical friends” to come and help you out. Are they still friends of the FEI? And is there a specific reason why the rest of the commission was not here, like Professor Nathalie Waran and so on?

A: Ingmar de Vos

“First of all, if we are still friends, you need to ask them. From our side, I think yes. On the other hand, I mean, they delivered. I mean, in terms of reference from the start, it was made clear that a final report would be provided to the FEI board, which they did in November of last year. It was at FEI headquarters that started making a proposal of an action plan that we at the sports forum here have shared with our community to look at. I’m not excluding that in the future, there will be maybe some initiatives to invite some of these people back to help us with certain aspects. But I mean, they have not delivered the plan but the report. We have now to take our responsibility. And I think you need to separate the different parts of the plan, of the process.

So that’s the reason that they were welcome to follow online and some commission members were here and present. But we did not want, again, to invite the committee to… I mean, they have done their work. They have given their opinion.
We know their opinion. Now we need to look at how we are going to implement it. I mean, what are we going to take on board and what are we going to implement? So that’s a different phase in the whole process. But I think we are still friends. And as I said, we have a lot of respect and we are very grateful for the work they have been doing.
And they were critical friends because they were people that in the past have criticized us. And I think it shows it’s a good practice to ask the people who are critical to say;

OK, then tell us what we have to do in your opinion. But in the end, we will have to decide what we are going to do and maybe what we are not going to do.”

Q: Grand Prix Magazine, Sebastian Rouiller, editor-in-chief

As you said, some points may be quite easy or not so difficult to tackle. And some are a little more difficult or controversial for example talking about the rollkür debate. There is probably a huge gap between Dr Eva Van Avermaet whom you met last week in Fontainebleau and Michael Klimke who spoke out yesterday during the Sports Forum. We know that this is not the only problem, but it’s one of the most important and visible problems even in the upcoming Olympics. What could be the path to finding the right balance?

A: Sabrina Ibáñez

Our experience has been very good. And I think it has always been shown that the best way of doing that is actually the whole consultation and people sitting around the table and then providing forums such as this one to really discuss matters. And it’s true that back in 2000, I think it was Princess Haya who held the first two forums on hyperflexion back in 2009.  And we didn’t follow that up. There is clearly… a need for follow-up and as was mentioned by Göran Åkerström, things have changed since then. And there are other aspects that need to be looked into. But I sincerely believe that when you get people around the table and you continue to discuss, discuss, discuss, in the end, reason wins overall. I think that if we do follow up with the forum, the task force, whatever you want to call it, in the very near future, we’re going to get there.

A: Ingmar de Vos

I think the answer is always somewhere in the middle. I met Dr. Van Avermaet in Fontainebleau and I must say she was very positive about the training session in Fontainebleau, the dressage. She was very positive about it, She then said, “But it was done like that because I was here.” No, it was not done because she was there, because we cannot steer the rider how they train. But I think that is the good thing, I mean, all these challenges, there are also opportunities and good things, is that I think there is a growing awareness also with the athletes, how they present their sport and how they act on the field of play and at home and in the paddock. So I think that regretfully the cases we have been confronted with have led to a growing insight also from the athletes that they need to think about what they are doing and that what 30 years ago was maybe acceptable is not any longer acceptable. I think that is the good side of it is that it works as an education project in the end. And so I’m very happy with the comment of Eva Van Avermaet and I had a long conversation with her in Fontainebleau. It was very constructive. So thank you as long as you keep the dialogue open.”

Q: World of Showjumping, Nanna Nieminen, editor/owner

What about when you [ed. Note the FEI] mentioned athletes now and then the importance of communication came up quite many times during the forum. Why does the FEI then choose to endorse riders like the Syrian rider Amre  Hamcho, whose family have connections to the Syrian war, or Saudi rider [Abdullah Al Sharbatly]who this year already has two warnings?
If we talk about athletes and communication and good examples, then why do you the FEI choose to endorse these kind of people?
Because I think when you speak about communication, I think there’s a lot that the FEI could improve there. And I would be curious to know kind of how do you see our own communication.

Link to story
Link to post

A: Sabrina Ibáñez

And how do we endorse them? I’m sorry you took me a bit by surprise here.

A: Ingmar de Vos

But I mean, let’s separate certain things. We are a sports organization. We are not a political organization. I don’t know all the families of all the riders and I don’t know what all the families of all the riders are. Should we then punish a rider for what the family is doing?

Q: World of Showjumping, Nanna Nieminen, editor/owner

No, but can you not think of anyone else to endorse? Then if everyone also here said we need good examples, there are good people in the sport. But then you choose to endorse the bad ones.

A: Ingmar de Vos

I’m not aware.

A: Sabrina Ibáñez

Okay, me neither. But point taken. We can look into it.

A: Ingmar de Vos

Sorry to say, but we had the great finals in Riyadh. And from a sports perspective, it was great. And I can understand that at that certain stage, some local riders as it is in the first final,  in that region that our SoMe-team thinks maybe to promote some more local riders, maybe not thinking about, if they are even not aware of these warnings.

