This last week the FEI rulebook has been making negative rounds on social media. So as a good little warrior for believing that the majority of the FEI actually cares for what becomes of our sport and where it’s headed, let’s talk about it a bit  more.

My rant is only my opinion on the matter. I have been a FEI Level 1 dressage steward for 7 years and I was planning on getting my Level 2 promotion last year, but ultimately decided that it was not really something I would want to do at this stage of my life, so I quit. I have been to in person refresher courses and we are obliged to take a yearly online test to see if we are well aware of our rules and regulations. To take that test, you are allowed to use the rulebook, stewards manual, general regulations, veterinary regulations and all of the materials you can find on the FEI documents. Which is fair, considering the length and technicality of those materials. You are timed on your test, you have to pay attention to how the wording of the question looks and if there is a possibility for numerous correct answers. That is why I believe myself to be a least bit knowlageable on these matters.

This brings me to the breaking down of the rulebook – I love it. In my opinion it makes it far easier for the officials to navigate and it has not been made harder to find for us. As you can imagine, in this day and age, we don’t take the printed out rulebook with us to the arenas – it is far easier to use the online versions of it. And as a steward, I really don’t need to see how the movements are marked – because well, I am not the one marking them. When I am working at the competition I almost never get to see the actual competition part myself – the horse comes to the warm up, where I watch them and then I send them off to the arena and when they come back I check the horses bit, hood, sides, tail and give a quick glance over the whole of their body to see if there’s any blood. And we check the riders spurs for length (children and pony classes)and if they have rowels we have to make sure that those are rotating correctly and are not sharp. So having things separated like this, makes it far easier for the officials to get to the part that they actually need to get to. And it’s not just the officials – the participants also. If an official points out something to you, it is actually good for you to know if they are telling the truth. Rules change every year, so it is easy for an official to mix something up and tell you to change some piece of tack, when in reality there’s no standing rule to make you do so. 

So the fact of the matter is that the Dressage rulebook is not the only document the dressage official is supposed to be familiar with – nothing is less visible. The judge doesn’t need to use the part of the rulebook where it states who is eligible to start in what class, because that job has already been done by the event organizers. Making the judging guidelines easily accessible is a good thing. And the fact that they are called guidelines… well, but that is what they are. Until we have human judges with their different life experiences, views on what an ideal ride is and even with the different angles around the arena, we will get different marks for the same ride. Am I saying that all of the FEI judges around the world are working as honestly and unbiased as the dressage public would like them to? No, but I strongly believe that most of them aspire to. I also know that to become an upper level judge takes years of educating and working on shows, it does not happen overnight. If someone still believes it is an easy job – enroll in your national judging program and start the journey to become an international one – that way you will see how hard it actually is and the world will get a good judge as a bonus. Go after the FEI from the inside and actually make a change!

But no, the FEI is not proposing that rollkur is ok now. If you go through the guides for the judges, you will see that the horse being constantly behind the vertical is actually supposed to be penalized and not only in the movement but also in the submission category. 

Also, if you are not an official, there are things you can do if you see something happening that is not supposed to be going on. FEI General Regulations (a document that governs over all of the disciplines of FEI) states that:

Article 142.2. Any person witnessing an Abuse must report it in the form of a Protest (Article 161) without delay. If an Abuse is witnessed during or in direct connection with an Event, it should be reported as a Protest (Article 161) to an Official. If the Abuse is witnessed at any other time it should be reported as a Protest (Article 161) to the Secretary General who, following a review of the Protest, shall take a Decision as to whether or not to refer the matter to the FEI Tribunal. 

And!

16.1.8. No deposit is required for Protests claiming Horse Abuse of any nature.

What this means is that if you see anything that looks like abuse of a horse to you, film it and send it to FEI – even if it is something not going on in an FEI competition. Even if it is happening in a national competition or at home for a national level competitor. FEI is regulating most of the national federations also and I doubt that the national federation would let it slide if the FEI says they have to act. And it has to happen immediately, not days or months later. If it’s at a competition, it’s always better to lodge the complaint when the event is still ongoing. 

Lets not spread misinformation, just because the thumbnail looks good. Our social license is expiring real quick and we are the ones expiring it. We must be our horse’s advocates at all times, but we must also see to it that we do not spread lies. And we must work toward getting the state of our sport to the present, because while we do villanaise it a lot (and there sadly still is a lot to villanaise) the industry behind it brings a lot of good into our horses lives also. And while I agree that for the horse some land to move, companions and good food is the only thing they really need, the reality of our world is that for people to keep them they need a purpose. For some the purpose is just companionship, for others it’s the sport. Neither is better or worse, if done so that the horse remains as happy and healthy as possible.