The Singing Frog Chronicles

June, 2007

Dear Friends,

Time really does seem to flash by! I can’t believe it is almost two months since the General Assembly. There certainly is a lot going on this summer.

The 2007 General Assembly

As always, Group IV was well represented at the General Assembly and enjoyed getting together again. It was quite an historic occasion with the new Statutes and Internal Regulations being ratified by the Assembly. These were the work of many volunteer and staff hours and, in my opinion, usher in a new era of openness within the FEI. The full details can be found on the FEI website along with the minutes from the Bureau meetings. I advise you to take time to read them. Doing so will help all of keep up with the changes in our wonderful sport. In addition, the proposed changes to the Jumping rules passed after much discussion. The new strong limitations on the use of “pay cards” by organizers should prove helpful to our riders when they apply to compete in jumping shows in Europe.

What has become our traditional Group dinner during the General Assembly was made more interesting by the sudden loss of power in the hotel as we were all getting ready to meet “in the bar” before eating. It will not surprise you that the majority of our members braved dark  halls and darker staircases to assemble as planned where fortunately the bar remained open and a fine time was had by all. He lights came back in time for the kitchen to reopen so we even got to eat!

I wish everyone could have been there with us. We missed those who could not make it.

FEI Jumping Challenge Final

Plans are well under way for the USEF and the Devon Horse Show to host this competition in 2008. Devon is located in the suburbs of Philadelphia, Pa. The dates next year will be June 3 and 4. The Devon Horse Show is one of my favorite shows and so it is a real pleasure to work with the management and the volunteer committee we have formed to make the event a great success. More details to follow.

The Pan Am Games

You are all, I know, aware of the many issues surrounding these Games. Many thanks to Mike Gallagher and Jim Wolf for keeping us up to date. There should be more information forthcoming this month. I know several of our federations, in addition to Canada and the USA are planning to send riders. I’d be interested to know the status of your plans to date. I’m hoping to see you there.

Upcoming Executive Board meeting.

Later this month I will be traveling to Lausanne for our next Executive Board meeting scheduled for 26 & 27 June. Please let me know if there are any issues you wish me to raise with the Board or FEI Headquarters while I am there.

The following are the reports received from member federations for this newsletter. Thanks to all who sent them. I know we all enjoy reading about the doings within the Group. Also below you will find the minutes from our meeting in Estoril. Many thanks to Mike Gallagher for doing the dreaded duty!

Antigua Report – FEI General Assembly, Estoril, Portugal 12 -16 April 2007

2006 - A year in review.

The many press releases and newspaper articles on equestrian events in 2006 have not only helped raise the awareness of the sport in Antigua & Barbuda, but are an enormous source of reference for reporting on a year that has gone by so quickly!

The year 2006 started out with two months of solid rain. Nevertheless a series of Dressage training Clinics were held where ever possible to prepare for the FEI WDC. These clinics were very well attended and showed the young riders’ strong determination to make the best of it.

A small fundraiser ‘Western Night’ helped raise funds and generated PR for the National Federation in February at the Spring Hill Riding Club. Persons were able to watch a quadrille, belly dancing, fire jumping, line dancing along with other fun games and a BBQ. Even though the event was successful advertisement, the committee decided to peruse other means of fundraising in the future.

A National Dressage Challenge was held at the Spring Hill Riding Club in the beginning of March, after which Antigua had the privilege of receiving FEI Clinician Denis Soyer, who trained the Antiguan riders for a week in preparation for the WDC. The riders were all very glad that they were able to get the time with Denis before the Challenge.

The first day of April was all about Dressage as Antigua & Barbuda held its leg of the FEI World Dressage Challenge. Some major issues were ironed out during and following the event.

Antigua was exceptionally pleased to be able to have a Team due to its first FEI Advanced class entry in the WDC. Antigua placed 5^th overall.

After having devoted the first quarter of the year to dressage events the riders were looking forward to the start of the jumping season, which started with the first clinics and trials for the CEA Jr. Jumping Challenge in Bermuda. Antigua placed second overall in Bermuda. Returning home proved to be more than hair-raising for the Team as their airplane had to turn back to San Juan after an engine caught fire.

Once safely home again, preparation for Antigua leg of the CEA Jr. Jumping Challenge began. Funding for the preparation of the arena did not go far, due to great expenses that occurred trying to salvage what was left of the arena after the major flooding at the beginning of the year.  Costly culverts had to be put in place to provide access to the arena itself.

In June the National Federation and its members joined the other member associations of the NOC for the Olympic Day Run through the capital of St. John’s. At the end we won the prize for having the oldest person take part in the event!!