A: Sabrina Ibáñez
I mean and this is something that I can accept that there is a lot of work to be done when it comes to reviewing FEI’s social media and communication strategy I could say that.

A: Ingmar de Vos

But there will always be errors or whatever you can call it –  only those who do nothing cannot do anything wrong. I mean the leadership is not aware of this endorsing so we apologize.

Q: World of Showjumping, Nanna Nieminen, editor/owner

Could you tell us a bit more about the groom’s charter and what it entails?

A: Ingmar de Vos

It should be published by now, I am sorry.  The most important thing here is that for a hundred years, grooms have been ignored and I made it one of my points in my presidential manifesto to do something about it.  Because when I was a chef d’equipe and chef de mission in a National Federation I had to deal a lot with grooms and I sometimes was very shocked about how they were treated by their employers,  whether it is owners or riders, something had to be done. We started that process back in 2019 already by reaching out to them and guiding them to create their own representative association with the goal of involving them as a group also in the decision-making process as we do with all other stakeholders like athletes, organizers, officials, trainers with whom we all have what we call memorandum of understanding. An MOU  is basically a document where we lay down that we officially recognize each other, that we respect each other and that we involve each other in the decision-making process when it comes to rules and regulations that they are affected or potentially affected by. That’s basically what we want to do. Why do we want to in addition to create a groom’s chart? We believe it’s important that not only the FEI has this MOU with these grooms but that also other entities that much more than the FEI work with grooms like the owners/athletes/organizers that they also are involved in an official recognition process with the grooms. That’s basically the charter where on the one hand the charter the grooms take some engagement but the other signatories are also taking some responsibility in how they work / deal/respect grooms. That’s basically the goal of the chart but as I said in my introduction this is only a starting point I mean there is a lot of work to be done not necessarily always by the FEI but in the relationship between these different organizations with grooms to provide good facilities for toilets/shower /access to food.  Owners or Riders or whoever owns the stable to provide fair work conditions. You hear what grooms have to do,  work the whole day from the morning till the evening late at the show and then have to load the lorry and then even drive the lorry for a whole night to somewhere else. These are practices that I feel need to be addressed and there should be a solution for that. And we can only do so much. We cannot impose anything there because it’s outside of our jurisdiction, but we can bring these parties together so that they start and establish a dialogue. And that’s why we have, why we will also maintain this group, this grooms’ consultative group in which all the relevant stakeholders are presented to continue this dialogue. And maybe at a certain moment to go to further statements or agreements in which they recognize the rights of one and the other. I think it’s a process and we are at the start of the process. But I think it’s due time to start the process. It’s a milestone for the grooms I think to have this now and I’m very proud that the FEI could facilitate it.

A: Sabrina Ibáñez
I’m recognizing they’re an official stakeholder and should be also consulted on certain aspects as well which wasn’t the case before. We recognized the owners, the riders, the officials whatnot but not the grooms.

A: Ingmar de Vos
We included them in the evaluation for all important events but basically for all events we have now reports and the grooms are invited to feed into the report so that also from their part we understand what issues we need to address and if there are any of course what issues eventually we have to address with the organizers.

Q: Tidningen ridsport, Anna Nyberg, journalist

You mentioned before that you may have to see over the economy and what you could afford to do when the horse welfare projects take more resources. Could you give us an example of what you’re doing now that you may not be able to do in the future?

A: Sabrina Ibáñez
It’s first of all hard, first, we need to know what we’re going to do in the future. That is actually something that we’re looking at already right now to see what are the things that the FEI should be delivering and what things that are nice to have but we should not or that we try to do and are not really functioning. So that is an exercise that we are actually conducting right now in the FEI and we hope to be able to provide a status report to the board in June. And then of course now with all these other initiatives that are coming in we’ll have to compare and see where cuts are required and where they’re not required. But it’s a hard exercise because also, we are a service organization but all the services we provide they’re costly and a lot of our expenses now are going to IT development or all that kind of digital stuff. Because it’s not only the seeding money that is that is going to be used but it’s also going to be used to provide the support that is required. But every year or two years you need to upgrade the system and it costs a lot a lot of money. It provides a lot of solutions but it costs a lot of money. So that is an exercise that we’re undergoing already right now. I would be able to tell you exactly what we’ll be cutting and whatnot

Q: Horses.nl, Rick Helmink, journalist, posing a question in the online forum

There was a partial media boycott for the World Cup finals, a lot of discussion about sports washing, human rights and how does the FEI look back on these World Cup finals.

A: Ingmar de Vos
Well, I was there. And I can only say that there was no issue at all. No issue was reported to us regarding any kind of discrimination. I am aware of the fact that some media thought it was important to boycott it. But let me say one thing. We, again, are a sports organization. And sport is a good tool, let’s say it like that, to bring people together. We have very clear provisions also in our hosting agreements that everybody who has the right to be there and to compete has to be accepted. And there has been no issue at all. I want to underline that. And that some people want to… Abuse sports for political purposes. Well, I can only regret that. But we should be realistic. We cannot expect sport to solve what even the United Nations is not able to resolve. So we can only open the dialogue. And having such an important event in Riyadh, in Saudi Arabia, with that outcome. It’s very good for me. And it’s also a reason to promote gender equality and diversity. So there was nothing to be reported. So I don’t see why for Saudi Arabia that was perceived as being a problem. Whereas we have had many other competitions in the region where it never has been a problem. So I don’t understand why they are specifically targeting Saudi Arabia.

