Great Britain was awarded the trophy, presented to British Equestrian Federation (BEF) Chairman Keith Taylor, for the most successful nation in 2007 International Championships at the recent FEI General Assembly in Buenos Aires. The award was presented at a gala dinner, concluding the 2008 event which also saw British success in elections, individual awards and championship bids.
“I am delighted that the British Equestrian Federation was recognised on numerous occasions throughout the General Assembly, not least with this final award,” said Chief Executive of the BEF Andrew Finding. “We continue to prove that we are at the forefront of our sport, making an impact on vital issues, we are recognised as an influential nation within the equestrian world. We continue to be extremely grateful for the generous funding British Equestrian sport receives from UK Sport via the Lottery and hope that we can continue to reap the rewards.”
At the General Assembly the FEI looks back to the previous completed season, which in this case is 2007. Britain headed the championship table with 17 gold medals, more than any other nation from the 134 in membership of the FEI. Germany took second with 15 medals, the USA third with 10, The Netherlands fourth with eight and Greece fifth with seven championship titles.
British individuals Harvey Smith and Jenny Ellis were also honoured for their contribution to international equestrian sport. Ellis received the FEI best groom award and Smith was the recipient of the FEI special recognition for outstanding services award.
Ellis was selected by the Athletes Committee, which is chaired by Paralympian Lee Pearson, to be the Award's first ever winner. She was put forward for the title by international riders; John Whitaker, Richard Davison and Simon Laurens via their nominations for the 2007 Kuster BEF Groom Award, which she won in December last year.
Smith’s award, which was collected by BEF chairman Keith Taylor and will be formally presented at Olympia by David Broome, was to recognise the outstanding contribution that he has made to show jumping both at home and abroad.
During the Assembly Britain was also successful in its bid to retain a strong presence on the highly influential FEI Bureau. Former BEF Chairman Philip Billington won a contested election to take on the role of Chairman of the audit and compliance committee. He joins Lee Pearson, who as chairman of the athletes committee is now a voting member, and John McEwen who is currently chairman of the FEI veterinary committee. Britain has now achieved the maximum number of voting members on the Bureau, two, with Pearson and McEwen entitled to vote. Jane Goldsmith was also elected as a member of the para-equestrian committee.
“I am extremely pleased to have been elected,” said Billington, “and I am now looking forward to working with all the national federations and will do everything I can to justify the trust they have put in me by electing me to this role.”
Britain is committed to maintaining a reputation as an excellent host of major championships and has established a programme of bidding for international events across the disciplines and age groups. The BEF was delighted to receive the news that the bid for the FEI European Pony Championships for jumping, dressage and eventing in 2010 had been successful. These championships will take place at Bishop Burton College from 27 July to 1 August.
The bid for the 2011 European eventing championships to return to Blenheim Palace was unsuccessful despite an excellent bid, being awarded instead to Luhmuhlen in Germany. However, there is still an exciting level of British Championships moving towards London 2012 and the BEF will continue to work on the programme of events beyond the current Olympiad.
Away from awards, elections and championship bids the BEF also made a strong contribution to many other items on the agenda and continues to be one of the leading and most respected nations at the FEI.
In particular the BEF presented two papers on developing a drug free sport, both of which were well received and added value to those provided by the Italian and German federations. On the recommendations of these papers, groups one and two have agreed to establish a working party to consider the issues. This will complement the work of the FEI Anti-doping and medication commission and the world anti-doping agency with the overall aim of achieving immediate results to assure the welfare of the horse in equestrian sport.
In addition the groups also decided to test all horses placed in the first three places in all FEI Rolex ranking point classes. The working party will complete a report by the 31st March 2009.
“Overall it was a very successful General Assembly both for the sport and for Britain,” commented Andrew Finding. “We feel we have been able to protect the interests of our riders and also promote the best interests of our sport and to be recognised where we have excelled is very satisfying. We now look forward to working with the FEI as move forward into a new Olympiad.”
