Equestrian Excellence
Oops!!!!!!! The last newsletter was put together rather in a hurry and sent from a slow fax line at Canberra airport (twice!). This time it is in the right format and to make sure I don't forget our sponsors and funding agencies, I mention them right now: Ridley Agriproducts and Kentucky Equine Research We also acknowledge the support that the EFA and the sport in general get from many other supporters, especially our many event sponsors.
2005 FEI Regional Dressage ForumWell, it's over, and what a great event it was. More than 240 Dressage enthusiasts from nine countries listened to and talked with a great line-up of presenters: FEI Dressage Committee Chair Mariette Withages (BEL), FEI Sports Director Michael Stone (IRL), Dressage Educator Angelika Frömming (GER), veterinarian Dr. Gerhard Heuschmann (GER) and International Dressage trainer and coach Jean Bemelmans (GER). FEI Dressage Manager Eva Salomon (SWE) also attended. The seminar took place right after the 2005 Australian Dressage Championships at the Sydney International Equestrian Centre (SIEC), which included an FEI Dressage Judges Clinic attended by judges from seven nations. The first day of the Forum consisted of presentations and discussions. Vet Gerd Heuschmann turned out to be one of the favourites and pleased the audience with an unscheduled second presentation. The 'theory' day was followed by 'practical' work with horses of all ages and levels of training in the Indoor arena of SIEC, still smartly decked out with continuous wall banners from the Championships. After some young horse and pony Dressage tests, Jean Bemelmans impressed with on-the-spot training that delivered immediate improvements in performance. I am sure you will be reading reports and comments in other publications. We are also going to write summaries of some of the sessions and hope to be able to reproduce a few presentations for downloading from this web. You can already see some photos. The audience really appreciated the world-class presenters who stimulated our thinking and whose comments will influence our approach to Dressage and the training of the Dressage horse. Special thanks go to the people who put the forum together: Debbie MacNicol, Siobhan Lapthorne, Belinda Dawkins, Toni Venhaus, Prue Spurrett, Suzy Hoevenaars and Jan Geary. Well done!
Victorian Young Jumping Rider qualifies for World FinalNiki Chapman has advised that 14-year-old Jumping rider Katherine Stewart from Pakenham (Vic.) has qualified to attend the FEI World Children's International Jumping Final held at the Hummingbird Nest Ranch, Simi Valley, California, USA 21 - 27 November 2005. Katherine earned her place at the final by winning the FEI Children's International Jumping qualifying competition that was held at the Australian Youth Showjumping Festival (Worrigee, Nowra) in September. In 2005 forty-nine qualifying competitions were held around the world. At each event, the exact same course is set with the same obstacles and dimensions. The results are then collected by the FEI and they compile the overall results. The top sixteen in the overall standings along with sixteen from the host national are invited to the final. Katherine was the only competitor at the Australian qualifying competition to incur no jumping faults in the four-round competition. In doing so she earned a place in the top sixteen. Well done, Katherine, and good luck at the Final. Special thanks to John Vallance for his assistance and hard work in running the qualifying competition that enables Australian Young Riders to be a part of this global competition.
October was busy, and November will not be much differentAfter a hot Sydney International Three-Day Event, a successful National Jumping Championships in Perth, an outstanding National Dressage Championships in Sydney and a challenging and stimulating FEI Regional Dressage Forum, it would really be good to slow down for a bit. November does not seem the right month for this. We will have the Melbourne Cup, which I would love to be able to attend one of these years, followed immediately by Equitana, which includes World Cup qualifiers for Dressage and Jumping, then the Adelaide International Horse Trials, Dressage and Jumping with the Stars in Melbourne, the EFA Annual General Meeting (plus Board meeting) and the Sport Australia Hall of Fame inductions. Most of these events are listed on our web calendar, and many others as well. On the subject of the National Board, you can find a summary of the business conducted at the last meeting on the National web. Also, Directors Alexi Kentish and Geoff Sinclair are completing their first term at the AGM but have both nominated for a second term (three years). There were no other nominations.
More web featuresWe are in the process of upgrading sections of our database record. Did you know that you can access many event results on our web? These are full results for Eventing but only grading point performances at this stage for Dressage and Jumping. Once our Branches have moved to the new web site (they control their own pages but often take on National web pages), the event calendar should 'populate' and access to results will become easier. The Victorian Branch is already in full swing and others are about to follow. You will be able to access Branch webs by adding the state abbreviation to www.equestrian.org.au, for example www.vic.equestrian.org.au for Victoria or www.sa.equestrian.org.au for South Australia, although some Branches wish to keep their current domain name for the time being.
EFA NCAS NewsBrad Paterson reports that the EFA National NCAS Committee met on Wednesday, 26 October, at the National Office in Sydney. The Committee had a busy agenda with over 16 items being submitted, some of which required significant input from all present. A highlight was the endorsement of a new and revamped EFA Level 1 course designed for instructors wishing to coach dressage and flatwork activities and skills. We expect to be able to release the new course candidate learning materials mid-November. Work has also progressed with the creation of Level 2 (Jumping/Dressage/Eventing) candidate learning resources. These are due for completion towards the end of November.
High PerformanceHigh Performance Manager Peter Horne attended a Chef de Mission Workshop for the 2006 World Equestrian Games at which delegation heads learned the latest developments in Aachen's preparation for the huge event. A delegation from the Beijing Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (BOCOG) and representatives of the Hong Kong Jockey Club including Australian architect Tim Court presented plans for the Equestrian events. An Equestrian competition manager, to be residing in Hong Kong, is to be appointed in the near future.
New FEI BulletinFEI-listed officials, FEI-level event organisers and, of course, FEI-level riders and drivers should check our (and the FEI) web on a regular basis for changes to rules and procedures. The FEI Bulletin is the official organ of the FEI, and the latest version brings you up-to-date with a number of changes to rules and the publication of qualification criteria.
Equine Anti-Doping and Medication ControlThe FEI is presently reviewing its equine anti-doping and medication control system and has published DRAFT rules and DRAFT revised veterinary regulations. The FEI has asked National Federations to submit their comments before 30 November 2005 so that the rules and regulations can be finalised in December and become effective from 01 January 2006.
National EFA NewsAnd finally, we are in the process of making arrangements with Horse Deals to publish up to four pages of EFA news on a monthly basis. We hope that the first issue will 'hit the streets' in early 2006, after we have found and appointed an 'editor' to put this news together.
Make it a good day!
Franz Venhaus | ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
| ||