I can only say that I visited the country several times. And that I saw incredible improvement. Especially how women are treated. There was nothing to report there. But you need to be clear, if we have to look at all the different aspects, there are in the end, not… If we talk about human rights, there are in the end not that many countries where we can go. So sport opens doors. Sport gives us the possibility to promote things. Do we live in an ideal world? No, of course not. But that’s in all parts of the world. And in all countries.

….and there your IAEJ representative had to cut the reporting short and sprint for the metro-train-airport-flight back to Copenhagen.

At your service for the greater good of our IAEJ community / Kim C Lundin, not secretary-general, just secretary 😉

Session 3: FEI Equine Anti Doping and Medication Control Regulations

Monday, 29 April, 15:30 – 17:30

The third session of day one at the FEI Sports Forum was formed around a discussion on Equine Anti-Doping and Controlled Medication Regulations (EADCMR), the only FEI rules that are undergoing a full revision this year. The session shed light on crucial aspects of maintaining integrity and fairness throughout FEI disciplines, and horse sport in general taking in experience from the racing industry and building further on the action points from the “Good life for Horses” plan. The panelists delved into various key topics essential for athletes, trainers, and stakeholders to understand and adhere to.

After a short recap of the 2020 FEI Sports Forum and the full rules revision of that year, the session kicked off with the topic of out-of-competition testing, emphasizing the need for continuous monitoring to ensure a level playing field for all competitors.

During the discussion, the essential legal question was posed by FEI Legal Director Mikael Rentsch, who is the person responsible for the horse when it comes to testing for controlled medication and/or doping? In endurance it is the trainer, in other disciplines, it is not so straight-forward. As part of the action tasks, FEI wants to go into out-of-competition testing to ensure horse welfare in a broader sense, safeguarding the horse even out of the competition environment. The question was posed to the audience as to who remains responsible for out-of-competition testing – trainer, owner, or athlete as in rider or driver?

The only true conclusion was that the grooms are not to be responsible as it would be too tempting to pin that responsibility on the weakest party. The International Jumping Owners Club explained in detail how owners not even are on the same continent as their horse and cannot be responsible. The International Jumping Riders Club declared similar views as many riders are temporarily riding horses for owners. As of now, endurance is the only discipline with a registered trainer, that might change in the future. In essence, no one jumps up to be the responsible person for a horse – a bit strange, after all, we are their human guardians.

Lynn Hillyer, Chief Veterinary Officer & Head of Anti-Doping with the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB), explained the timeline and progression of the IHRB’s equine anti-doping and medication control protocols since the body’s inception in 2018, showing an impressive increase in sampling rates, strengthened further by a digitization process necessitated by the Covid 19 pandemic.

IHRB collects out-of-competition samples where specifically the hair samples provide information from months back. They only look for prohibited substances but can detect controlled medication which should be visible in a horse’s logbook for follow-up.  They also look for stables and yards with HSR High Strike Rates and exceptionally high performance that can indicate unfair proceedings, through medication or doping.

Although the auditorium was very aware of the costs involved with an out-of-competition testing program, even FEI president Ingemar de Vos weighed in and pointed to NFs for this cost coverage. In the auditorium, there was an uneven welcome to the future procedures with out-of-competition testing although clearly stated as point to strengthen horse welfare in Equine Ethics and Wellbeing Commission final report and proposed action plan where it one of the 60+ actions tasks. .
Göran Åkerström, FEI veterinary director, stated:
“Testing out of competition will be a big deterrent for people and it is not more expensive than competition testing in itself, we can do it through the current base of laboratories and technicians.”
“But if you look at the costs, we’ve done benchmarks, we’ve checked with Lynn Hillier, I’ve checked with French Trotting and Racing and Swedish Trotting and the cost for out-of-competition testing is more than less equal to that of in-competition testing. But you need to plan it carefully .”

Swedish veterinary delegate Peter Kallings welcomed an additional testing protocol.
“This is really good work, we are ready to start in Sweden. We’ve been waiting several years for this. The Swedish Equestrian Federation has access to staff working mainly in trotting and racing, they’re used to this and FEI testing technicians and the lab has also been on this track for many years back so we’re just waiting for the legal proposal regarding the person responsible. someone suggested previously that it might well be the horse itself instead that receives the sanctions.
However in my line of work, I have often found the logbook to be empty for the horses, it would be better to use the FEI Horse App for this.”

Mikael Rentsch weighed in with:
“I agree that currently, we do have the medication logbook that many athletes are not using and filling in the information. I think we need to push on that and be stricter, probably have an associated sanction not linked to just out-of-competition testing.”

