American dressage website Dressage-News.com published an article in which it brings to light the preferential treatment Western Europeal League based riders get in the World Cup circuit in comparison to riders from the Americas and Pacfic League.
While all European riders who travelled to the 2007 and 2009 World Cup Finals in Las Vegas were fully re-imbursed for their travelling expenses and hotel costs, American and Pacific riders have to pay the trip to Europe for the World Cup Finals out of their own pocket.
Further underscoring a widespread belief that the World Cup is a European show created for the indoor circuit that is not the norm elsewhere, is that the Western European League is the only one of four geographic leagues that is sponsored as a series (Reem Acra). The nine events in the WEL were also televised live on the Internet (by FEI Tv) under the auspices of the FEI which also distributed news and photo reports of each event to media around the globe.
The Central European, North American and Pacific Leagues received none of the event-by-event television and news coverage. Sponsorship came from efforts by individual show organizers for their own events.
Anne Gribbons, the U.S. dressage coach and the only non-European on the six-member FEI Dressage Committee, sees it differently.
“I have expressed the view several times to the Dressage Committee that when horses and riders come from outside Europe to a European Final they have a long flight to deal with and the money paid to them does not cover half their expenses. The Europeans were fully paid for in Las Vegas. It has never happened to us.
“It is not easy for someone who has gone through the process of qualifying and then does not have the same generous full sponsorship as the Europeans.”
Read the full article on Dressage-News.com