The IDRC finally published the report of their general assembly held at the 2007 Global Dressage Forum on October 29, 2007. The report states the following:
The President welcomed the participants and due to the late arrival of some members, initiated a discussion about the proposed FEI Top Ten competition. The IDRC representative on the FEI Dressage Committee, Monica Theoderescu, had been advised by the Dressage Director, Eva Salomon, that she was in discussion with a sponsor about a concept for the Top Ten competition and the World Dressage Riders Ranking List (WDRL). The members were clear that the FEI was not authorised to act on their behalf and that they wanted to be involved in the negotiation and decision-making processes. A letter would accordingly be forwarded by the IDRC to HRH Princess Haya, (President of the FEI), Mr Troendle (FEI Marketing Director), Mrs Eva Salomon (Dressage Director), Mr Sven Holmberg (FEI Executive Board member) and Mr Alex McLin (FEI Acting Secretary General).
The following points were raised by members with respect to the Top Ten event (TT):
* As 2008 is an Olympic Games year, the TT should be organised during an existing 4* or 5* CDI or a CDIO or not scheduled at all to avoid conflict with selection trials and the general build-up to the Olympic Games.
* In other years, the TT could be a separate event or part of an existing 4* or 5* CDI or a CDIO.
* Early indoor season preferred – any earlier would mean that the event may overlap with national selection trials.
* It was proposed that the Top Ten event could be the Grand Prix + GP Special. The World Cup series already uses the Grand Prix + GP Freestyle formula and it was thought that the GP Special could be a differentiator.
* Consideration should be given to whether or not the competition should always be held at the same venue (this would also depend on the sponsor’s preference).
* The amount of prize money needed to make the competition attractive to riders should be in the region of 150.000€.
* Ranking list points should be awarded.
* Entry fee, stabling, meals, grooms, travelling and hotel should be free.
* It was also possible to limit the riders to the TOP FIVE.
The President then proceeded to deal with the items on the agenda as follows:
1. ADDRESS BY THE PRESIDENT
Imke Schelleken-Bartels NED would join the Board of the IDRC with immediate effect. Ann-Kathrin Linsenhoff had resigned from the Board due to her additional work in the public sector. The President thanked her for her efforts, wished her well and expressed regret at losing her as member of the Board.
The President stated that the IDRC had certain standards and goals that it needed to uphold and improve. There were many aspects of the sport that had suffered from a lack of transparency between the FEI and the IDRC and a lack of communication and good co-operation with the Dressage Committee. Not only do the riders suffer from this inconsistency but as do organisers, trainers, owners and sponsors. She was confident that the future would be better if the IDRC was able to improve and reorganise itself so as to better use its influence for the benefit of its members. This would be a long and difficult process and the work would have to start immediately.
The FEI and the TC had to realise that the athletes had to play a larger role in our discipline and she expressed her strong hope that the Athletes’ Committee (and in particular our representative on the Committee, Isabell Werth), would help contribute to this goal.
The President gave a short summary of her recent activities on behalf of the IDRC:
* Meeting s’Hertogenbosch with HRH Princess Haya
* FEI GA in Estoril
* Group II meeting in Estoril
* Meeting in Balve with Sven Holmberg and Isabell Werth
* Group II Meeting in Helsinki
* Coming up was the Medical Committee Meeting in Monte Carlo
* Important dossier: Foreign Rider Report
* WADA Web Link Agreement with the IDRC 10.05.2007
2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES GA 2006
The minutes were approved.
3. FINANCIAL SITUATION OF THE IDRC
The treasurer was unable to attend the GA but had sent by mail all the necessary information, which was duly approved. The financial situation is satisfactory, but it was agreed that the top rider of each country should ideally be a member of the IDRC in order to ensure universal support in discussions with the FEI.
4. REVISION OF THE IDRC STATUTES
Pia Laus, who is responsible for these revisions was unable to attend the GA, but would forward a Draft Proposal to members as soon as possible.