Jessica Kürten suggested that there perhaps is no need for a person responsible if the horse itself is sanctioned and prohibited from competition for a designated time depending on what substances would be discovered in testing. Many agreed that it could be a viable approach.

Gene Doping – new threat

The topic of gene doping was also addressed, underscoring the ongoing efforts to stay ahead of emerging technologies and practices that could compromise the integrity of equestrian sport.  FEI Senior Veterinary Advisor Caterina Termine used simple and engaging analogies to explain gene doping, as well as highlighting the dangers of the former over the latter.  Potential effects are for example when gene doping is directed towards the brain cells it is possible to increase the horse pain threshold. When directed at the Bone Marrow, the increase of red blood cells enhances stamina.

Caterina Termine also presented FEI proposals for new rules to be implemented, such as including provisions around gene doping within the current EADCMRs.

She stated:
“We have to tread carefully. Some of the scientific reports are quite alarming. They have linked gene doping to deaths and there’s been a lot of safety concerns for patients. And I’m sure the animals have undergone gene doping. So that’s a big red flag for us to be aware of. The next thing is that gene doping isn’t ethical. It can result in an unlevel playing field. It can negatively impact the public acceptance of our sports. And finally, we have to look at the scientific advances. Science moves very quickly. There’s a lot of research into this area.

We don’t want to prohibit something that could be therapeutic to the horse. We need to list the permitted practices and an example of that is the use of mRNA vaccines that we’ve recently seen during the COVID pandemic. And since the use of those vaccines, research has started to look to see if mRNA vaccines could be used in horses.

We wouldn’t want to prohibit anything therapeutic for horses. Hence we do need to be careful when we draft the rules. We of course want to implement the best practices. That’s very important to us.”

Hair raising new possibilities – not spot on, spit in

In the area of testing for prohibited substances, FEI Veterinary Director Göran Åkerström led a discussion that proposed the implementation of testing hair and fluid (saliva) samples as effective and non-invasive methods. This could mean an improved testing protocol that could prolong the detection window for several months.

Göran Åkerström was enthusiastic over the possibilities with hair and saliva used for testing:
“Why should we introduce hair as a testing matrix? Well, right now we have blood and we have urine and that just gives a snapshot in time of what is found in the horse. The beauty with hair testing is that if I pull this one out here on my own head it actually could be seen if I have been medicating corticosteroids for example or almost any medication, it will be stored in the hair. You can detect it inside the hair. It’s the same thing with the horse’s hair. It prolongs the detection window by several months. And this is already a very well-established method within horse racing. It’s been around for more than 10 years, in Swedish trotting for 15 years.”

“If we look at saliva then the problem that we currently are facing is that if you microdose quickly eliminated drugs for example beta blockers that would lower the heart rate on the horse and you do that in endurance [ed. note the foul-playing people that is].  We will not detect that when we do the post-competition testing because by then it’s already out of the system. The concentration will be so low that we cannot detect it. So therefore, we would like to collect saliva because we want to avoid invasive methods, we don’t want to put a needle in a horse during competition if we can avoid it. “

To set the scene for illustration purposes. At a vet gate during an endurance competition there is a slim chance of collecting urine and blood samples is avoided while the competition is ongoing. Saliva could be collected and detect the substance as well as be harvested without invasive action.

There is a lower reporting level for cocktail administration and that causes the problem. Substances with the same/similar/synergetic or masking effect are each administered in a lower dose to avoid exceeding the reporting level.

In conjunction with this, the issue of ‘cocktail administration’ of controlled substances was raised, highlighting how adding multiple controlled medications together can effectively ‘cheat’ positive testing levels by providing a performance-enhancing effect to a horse without exceeding the reporting level which would result in the sample testing positive. In order to counter this, the FEI is proposing to reduce the reporting level in multiple substance cases by 50%

Some doping offenses are worse than others as Göran Åkerström stated:

“A horse will “benefit” for years from anabolic steroids and would probably need to be suspended for years”

Link to FEI session report 

Link to presentation from session 3

Link to biographies of panelists

Session 4 FEI Championship Review

30th of April, 9 – 12:15

As journalists and photographers, championships are often the epi-center of our work covering equestrian sport. A lot of work goes into the category pre-, during- and after a championship event. For quite some time very few organizers bid for championships. The first session of the second day of the Sports Forum evolved around this topic, the why’s and hows and what to do took the first half of the day.

”Houston – we have a problem”  – Áine Power is Deputy Legal Director and she started out her introduction in this manner to a full auditorium although the many blazers with the FEI emblem were prominent.

“We like, as our president said yesterday and Sabrina mentioned, our critical friends. They’re very important to helping us do better.”

The crux of the matter is that FEI has a lot of championships, in 2024 there are 28 in the calendar.

Championship cycle is the rotation of major and minor championships, with championships being held annually, every 2 years, and every 4 years. The World Cup finals, the youth championships, and the young horse championships are the ones that occur annually.

Áine Power posed the very relevant question:
“What do we want, is the cycle still relevant”

Divided into minor and major championships.