1^st and 2^nd July Antigua hosted its leg of the CEA Jr. Jumping Challenge. We were privileged to have Kate Jackson visit and to have Trina Delisser from Jamaica as our judge for the show. The show did not run as smoothly as we had planned. Arena, Equipment and courses were some of the few things needing improvement. Some special highlights were that Rivendel Farms trailered in one of their horses to lend it for the event and the showing of two green horses, one from Rivendel and one from Spring Hill, in their first months of retraining. A very special highlight and boost for moral was for Antigua to place first overall in the competition.

Summer Break resumed and two members of the ABHS were off to Germany to support Antiguan Emily Ward riding Vallon at the FEI 2006 World Equestrian Games.  Emily had the misfortune of having to enter through the thundering applause given to Isabell Werth which proved too much for Vallon’s nerves, but they pushed on and successfully completed and came in 70^th of 84.

Emily is proud recipient of Olympic Solidarity Funding as of 2006 until 2008 thanks to the kind help of Jacqueline Brassaint.

At home again, the Season started up with the visit of FEI Clinician Susanne Macken who helped us revise our Team Selection Trial Format. She held clinics at both Riding Clubs. When she left, the riders were once again inspired and enthusiastic about their training.

Shortly after, in October the Team selection for the CEA Jr. Jumping Challenge in Jamaica was held at Rivendel Farms, for the first time at this venue. In Jamaica the Antigua Team tied for second place with host country Jamaica. Antiguan Rider Jessica Kirchner placed first in the overall individual score. Antigua was able to move up in the years overall ranks and came in fourth through out the region.

The ABHS President attended the CEA Annual General Meeting during this event and was very kindly accommodated by friends of the Jamaican Federation.

In December Antigua President and Secretary attended the FEI Regional Meeting in Barbados. They were generously taken care of by the Barbados Equestrian Federation and the Elliot Family.

Barbados Equestrian Association Report

President; Mr James Elliot

Firstly, I would like to give my apologies for not being able to attend this year’s General Assembly but I am happy that once again Barbados has been able to send a representative. I wish you all fruitful meetings and friendship through our sport.

Since the Group meeting last November, hosted in Barbados, we have been working hard on several projects.

With the continuing view of our goals of international competition and education high on our priority list, we were able, with the assistance of the FEI, to send two of our vets to Geneva, Switzerland to experience first hand international competition from a veterinary standpoint. This has already paid dividends of deeper understanding of the requirements to be met regarding vaccinations etc for horses travelling with the added bonus of our Association being able to have closer ties with these vets. As they are now certified FEI Vets, as such could work in the region if the need arises.

At the end of February we competed in the FEI World Dressage Challenge and were once again very pleased that our team succeeded in placing first with some very good scores at all levels. We would like to see more children and novice riders competing and progressing but we find the gap from the children’s test to the novice test especially for riding school horses is too great. The advanced test is another leap again and not easy for the average riding school horse. We are encouraged however by the numbers of riders investing in their own horses and on the whole these are the ones succeeding. We look forward to seeing the promised new tests and hope they are more progressive. We are grateful to the FEI and our visiting judges for the rescheduling of the competition in the Caribbean for this year.

At the beginning of May we will take part in the FEI World Jumping Challenge. We still find this is a real “challenge” of a competition to put on with its technical requirements in terms of layout and equipment, also our lack of an all weather arena so we are at the mercy of the weather for so few of our riders and horses able to successfully compete at the levels required. However, for those riders who are able, it is the apex of the show jumping year and we persist in trying to accommodate these riders to encourage others.

Two of our young riders have been given the opportunity to travel to Belgium as working students for several months to a jumping yard which includes the opportunity of competition. For our young riders this is a wonderful opportunity and “eye-opener” and we are grateful for all the assistance received in local corporate sponsorship to make this happen.

The competition year for the CEA Junior jumping is now starting and we look forward to the continued success of this competition in the Caribbean. Our juniors really look forward to this competition and representing their country and the trials for the picking of teams are hotly contested!

On the International scene, our riders would love to compete in the Pan Ams this year in Brazil in dressage. There has been great debate about shipping our horses from Barbados but the veterinary and transport problems still exist to such a degree that the decision had been taken that it is not possible. We have had such great encouragement from the Barbados Olympic Association that we have investigated the leasing of horses but with a shortage of time and money for preparation and training we have reluctantly come to the conclusion that we could not show to our full potential which may harm future efforts. The BEA is still recovering financially from the CAC Games in Columbia and it is time to take a different approach to succeed.

We will now look ahead and make a concerted effort towards the next quadrennial. I.e. CAC Puerto Rico 2010 and Pan Ams Mexico.  This will include actively seeking avenues for support for consistent training both on the Island and abroad. Also the opportunity for more competition experience.

However, we will hopefully be sending one show jumper who is based in Germany to the Pan Ams and in Australia our lone dressage rider has been invited to the Sydney CDI.

