The saddest news this month was, of course, the bushfire emergency in Victoria, which is still continuing. Our hearts go out to all those affected, particularly those who lost family members and friends in the fires. It is also sad to hear about the enormous losses in livestock and other animals, including horses.

The various governments and many charitable and volunteer organisations have made a great effort to assist all those in need, and they are to be congratulated. The response from the public has been tremendous. Let's hope it does not wane in the near future and the work to re-build and re-establish a level of normality will take a long, long time.

We must not forget all those that were affected by flooding in Queensland and other parts of Australia, but is obvious that the fires had the most devastating impact.

Branding

Last month, we published the new Equestrian Australia 'brand'. The response has been very positive although one or two people had difficulty spotting the horse head inside the outline. You can read about the design history and philosophy of the new 'brand' and learn how it has been applied to States and Territories and the various EA sports/disciplines. You can also download a 'style guide' that explains how the logo can be used.

I have found it amazing, however, that a couple of people called requesting high resolution files so that they could modify the logo for their own purposes. They obviously do not understand that this would defeat the whole purpose of the exercise, which is to have consistent application of the design and its design principles across the sport so that the 'brand' is recognised as 'Equestrian' wherever it is seen.

Strategic Planning

This weekend, the National Board meets to review the direction of the sport and put overarching plans into place for the next four years. The outcome of last year's National Forum, input from National Sport Committees and High Performance Panels and other background information will add to the considerations.

Wayne Roycroft, Brett Mace and I attended a High Performance Forum earlier this month. This was organised by the AOC and APC for National Sporting Organisations in the Olympic and Paralympic Program to develop a proposal to Government for increased funding. The aim is to maintain Australia's position in the top five Olympic medal nations. A number of key areas were identified.

A submission will go to the Federal Government before the May budget with the aim of obtaining an additional $100 million per annum for High Performance sport in Australia. While this amount sounds extraordinary, it is still significantly smaller than what competitor nations spend. In any case, the sports industry does make a significant contribution to the Australian economy and the additional funding would stimulate the economy, something that the Government is currently trying to do.

Volunteers are still the key

Much of our past and current success can be attributed to the invaluable contribution that volunteers have made, not only to High Performance Sport, but to sport at all levels, from club management and competition right through to Olympic Team leadership. This has allowed Australia to ‘punch above its weight’ on the international stage. While we hope that this contribution from our volunteers will continue in the future, there is no doubt that the increased professionalism of sport is placing greater demands on them.

Overseas Events

A number of our overseas-based riders have had success recently. We have published news reports on most of these (see links at the end of this e-news) but would like to mention a number of them:

• Boyd Exell became Rolex FEI World Cup Driving Champion for the first time.
• Edwina Alexander has had a string of successes at various high-level shows in Europe and is in the top ranks of the European World Cup League.
• In the USA, Harley Brown is leading the West Coast League and 'newcomer' Ben Meredith (son of Margo) is doing well in Florida.
• Hayley Beresford is back in form and had some remarkable results in Neumuenster (Germany) recently, both at Prix St. Georges and at Grand Prix level.

As a result of these and other performances a number of riders are preparing to go to the Rolex FEI World Cup Finals for Dressage and Jumping in Las Vegas, including Australian Dressage League winner Heath Ryan. And talking about Dressage, I am pleased to advise that almost 70 clubs are either using or trialling Keith Smith's Dressage scoring software that we made available last month.

2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games

We are getting more and more information about and requests from Alltech FEI 2010 World Equestrian Games organisers about the event, which now is only 18 months away.

We are also working on the selection policies for these Games. When finalised, they will be sent to the 'athletes' and other parties in April. Rider briefings will take place at the 'Weekend of World Cups" 02-03 May and the Sydney CDI*** the following week.

Event Organisers' Seminar

Talking about events, following an initiative by Sale World Cup organiser Anne Garner, World Cup Committee Chairman Peter Cooke and Anne put on a very successful seminar for equestrian event organisers. Established show director Craig Collins from Canada enlightened participants on how to put together a successful event and opened their minds to different ways of thinking. Well done, Anne and Peter!

Para-Equestrian

Planning for 2010 WEG and beyond can now also start for Para-Equestrian, since the first P-E High Performance Panel has now been formed. The Panel will build on the approach used in the Olympic Disciplines, quite a change from previous practice.

Coaching & Officiating

Natrional Education Manager Nathan Holman reports:

NCAS Committee

The new 'skills-based' (rather than branch-representative) NCAS Committee met for the first time at the EA National Office Board room 25-26 February 2009.

As this was the first meeting of the new committee, the members had to elect a chair and draw ballets for either a one- or two-year term.

Congratulations to Kerry Smith, who was elected as Chair of the committee for 2 years. Dwight Pedlow and Simon Kale both drew one-year and Hunter Doughty and Judy Peel two-year terms.

FEI Lists

The FEI recently advised all National Federations of their list of 2009 FEI Eventing Judges, Technical Delegates and Course Designers.

EA is proud to recognise that the following Australian officials have been promoted to the FEI Eventing Officials List:

• Norman Hindmarsh – FEI Candidate Technical Delegate
• Joanne James – FEI Candidate Technical Delegate
• Lee Norris – FEI Candidate Technical Delegate
• Stuart Buntine – FEI Candidate Course Designer
• Sylvia Roberts – FEI Candidate Course Designer 

All of the above, with the exception of Stuart Buntine, who is based in the UK, were involved in the FEI Eventing Course at the Melbourne International Three-Day Event in June 2008.
These officials now join a growing list of over 40 Australians on the FEI Eventing Officials list.

German Federation visitor in the National Office

The National Office presently has the help of Caroline Saur, who is here on a six-week work experience assignment from the German FN. We are not quite sure what Caroline is going to learn from us but we find it very useful to find out more about how things are done in Europe.

Caroline has been working in the FN's Events Department, which assists and 'guides' organisers of national-level and international shows. Among other projects, Caroline will assist the OC of the HSBC FEI World Cup Eventing qualifier ('Weekend of World Cups') in the preparation of their event, which will take place in Sydney on the first weekend in May.

Talking about staff members of the National Office, our best wishes and congratulation to HP Sport Consultant Mandy King, who is getting married this weekend and will be on her honeymoon for the next two weeks. Hip hip, hooray!