All championships have a bid process, require FEI board allocation, a host agreement with FEI – OC and NF as well as FEI HQ involvement. FEI does not perceive a problem with the minor championships and the session at the sports forum only covers the major championships.

Although the bid process is very formal FEI can engage in informal discussions with different national sport bodies like Sport Denmark and its likes.

The bid process is fairly straightforward, the host agreement is vital for Áine Power, Deputy Legal Director, it is her favorite time of the year.

All bids have to be supported by the NF in the country, it does not mean they have to be financially responsible. Currently, the trend is that only endurance often receives several bids. Usually, only one bid comes in for championships in other disciplines.

Áine Power stated:
“At headquarters, we feel that there is a reluctance to place bids for championships.”

What are the requirements – what cost does the OC have to cover

• The hosting fee covers FEI HQ costs, and the popular discipline = jumping funds the rest
• Prize money, follows the same pattern
• Officials, very different between disciplines, host cover travel, accommodation, meals, and per diem, under review
• Athletes and NF delegation, OC responsible for Accommodation and meals,
• FEI delegation and Pre Visit,
• The host broadcaster, OC responsible for cost appointing Host broadcaster, FEI retains broadcast right
• Sport Specific requirements, infrastructure requirements, timetable constraints

Opportunities for the OC, NF, and country

Sponsor Longines gives financial contribution in jumping for the World Cup final and for world championship for all disciplines.

Potential for sponsorship is very differentiated between countries and OCs.

ECs are open for sponsoring, WC of all kinds belongs to Longines, WC Finals in other disciplines than jumping are open for a title sponsor and a presenting sponsor.

OCs can generate revenue for the championship through entry fees, which is a way to get some money back, but the number of participants will always be unknown until the closing date. This is a point of discussion and poses a risk for the OCs budget.

Other income can be public subsidies, support form the city/region, ticketing, corporate hospitality, food and beverage as well as a trade show.

Áine Power stated:
“The horse community comes to championships to spend money and shop”

Increasing cost levels may be behind as well as concerns for SLO-related backlash in media. Is it too difficult to plan or is the calendar so full that championships have lost their allure

Panel discussions

The panel discussion led by Tim Hadaway engaged the podium guests as well as the auditorium.

• Tim Hadaway (FEI HQ) – Director, Games Operations Moderator

• Ralph Straus (FEI HQ) – FEI Commercial Director
• Simone Perillo – Secretary General, Italian Equestrian Federation (FISE)
• Michael Stone – President, Wellington International (WI)
• Casper Cassøe Krüth – Chief Operating Officer, Global Equestrian Group
• Nayla Stoessel – President, Longines CSIO St. Gallen, board member EEF

Are championships important and are the formats optimal

Simone Perillo: Championships are for the team sport, for the NFs. We had WC in Pratoni and were involved in EC in Milan. We managed to get funding from the government to restructure the venue in Pratoni. It enabled us to come forward and arrange more events in Pratoni 2024.
The costs for Milan was very very challenging and we need to look at the cost model. The prize money needs to be higher than a regular CSI, a true challenge. I have two roles, as an organizer and an NF representative.
We need to have another cost share model and FEI needs to share the risks. The fact that we have no bid for EC jumping in 2025 says it all.
The opportunities are still there, for NFs championships are crucial and our whole reason for existing. It helps to engage the grassroots and get new fans.

Ralph Straus: Championships are fundamental for the sport. It is not a revenue model, the FEI does not earn money on championships. What we gain is in the form of promotion in our many channels. The Olympic games help out, but the other championships plays a critical role in promoting the sport.

Comment from Francois Mathy, chairman of IJRC,
This is where the real sport happens, the best of the best. The proof is that before Milan the next week was Calgary but the best riders were in Milan. The EC is very important to gain experience ahead of WC and OC for example for younger riders.

Eleonora Ottaviani, IJRC
Money is not the driving factor. It is every rider’s dream to go to the Olympics. We urge FEI to appoint people to the OCs that are experienced in horse matters. Help check out the logistics early in the process.  Previously many championships were handled by experienced horse people.
Riders must take care of their grooms’ accommodation, maybe the costs should be shared. After 30 years I have something to contribute so bare with me.

Michael Sorge, Swiss chef equipe jumping
We were at the ECs to win, it was not a qualifier for anything, everybody wanted to win a medal. We need both CSIOs and championships. For NFs championships are crucial, and they are equally important for riders. Money is not the driving factor.

Sönke Lauterbach, Secretary General GER
The general public basically only understands the championships, the rest is complicated, and we need them. The format with an unknown number of participants is a difficult factor to cater for.

Michael Stone
We are trying to do two things at the same time, the event goes on and on because there are too many riders. If it is for development it is hard to be promotional at the same time. If it’s dressage the organizer has a death wish, not even enthusiasts watch it. The first two days are a way of getting to the end, the finals are the real action.

Casper Cassøe Krüth
The combination of jumping and dressage is a better one compared to involving para-dressage in terms of spectators. Going back to 2022 there are things we could have done differently, especially with the huge numbers of participants.

What drives interest in hosting Championships?