Coaching – Before the advent of the FEI coach’s courses started in 2005 we were very happy to receive assistance at least once per year of a visiting top trainer of a specific discipline. After the FEI level 1 coaches courses started in the region there has been none in spite of requests. This has left our emerging international dressage riders without assistance. When funds permit we do try to bring in coaches occasionally but this is unsustainable in the long term and does not give the consistency in training we need. We are very grateful for the FEI coach’s courses and understand the concept which is bound to broaden the basics and knowledge of the sport but it will take several years to move from the broad aspect of the courses in a region and in the meantime there is absolutely no assistance on a specific discipline at the higher levels. This level of knowledge is unavailable in the region. We cannot be competitive and move forward into the international arena without some sort of assistance for these athletes.

In the meantime we look forward to participating in a FEI Coaches course level 2 and hope there will be one in our region soon.

REPORT FROM BERMUDA FOR GROUP IV MEETING

AT FEI GENERAL ASSEMBLY APRIL 2007

We had a very busy season since our last report, and are looking forward to our final major show of the season next weekend.  This is our Annual 3 Day Agricultural Exhibition in which equestrian classes form a major part of the Show and the BEF is responsible for these events.

There was activity at the National Equestrian Centre almost every weekend especially during the Harness Pony Racing season which ended in February.

We held a successful FEI Dressage Challenge in February although our numbers of riders were down as well as some of their scores.  We had an added Challenge when we had to change the location of the event to the Botanical Gardens due to a clash with the final of the Pony Racing season.  The new FEI coordinator for the challenges was very helpful, and we found the judges this year to be very understanding.  Their attitudes certainly made for a better competition (even though they were not very generous with their marking).  Congratulations to all of those countries who managed to beat us!

Another Challenge was the FEI Jumping competition which we held in March, in both A and B categories.  We were again very critical of the Category B which we feel should be a national level category C, with B and A as before, especially as we are now required to bring in an overseas FEI judge, which can be an expensive proposition without FEI support.  Also when will the FEI listen to our numerous requests to make the courses with less changes.  With all due respect to Stephan Wirth he operates at a far higher level than is needed for the Challenge, as most participating countries have very little in the way of suitable physical help.

We have another challenge on our hands as we now have three riders and horses who have qualified for the Pan Am Games, 2 show jumpers and 1 dressage rider and they are all based in Europe.  Very exciting times (but expensive).

We have also managed to acquire the services of Olaf Petersen in an effort to improve our Show Jumping Capabilities.

Looking ahead it is very unlikely that we will be holding the FEI Level Two coaches course in Bermuda this year for a variety of reasons to be discussed within a different forum.

We are very pleased to be present again at a Group IV meeting and look forward to the next, whenever it may be.

Report to FEI Group IV from Trinidad and Tobago

Since we last met the following events have taken place at our NF:

- In early January we had a jumping clinic with Mr. Jorge Versyvel of Columbia. We were, as usual, very pleased with Mr. Versyvel and his clinic.

- We held a practice dressage competition in preperation for the FEI WDC which was judged by Mrs. Muffy Auerbach.

- We were very pleased with the results from the FEI WDC and are particuarily pleased with our children's results as they increased by 7%. This event allowed Mrs. Patrice Stollmeyer to qualify for the Pan-Am Games as she achieved over 60% in both this event and the CEA Dressage Challenge last October.

- We finished a clinic with Mr. Dennis Soyer last week. Mr. Soyer was sent by the FEI for both jumping and dressage in order to improve our overall riding. We are very thankful to the FEI for this show of support in our continued development. The clinic was very well recieved and proved to be extremely helpful.

- As of now the status of the facilities at the Arima Race Track remain unchanged.

Group IV Meeting Minutes

April 13, 2007, Estoril, Portugal

In attendance

Kate Jackson – Chair

Alison Elliot– Barbados

Michael Cherry – Bermuda

Paul Pereech - Bermuda

Al Patterson – Canada

Mike Gallagher – Canada

General Aceduis Saint-Louis– Haiti

Anthony Pasmore  –Jamaica

John Long – USA

Jim Wolf – USA

David O’Connor – USA

Regina Fitzner - US Virgin Islands

Invited Guests

Sven Holmberg, Chair Jumping Committee

Jaqueline Braissant,  FEI Development Director

Kate Jackson called the meeting to order at 9:05 am

1. New Statutes and Internal Regulations – general acceptance from the Group that the new Statutes and Internal Regulations were a major step forward for the FEI. Highlights include the creation of an Athlete Committee and a Nomination Committeee, which will now seek qualified candidates for the positions that become available.

Each Group has been asked to name a Deputy Chair and Michael Cherry will be the Deputy Chair for Group IV.

