The 2018 General Assembly of the International Jumping Riders Club (IJRC) concluded last Saturday in Geneva. 

IJRC president Kevin Staut thanked all those present for attending, including IJRC members, the FEI representatives, FEI Secretary General Sabrina Ibáñez, Chef d’Equipes, horse owners and journalists, before detailing the IJRC’s initiatives over the past year.

Staut informed that in order to bring out the voice and the point of view of the riders, the IJRC has attended the FEI Sport Forum, the FEI General Assembly, the Longines Ranking Working Group meetings, the European Equestrian Federation’s board meetings as well as General Assembly during 2018. 

Staut went on to underline the positive co-operation between the IJRC and the FEI Jumping Committee and FEI Legal Department, adding that in the future the IJRC hopes to improve co-operation with the FEI and create more contact with National Federations.

The FEI Online Invitation System 

During the IJRC General Assembly a presentation was given by Victoria Rydborn and Jérôme Begey from the FEI IT Department in regards to the FEI Online Invitation System. They reviewed the two pilot phases that have taken place in 2018 and presented the proposed changes for the future.

They underlined that the system would become an athlete active process and should give all athletes and National Federations a time frame which is long enough to choose and set priorities for the events they wish to be invited to. At a given time, invitations would be attributed to athletes based on their wishes, priorities, position in the FEI Longines Rankings and the quotas of the events.

The new workflows will be developed and validated during 2019 to be implemented in 2020.

Ranking rules

FEI Jumping Director John Roche talked about the next point on the agenda: The new additions to the Longines Ranking rules. Roche informed that a minimum amount of fixed prize money for CSI 3*, 4* and 5* Grand Prix classes will be introduced in 2019: 175.000 CHF for a 5* Grand Prix (Group A), 112.500 CHF for a 4* Grand Prix (Group B) and 60.000 CHF for a 3* Grand Prix (Group C). Furthermore, Roche informed that there can only be one competition in Point Group AA per event counting for ranking points. Roche also informed that new ranking rules for young riders and U25 riders also will be introduced in 2019, from 1.45m level and upwards at certain events. 

All the 2019-rules for the Longines Ranking can be found on the FEI website in a marked-up version. Click here to view the changes. 

Changes in the FEI Jumping Rules

Following Roche, Stephan Ellenbruch – Chair of the FEI Jumping Committee – talked about some of the latest changes in the FEI Jumping Rules. Medical check-up following falls in the ring and the warm-up, Grand Prix qualification, as well as use of hind boots, nose bands, blinkers, fly masks, sheepskin, martingale stoppers, bits and draw-reins were some of the topics Ellenbruch addressed. 

All the 2019 Jumping Rules can be found on the FEI website in a marked-up version. Click here to view the changes. For the FEI Stewards Manual Jumping, click here. 

Contamination

Next on the agenda was contamination. Anna Thorstenson from the FEI Legal Department explained that there are different kinds of contamination. Most derive from natural feed, the environment, supplements as well as human medicine. Some banned substances can remain in the horse’s body for many months.

Thorstenson underlined the riders’ responsibility, and suggested they should keep themselves informed, educate their grooms and actively support the team working with their horses to be especially careful as the rider is held responsible if not able to prove his or her innocence. The establishment of responsibility leads to suspension of all related activities for a period from six months to two years, with all the related consequences.

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Finally, given the importance of topics on the agenda, the need for active and constant collaboration between all stakeholders and the IJRC (representing the riders’ voices), came up once again – loud and clear.