Casper Cassøe Krüth
Back in time, all of us are here for the horses, we do it because we love horses and the sport. Our main goal was to do the WC in Herning as the best one ever. We needed confidence and support from the City of Herning and Sport Denmark were crucial in succeeding. And we had a very good corporation at all times and for us, it was very important from the beginning that the city of Herning for the seven months without (reds not support from other parties) we couldn’t do anything so we really needed this support to do a good job.
Of our overall budget, 70 percent is commercial and we needed strong strong support from the beginning. We need time all the time we can get, we had two and a half years of preparation for this competition so we can agree with that.

Lars Lindorf, Sport Denmark
I agree with Casper, Herning 2022 was a great success. We offered some contribution in terms of money and experience. The hard work and getting commercial sponsors was Casper and Jens TRabjerg. We are a small country and we like to host large events, it is a major goal for us. Herning 2022 was perhaps one of the biggest events we ever had, we also had Grand depart Tour de France the same year. WC Herning 2022 lived up to all our expectations, we would like to have it back again!
I think maybe the bidding process is the old days and the target dialogue is the future. In cycling, we do the dialogue. Slow down the old-fashioned bidding process and go into dialogue.

Nayla Stoessel
We need to look at our goals as an organization, it is to promote the sport, keep it as an Olympic discipline as well as keep the very unique parts of the horse.

I think this is an issue with the organizers, there are too many risks. The risks of today are hard to cover, you cannot insure yourself anymore like pandemic and weather risks are impossible to cover.

There could be more proactive work towards the organizers to support and back them up to strengthen them for a different scenario. The EEf is ready and willing to give more support.  The hosting agreement does not fit everyone, organizers are very different.

Daniela Garcia, secretary general for Panam and Mexico
It is also a business, it needs to make money. Paying for meals and accommodation is very 90’s and outdated. We know that riders do not stay at the OCs hotel and do not eat the meals offered. It is too much money to go down the drain. The prize money is not the driving force, not on our side of the Atlantic. Brazil were already qualified for the Olympics and still sent their best team.

Additional requirements and costs

Michael Stone
The cost of hosting so many people and getting a host broadcaster. It is so many extra people that it costs a lot. The FEI people delivered and helped us out a lot in Ocala. The hosting fee is probably outdated at this stage. The NFs need to contribute financially to championships, they do not really do that today.

Jerry Ta from HongKong NF
We have heard a lot of the top events, I think we need to take a look at the minor events as well. We had Asian Games in 2019 and we will have it again in 2025. It is a very costly event to arrange championships where most riders fly in from Europe as they are based in Europe. We as sports managers know we are going to loose money but we just have to take care of not losing too much. We need the games to sustain the sport. There should be some leeway for developing countries. The rules should not be as rigid as a full EC.

The rules are all designed around the European base, for Asia it needs to have more flexibility.

Simone Perillo
The WEG is a fantastic model but is not financially viable. In Italy jumping funds everything else. The target is really how to save the championships. We do not want to take the route of tennis where the big championships are organized by individual organisations.

OCs are paying every week fees for their competitions, instead, everybody needs to invest. FEI needs to be a partner and share risk.

Joyce, CHIO Rotterdam, responding to a question about organizing an EC again as in 2019.
We are definitely not hosting ECs anymore. We had jumping, dressage, and para in 2019. We suffered a loss and we will stay on with our current CSIO/CDIO competitions. Our board is not that keen to go on board again.

Casper Cassøe Krüth about upcoming obstacles in the preparation process
Yes, we had a lot of surprises during our planning process. We need to look over the accommodation and meals, organizing the hotels, booking for athletes and only 50 percent is used. I believe our European NFs can carry the cost for the riders and horses. 75 percent of the riders are in for the first two days and will then leave but we will have to pay for several days.

Sönke Lauterbach, secretary general for Germany, responding to Casper
Not all federations get government funding, we have a lot of championships to go to. We and many others do not have government funding so I would not agree that we can pay our own costs for all the many championships.

Sabrina Ibanez, Secretary General of the FEI
What about capping the numbers, having a qualification for the championships? We were discussing it, I know it is not a popular thing..

Casper Cassøe Krüth responding to Sabrina
It is a really good idea because it makes everything sharper from the start.

Ralph Strauss, on broadcast costs
We have come a long way. The requirements for broadcast have been adapted for championships. There needs to be high quality for SVT and others. The whole media-rights situation has changed, nowadays they seldom pay for the rights. It is still an important part. Linear TV is still important, but percentage-wise it has decreased. Live -streaming is increasing. There needs to be a minimum quality. Through the broadcast agreements we look at what makes sense and try to adapt.

We are working with Longines to produce more comprehensible productions with graphics and augmented reality. The top-competitions we need to keep a quality that is engaging and promotional.

The revenue from broadcast rights does not cover the cost of our content production. We keep doing it for the sake of the relationship with the partners. FEI takes some costs behind the scenes but we could take another look at this whole situation

Casper Cassøe Krüth on problems with live-streaming
We need to sell tickets, to have full house, we pay a lot of money for broadcasts. People are getting more lazy and stay at home and watching the two riders on live stream – this does not build huge sports events. The live-streams are becoming more and more of a problem. Before we signed the host agreement we had our sponsor etc. The Longines contribution caused a bit of difficulty because the FEI was in between.