5. FOREIGN RIDER REPORT
The members were informed that the FRR had unfortunately not worked as expected. It was the intention of the IDRC to publish a bulletin with useful information concerning international Dressage events approximately three or four times a year. This had not been possible due to too few reports being received from the FEI. The following proposals were discussed:
* that the FRR would be made available on the web-site of the FEI and the IDRC. Any foreign rider would then be able to print a copy of the report, complete it in respect of an event attended and send it back by e-mail, post or fax to the FEI and the IDRC.
* that the obligation for a foreign rider to fill in and send back the FRR should be in the FEI rules for CDIs and CDIOs.
* that the requirement that a FR be appointed and that a report be completed should be published in the schedules.
* that OCs should get more and better information through their NFs.
* that there was a real need for the FRR as it would help OCs to improve the organisation of their events. In order to ensure this it was agreed that there should be consequences should organisers not improve; for example, a yellow and red card system could be considered.
* that it was clear that the Western and Eastern leagues were not comparable but there should at least be a minimum correct standard that is maintained for all events.
* riders were asked to inform the IDRC by telephone or email should they encounter any problem that required further action to be taken.
6. TECHNICAL DELEGATE
It was agreed that it was important for the TD to inspect Championship venues well in advance of the event. The IDRC would enquire as to whether or not it would be possible for the TD to be accompanied by a rider appointed by the IDRC during these site visits. The IDRC would cover the costs of such visits.
7. CRITERIA FOR ALLOCATION OF CHAMPIONSHIPS
These would be elaborated by the IDRC in conjunction with the FEI and the DC (the issues of particular importance for riders were the number of arenas, footing, stabling, shuttle service, etc).
8. ENTRY FEE CHAMPIONSHIPS J/Y
It was agreed that a fixed upper limit on entry fees at these Championships should be set. The amount of 1.275 € (600 € entry fee + 125 € meals + 350 € grooms + 200 € officials) is far too much (see 2007 CH-EU J/Y in Nussloch GER). The IDRC would address a letter to the FEI and the DC demanding the setting of a binding upper limit of 600 € for Entry Fee and 250 € for grooms = 850 €.
9. CHOICE OF LOCATION FOR CHAMPIONSHIPS
The members agreed that the IDRC should receive information and documentation from the FEI concerning the various candidates for official Championships and these would be published on the IDRC web-site. In this way riders would have the opportunity to express their opinion. The riders also expressed their desire to be involved in the selection procedure.
10. APPOINTMENT OF NEW MEMBERS
Imke Schelleken-Bartels NED was appointed to the Board.
11. WORKING GROUP FEI-TESTS
The DC had decided to set up a Working Group for the development of new Dressage Tests and Katrina Wüst had been nominated as the IDJC representative. The IDTC had appointed David Hunt and the IDRC Margit Otto-Crépin. Their duty would be to revise all tests beginning with the Children, Juniors and Young Riders, and ending with the Senior tests. The WG would start their work immediately and the proposals would be forwarded to the DC before their April 2008 Meeting in Lausanne.
12. TECHNICAL COMMITTEES / DRESSAGE COMMITTEE
The profile and composition of the Dressage Committee as currently set out in the FEI Statutes was discussed. The riders’ general opinion was that the committee was not well balanced due to the number of judges outnumbering all other interest groups. In order to improve this situation it was agreed to propose that outgoing members should in future be replaced by “qualified dressage people”. The representative of the organisers should be a dressage/jumping organiser and not a purely dressage show organiser. The IDRC should take care that the National Federations receive sufficient information regarding the replacement of outgoing members in the future in order to understand properly the need for balanced representation of all parties. REMINDER: the list of outgoing members can be found on the FEI web-site under: DIRECTORY (Minako Furuoka is outgoing in 2008, the Chairman Mrs Mariette Withages will be outgoing in 2009).
13. FEI-ITEMS BY THE REPRESENTATIVE OF THE IDRC IN THE DC
Monica Theodorescu gave a summary of her activities as follows:
* short report on the second Turin 2007 DC Meeting
* she was pleased to confirm that all the points that the IDRC had requested to be revisited were discussed and the IDRC’s viewpoints had been agreed by DC:
o to remove the addition to the rules regarding “Happy Athletes’
o open scoring only if not visible by the judges
o qualifying criteria percentage for J/Y and Seniors not changed
As far as the issue of open scoring was concerned, Richard Davison proposed a meeting with a technical person to get more information about the possibilities available for different kinds of open scoring screens.