2. Election Group Representative to Nomination Committee – John Long (USA) was the only nomination from the Group and was ratified as our representative.

3. Challenge Issues – Kate announced that the Devon Horse Show, Devon, PA, USA has agreed to offer the Jumper World Challenge Final – this news was very well received by the group. At this time we still do not have a Dressage Challenge Championship – main issue is the number of qualified horses required.

Significant discussion on Category B and trotting poles. Some competitors avoiding this level and going straight to Category A when they should not be. Concern expressed that some sponsors are not interested in Category B as they do not see it as a Jumping class, but as a Coaching session. Suggestions offered included make Category B a regular Jumping class and create a category C that included trotting poles, or make Category B a regular Jumping Class but encourage a ‘National’ class to be offered at the same show that includes trotting poles. Also consider imposing time faults on speeds that are too fast as is done in lower level Eventing Cross country. There is consideration for lowering the minimum size of the arenas for Jumping to allow more countries to offer the challenge.

There will not be a Level 2 Coaching session offered in Group IV this year. There are courses being offered in Peru, Uruguay, Colombia and Venezuela.

4. Pan Am Games – Jim Wolf reported concerns that he had to the group. CoRio has not appointed a customs broker to clear the horses, which is clearly an OC responsibility. The requirement for EVA testing does not make any sense. We are being offered “P” accreditation for reserve riders, which means they will not have access to their horses once the competition begins. Not sure what will happen to grooms and owners of reserve horses. The footing in the main show ring sounds good on paper, but it has not yet been installed and looks like it will not be tested until the competition day. The cross-country course is not built and the footing has recently had grass planted and there is concern if it will be ready. If the grass does grow, there is concern that it will not have an established root system and therefore not be appropriate for a three star competition. The 30 day residency requirement is creating a nearly impossible situation for all nations that would like to ship via Miami with the American Team. These concerns are to be brought forward to the PAEC Meeting as well as to the Bureau.

Jim also reported issues/concerns regarding Hong Kong. Accreditation for reserve riders is also an issue in Hong Kong. Accreditation levels need to be increased due to the fact that Equestrian will not have their normal NOC support levels available to them as they will be in Beijing. There are questions about transportation between Hong Kong and Beijing as well as local transportation. We have asked if we can purchase a single room supplement without success. Also questions about daily mail bags between Hong Kong and Beijing. Horse freight being paid for but what is the cost of cargo freight? Will the Royal Park Hotel have an Olympic “flavor”? Suggest a debrief occur in Hong Kong the day after the test event this August. These concerns are to be brought forward to the Bureau.

5. Jumping Pay Cards – The Jumping Committee has a proposal coming before the General Assembly to require that 70% of the entries in European CSI 5 * competitions must come from the ranking list, a minimum of 10 nations participating with 2 riders each. The remaining 30% of the entries will come from the host country and/or through pay cards or invitations of the organizer. It was clarified that an FEI Wild Card system also exists and is a way for smaller nations to compete at shows in Europe.

Group IV agreed to support this motion and to bring their support forward to the Bureau along with a request to review the ranking system and for Dressage to consider adopting similar measures re pay cards.

5. NF Reports – reports were summarized due to the pressure of time.

6. Review of Action Items from previous meeting – no action

7. Next meeting – date and location – Canada has invited Group IV to Toronto during the Royal Winter Fair. Canada will cover the cost of Hotel for one representative from each country, as well as meeting room costs, a Group dinner and a Group reception. Royal Winter Fair tickets will also be provided. The tentative plan is for 2 days of meetings as well as one day visiting breeding operations to look at Canadian bred horses. There is a possibility that the horse-marketing arm of Canadian Agriculture may assist with a portion of flight costs. (to be confirmed). Al Patterson is planning to invite Princess Haya to our meeting as well.

8. Summation of points for meeting with the Bureau

1. Pan American Games – Group IV has significant concerns about shipping and import requirements, accreditation levels for reserve athletes and their grooms and owners, as well as the footing for the competition venues which is not yet installed.

2. Beijing/Hong Kong – Group IV concerns include accreditation for reserve athletes, cargo freight costs, double occupancy for athletes and the ability to purchase single occupancy, transportation between Hong Kong and Beijing as well as local transportation.

3. Pay Cards – Group IV applauds and supports the Jumping Committee proposal. We also suggest that Jumping review the methods used in ranking to make them more accurately reflect the quality and the size of the competition. We also encourage other Disciplines such as Dressage to consider similar proposals (Dressage does not think they have a problem and we have been invited to let them know that they do have an issue)

4. Development – Group IV applauds the Development initiatives but is concerned that current development programs may be “stalled” while an overall plan is implemented. We do not want the global development plan to slow down programs that are currently operating.

Meeting adjourned at 1:15 pm.