Ralph Strauss, on live-stream
We know that live-stream does not contribute revenue. When we have a linear contract it is usually exclusive. We can only get FEI-tv behind a pay wall in those contracts. We are still depending on national broadcasts to promote the sport.

The broadcasters do not want the thousand videos on So Me sent out. The athletes get the clips from Socalie.

Bid process – engaging or discouraging

Simone, Italian NF
The bid process allows for transparency and objective but the bidding needs some more flexible. The conditions need to seriously revised. We could have regional qualifiers leading up to a final. The model needs to be completely changed.

Victoria from Belgium NF,
From a nation that is considering bidding in the future, it would be interesting if other previous bidders could share their documentation. When you consider bidding  we have no knowledge about other countries in the process of bidding. It should be a more open pre-process. It is a short time-frame to create the full sheet of financials secured over summer.

Áine Power concluded the session.

“What really came through today is that championships are something special. We already had that feeling, anyone who’s been at a championship, knows they’re special, but it was really heartening, I think, for us to hear it from the athletes and the organizers and the federations. We want championships, we want major championships, we don’t want less championships, so that message really came through loud and clear. From the FEIs’ perspective, we are completely open to being flexible and we are completely open to negotiation.
At the same time, we do not have a magic blank checkbook, so we cannot pick up the cost of no hosting fee and pick up all the costs for all those broadcasters.”

And the core players of all championships – the riders – were sadly totally missing in the discussion.

Link to FEI Sports Forum Hub

Link to presentation

Session 1: Equine Ethics and Wellbeing Commission final report and proposed action plan

Monday, 29 April, 9:30 – 12:30, IMD, Lausanne

FEI president Ingemar de Vos gave a welcome speech to an almost full auditorium at the IMD in Lausanne. As expected, he declared his contentment over the League of Nations’ first legs and underlined that Paris preparations were well underway.

When it came to the subject of the day, the much-awaited report and action plan following the Equine Ethics and Wellbeing Commission final report and proposed action plan he declared that the time-table for “The Good Life for horses” will run into November 2024 and the rollout will continue with all NF:s.

Mr de Vos then changed tune completely stating:
“Don’t write to me about your concerns, think about what you can do yourself on your level. We started our process early in 2022, we are on our way, help where you are instead of writing to me.”

The first Session of the FEI Sports Forum 2024 was dedicated to the final report produced by the independent Equine Ethics and Wellbeing Commission and the proposed action plan developed by the FEI Headquarters based on the recommendations outlined in the report.

In her introduction, session moderator FEI Secretary General Sabrina Ibáñez reminded delegates of the reasons for the Commission’s creation, its composition, and the timeline it had followed. She thanked the Commission for its valuable work and introduced the session panelists, FEI Veterinary Director Göran Åkerström and FEI Legal Director Mikael Rentsch. The Secretary-General highlighted the responsibility of the entire community for preserving and enhancing horse welfare.

The full report has been available online at least for a few days ahead of the Sports forum, it is a 51-page document, a bit abstract “to-do-list” for the FEI requiring extensive work in many areas, existing work fields, and quite new areas.  To read the full report, you find it here. The report describes an approach but when it comes down to what needs to be done in practical terms – it is all in the hands of the FEI.

FEI Welfare Strategy

The Report outlined 30 recommendations – six of those presented at an early stage in the Commission’s work – which had been divided into six priority areas of focus – training and riding, tack and equipment; recognizing physical and emotional stress; accountability, enforcement, and knowledge; the other 23 hours (the life of horses outside of competition); competitive drive; not fit to compete (masking health problems). Once combined, the early recommendations, the Final Report recommendations, and priority areas of focus generated 62 action points. And, none of them are tiny tasks either, this is the Sisyfos project for the FEI, a neverending ongoing process, in constant need of evaluation and re-evaluation.

The Commission had further outlined a suggested approach urging the FEI to be a Leader; be Trusted; be Transparent; be Proactive; and be Accountable, and had proposed tools for action.

This approach informed the FEI Welfare Strategy, the initial stage of which was presented at the session, based on a Welfare Vision for a good life for horses, and a Welfare Mission, with the FEI serving as the guardians of FEI horses by formulating and implementing rules, guidelines, educational programs and other initiatives. Where required, the FEI applies sanctions to ensure good horse welfare with the overall mission to lead, drive, and develop equestrian sport globally.

“We no longer talk about horses as our partners. We are their guardians”, stated Göran Åkerström

Tools

An essential tool for action to deliver this Welfare Strategy is the Five Domain model, which was updated in 2020 to achieve and measure horse welfare through nutrition, physical environment, health and fitness, and interactions with the environment, with other horses, and with humans. A positive mental state equals good welfare.

