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Posted by Christine Armishaw on 08/01/2019.
Opening Ceremony at the World Young Horse Championships in Mezoheyges, Hungary
Photo Courtesy of Andrea Webb

FEI Recognises Australian Official Talent

Andrea Webb, the only formally accredited Australian FEI Carriage Driving Steward, has now been officialy announced as a FEI Course Director for Carriage Driving too. She is the only official of either kind from Australia.

Since beginning stewarding in 2007 and gaining FEI accreditation in 2010, Andrea has also become an accredited steward for both Reining and Vaulting. In her Eventing roles she has acted as Chief Steward and Assistant Steward for many CIC and CCI events in New South Wales.  She has also been the Chief Steward for FEI Reining events held in Australia.

Andrea commenced stewarding at the first FEI Driving event held in Tamworth in 2015 and was given approval by the FEI to be the Chief Steward based on her Eventing experience.  She has also been the FEI Chief Steward at Driving events conducted at Adelaide (SA), Braidwood (NSW) and Greenvale (VIC).

Carriage Driving is conducted in three phases, very much like Eventing. It features Dressage, Marathon (cross country) and Cones (show jumping), so Andrea’s previous experience lends itself well to the sport.

With such a strong stewarding repertoire, Andrea has also stewarded internationally at Aachen (GER), Tattersalls (IRL), Richfields (NZL), Ocala Jockey Club (USA) and has been Chief Steward on two occasions at the Virginia Horse Trials (USA).

In March last year, Andrea attended a FEI Stewards course in Ocala to maintain her accreditation.  Shortly after that in May, she was successfully promoted by the FEI to a Level 3 Driving Steward.

It was after her promotion to a Level 3 steward that Andrea was approached by the FEI to be the Chief Steward at the World Young Horse Championships, held in Mezoheyges, Hungary.

Andrea Webb & the Stewarding team at Mezoheyges, Hungary

Andrea described this as “a wonderful opportunity which afforded me experiences and challenges I would not normally come across.”

Recently Andrea was again approached by the FEI, asking if she would be interested in being a Course Director for Driving Stewards.  After consulting her mentor, Andrea submitted her application and was approved.

“I am completely honoured that the FEI Driving Technical Committee has endorsed my application as a Course Director for the sport. It will certainly be a challenge and I am looking forward to the opportunities that it may bring in the coming year.  It will be exciting to assist other stewards and see their progression/introduction in the sport.”

In May this year, Andrea will be heading to the other side of the world to steward at Boyd Exell’s event in Valkenswaard – Netherlands. This entails a CAI3* World Cup Qualifier for teams of four horses and a CAI3* for pairs, which she is very much looking forward to. In the meantime, as you can imagine, her calendar for Eventing stewarding in NSW is fast filling up.

With Andrea’s experience as Equestrian NSW Project Manager for nearly six years, topped with being a recipient of the Australian Sports Commission – Women Leaders in Sport grant,  and Equestrian NSW Volunteer of the Year, we know the FEI has chosen well.

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