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Minutes from the International Dressage Riders’ Club

International Dressage Riders' Club

Minutes from the International Dressage Riders’ Club
Distributed byWayne Channon
Secretary General
Conference Call Minutes
Dressage Committee Meeting 17 December 2014

 1. Welcome and approval of Full Report of last meeting
The Chair opened the meeting and extended a warm welcome to all, especially to the two new Committee members, Luis Lucio, for whom this was the first meeting, and Anna Paprocka-Campanella, who had already been invited to join a couple previous meetings. He explained the Committee’s way of working and the documentation, and stressed that the Committee works together as a group, for the Dressage community.
The internal working report of 27th October 2014 was approved.

 2. Update / info from HQ
a. FEI General Assembly Baku
The Chair had sent an email from the General Assembly to the DC, informing of decisions taken by the GA and the FEI Bureau. Fruitful meetings had been held about Pan Am Games qualifications and the new updated qualification rules had been agreed by the Bureau and were to be published by the end of this week, including the NFs qualified. The quota could now be filled if necessary (e.g. a horse dies) and composite teams would be possible (a request from PAEC).

The proposed rule change to make wearing protective headgear during the Horse Inspection compulsory for Young Riders/Juniors/Pony Riders and Children had been withdrawn due to strong resistance from major NFs, and was to be a recommendation instead of a rule. All other proposed rules changes were accepted.
 b. Balkan CH 2015 – Bureau decision
The Bureau agreed to the allocation of the 2015 Balkan Dressage Championships to Istanbul (TUR).

 3. JSP
The Judge General, Stephen Clarke, and the JSP members joined the call for this point. All three JSP members had a common unanimous proposal.
The DC had proposed a list of possible candidates for the JSP at their meeting of 27th October.
The Judge General and the JSP were invited to come with their proposals. Both parties had the same two names they supported, Uwe Mechlem (GER) and Linda Zang (USA). The DC voted and were unanimously in favour of appointing these two persons to the JSP.
The Chair contacted them following the meeting and both accepted the invitation to become member of the JSP. Regular conference calls will be held in the future with the JSP. The JSP was also to discuss issues and proposals to be submitted to the FEI 5* Judges Seminar in April 2015. If there were no proposals, the JSP were to continue working along the lines of the current job description (to be sent to the new JSP members).

Conclusion: The DC, in unanimous agreement with the Judge General and JSP, decided to
appoint Uwe Mechlem (GER) and Linda Zang (USA) as new JSP members.

4. Future of Dressage
a. Remarks to the concept The Chair reported that he had discussed with the former and the new President about the IOC session and the draft of the Dressage Future paper, the DC was on the right way with this project.

 b. Results of the Survey
The report of the survey had been received at HQ and would be sent to the DC (done 18.12.14). The results were to be discussed at the next conference call in January and
Repucom were to be invited to give a presentation of the report and the findings. The DC would then decide what to incorporate into the working paper.

 c. Test Event for new GP tests
The date for the test event had been set for January 23 in Warendorf, and max. five different tests were to be tried out. Ideally, each test was to be ridden 3 times by different horses (minimum 2 if 3 not possible).

It was proposed that the number of people invited from the Stakeholder groups and NFs should as far as practical be as open as possible; however catering etc. might limit this to 2-3 representatives per club. There should be only one speaker per group for the discussion afterwards. HQ was to send the invitation to all Stakeholder groups for 2-3 persons and to confirm the numbers to the venue. No judging was needed for the tests, only timing and looking at the tests.

Conclusion: The date for an event to test max. 5 different short GP programmes had been set and HQ was to send out invitations to the relevant Stakeholder groups.
 d. Date for info meeting with stakeholder board members The date previously agreed for the Stakeholder meeting, 11th February 2015, was maintained. Only 2 representatives from each Stakeholder group (Officials, Riders, Trainers, Organisers) were to be invited to keep the numbers manageable. The former President had sent a letter to all NFs asking for their comments and only NED and GBR had replied, so interest from the NFs seemed to be low.

The FEI was to find a location easy to reach for all (proposals e.g. London, Brussels, Paris, Düsseldorf).

Conclusion: The Stakeholder meeting was to be held on 11th February, location TBD by HQ. 2 representatives of each Stakeholder group were to be invited.

5. FEI Championships
EU-CH-Y/J/Ch Vidauban (FRA) 2015 – cancellation of
Ch Category This was no longer an issue as the Organisers had in the end agreed to keep also the Ch category for these Championships.

 6. AOB
Maribel Alonso informed from the GA of the IDOC in London that they were to sign the Memorandum of Understanding with the FEI. Also for the question of the proposed new GP tests, it had been clarified that this was looked into in order for the sport to remain in the Olympic movement.

Thomas Baur informed that the Organisers club wanted to change the policy for expenses paid by riders withdrawn after the definite entries, and was to come with a proposal.

The next meeting (conference call) was set for Mon 26th January 2015 at 16h CH time.

The Chair thanked all and wished a happy Christmas.

Next meeting
 Date Subject Location
26 Jan 2015,
16-18h CH time
Survey and Future of Dressage Conf call
11 Feb 2015 Round table discussion with stakeholders