Action plan

Swedish ethology and animal science expert Malin Axel-Nilsson was due to be a panelist in the session but was unable to attend. However, she had already assisted FEI Headquarters with entering the 62 action points into a matrix listing the actions already put in place by FEI, possible future actions, ways for the FEI to support and collaborate with the National Federations and other official stakeholder groups, and had linked it to the relevant domain of animal welfare.

Göran Åkerström and Mikael Rentsch presented the main elements of this matrix and provided details for many of the key proposed actions, including a broader approach to reviewing tack and equipment; resuming scientific research on hyperflexion and rollkur; and developing guidelines, principles, rules, and possibly registration of trainers across the disciplines to ensure ethical training methods. Other key projects discussed in detail were the development of harmonized post-mortem reporting protocols in national events with the support of the NFs; updating the FEI Code of Conduct for the Welfare of the Horse in collaboration with World Horse Welfare; strengthening the awareness and use of the FEI Equestrian Charter, and the implementation of an Out of Competition Testing Programme.

The FEI Equestrian Charter is a pledge to care for the horse that all involved parties will take and honor. FEI wants to see the NFs implement the charter on a national level, a document the athletes and other stakeholders have to confirm and sign yearly.

Glimpses from the presentation

From the presentation the following fragments can be worth mentioning, have a look at the whole presentation here.

FEI will develop guidelines/principles/rules/registration to ensure ethical training methods and they will resume the scientific work on “hyperflexion” and “rollkur” to address the complexity. As Göran Åkerström pointed out after some discussion in the auditorium;

“We mustn’t in any way look away from that there are issues that need to be addressed. When the older studies were conducted the science was a bit different. Equine behavioral science has come into the equation within the last 5-10 years and that makes the old studies outdated.”

One of the action points aim to establish an oral cavity control protocol to be used at FEI events.  The first part of this work is done in Denmark.

A recent study shows that a double bridle can significantly reduce rein tension for some riders and the issue is complex.

There is a continuous discussion on non-mandatory double-bridle in dressage and the FEI is considering implementing an extensive tack list for all disciplines, not just dressage as of today.

Noseband, as voted at the GA in 2023 a new noseband rule will be in place as of 1 January 2025. Development of an FEI Objective Measuring tool is underway, the recommendation is to do measuring ahead of the competition to avoid harm and bad pictures. A protocol for check is under development and the measuring tool will be available for anyone to buy and use.

How to handle Article 142 – Abuse of the horse. The good news is that anyone can report “abuse of horse”. If it is a FEI registered horse, the FEI has jurisdiction even if the abuse happens in a stable. There is not a limitation time to when it is too late to act.

As a part of this process, FEI reviews all older yellow cards to see if there is a cause to open proceedings if the offense should require sanctions or consequences.

Discussions

All through during the session the auditorium posed questions or made comments. Voices from the dressage community were distressed and asked for support. Profiles such as Michael Klimke and Mariette Withages spoke up as well as Kjell Myhre and Diana el Shaer. The common ground was that they required action from the FEI and felt the discussion had tilted the wrong way.
As Diana el Shaer stated:
“Dressage riders are under attack.”

An unexpected advocate for the use of the double-bridle was jumping rider Francois Mathy JR, chairman of IJRC.
“The discussion about double-bridle feels alien. We need to be able to use precision tools. You need to involve the riders in the discussion. A loose noseband is described as bad but when my horse put the tongue over the bit it is worse for him”.  [applause from the auditorium]

Swedish veterinary delegate Peter Kallings was active in the discussion and advocated for stricter medication rules for FEI stating that many other horse organizations have less tolerance for medication and stated the FEI has a more lenient approach to allowing antibiotics during competition.

“We propose that antibiotics should not be allowed during competition. Antibiotics have a pain-killing effect and can indirectly work to mask other reasons for the horse to be not fit to compete.”

Jessica Stark from World Horse Welfare made a valid point after the presentations went into Q&A sessions.
“Where is the voice of the horse in all this work and where comes the actual welfare?”

Feedback

The work accomplished by the FEI to date was commended by delegates, many of whom expressed valuable suggestions such as Swedish Secretary General Johan Fyrberg. The importance of education, information, and communication was highlighted on several occasions. The need to consult closely with athletes, trainers, and Officials was also raised, and there were calls to celebrate examples of good horse welfare from both Jessica Kürten and Kjell Myhre. Several NF representatives such as Jason Brautigam, British Dressage,  shared positive experiences of implementing the Equestrian Charter in their national rules.
Eleonora Ottaviani from the IJRC shared a positive development in Italy in relation to the welfare of the horse.
“The Italian federation did a good job with the Italian government. The horse is now, since last year, regarded equal to  a human and receives the same protection legally. In case of abuse, the horse has the same rights as a human.”

The FEI Secretary General emphasized that the FEI Welfare Vision and Mission would inform all FEI activities going forward. She urged participants to consult the presentation used during the session, urging Sports Forum participants and the community to provide their feedback by 15 May to an email especially created for this purpose welfare@fei.org.

This will be used as part of developing a detailed action plan to be presented at this year’s FEI General Assembly.

Link to FEI Sports Forum Hub