It was pointed out that proposals for Rule Changes could be forwarded to the FEI until the end of 2007.
After lengthy discussion concerning CDIOs, it was agreed that for CDIOs the riders would prefer a Grand Prix for the Team Competition and then a choice of either GPS or Freestyle. The CDIO 3* (e.g. Aachen) should have the Championship Formula. (GP / GPS / Freestyle). The riders agreed with Isabell Werth that they would prefer OCs to maintain a balance between the number of shows with GPS and Kür.
At this point in the meeting Richard Davison had to leave for a GDF preparation meeting. His report concerning the Test Event in Hong Kong had already been forwarded by Newsletter to all our members and is also available on the IDRC web-site.
(Members were informed that the Wada update would be dealt with after the President had attended the Meeting in Monte Carlo in November 07. A full report would be prepared and made available to members.)
(It was also confirmed that the Minutes of the Athletes’ Committee Meeting had been sent around by Newsletter and could be found on the IDRC website.)
14. HYPERFLEXION
It was clear that the FEI and the riders were trying to find a solution to the problem of hyperflexion. The IDJC had already made a statement, which the riders considered to be insufficiently precise and somewhat unrealistic. For example, how could it be expected of a steward to maintain a record of how long riders keep their horses in an overbent position? Various points were raised by Kyra Kyrklund such as “where does hyperflexion begin?” It was clear that stewards were responsible for what was going on in the warming up arenas - accordingly the IDRC would continue to request:
* a good and clear Stewards’ Manual published by the FEI
* well-trained and informed stewards with a strong personality
* annual FEI Stewarding Clinics
* sufficient stewards on duty especially where there were several warming up arenas at one venue
It was not clear at present who was in charge of the training of stewards. More detailed information can be given to the IDRC by John Roche who is the Chief-Steward of the FEI.
Proposals such as using judges as stewards also have to be taken into consideration, as well as the conditions under which this could be done.
The IDRC members agreed to accept their responsibility in this regard and would prepare a draft proposal about “ABUSING HORSES IN GENERAL”. Kyra Kyrklund and Richard Davison were requested to begin work on such a draft and when completed it would be forwarded to the FEI for comment.
15. JOINT MEETING IDTC / IDRC
Henk van Bergen attended the meeting on behalf of the IDTC (the President, Sjef Janssen, was unable to attend due another commitment). This was the first time that such a joint meeting had been held. It was decided that the two Clubs should work closely together in the future and in so doing strengthen their influence on matters that concern both riders and trainers. In general these interests are the same and therefore, it made sense to work together.
The IDRC President explained that the “New FEI” was presenting new hope and possibilities for riders and trainers, but that they would have to work very hard to attain their goals. With the creation of the Athletes’ Committee and with Isabell Werth being the Dressage representative on that Committee, there was much potential for improvement in the future.
Again the lack of balance in the Dressage Committee represented the main point of discussion, along with the riders’ concern about the replacement of the outgoing members in the coming years. Both organisations realised that trainers needed a voice in the DC. At present their representative was a co-opted member without a vote. Everybody agreed to propose that Isabell Werth, as athletes’ representative on the AC, be able to attend the DC meetings. Furthermore, a second riders’ representative should also be proposed as member of the DC. The goal would be to obtain greater influence in the decision-making process of the DC.
The Presidents of both Clubs agreed to work on ways in which to organise a better collaboration of the IDTC and the IDRC and their members.
16. MISCELLANEOUS
Items on the agenda that were not discussed due to time constraints would be dealt with at the next meeting.
The next meeting would take place in Stuttgart during the CDI 2007.
Another meeting would be required to allow the Working Groups to present their projects.
Finally, a Meeting would be organised when the Agenda of the next DC Meeting had been published in order to allow rider and trainer representatives to discuss the items on that agenda in preparation for the meeting.
Margit Otto-Crépin
President IDRC
Related Link
Minutes of the 2006 IDRC General Assembly in Kronberg, Germany