The IJRC General Assembly was held last Friday morning in Geneva. Speakers included the IJRC’s President Kevin Staut, Director Eleonora Ottaviani, and board members Henrik von Eckermann, Max Kühner, Steve Guerdat, François Mathy Jr and Rodrigo Pessoa, the Athlete Representative for the FEI Jumping Committee.
Main issue about the new Jumping Rules, decided at the FEI General Assambly in Sout-Africa is about the article elimination number 214.4. "The President of the Ground Jury (or in the absence of the President of the Ground Jury from the Ground Jury box, the Ground Jury Member designated by the President of the Ground Jury to take over the running of the Competition in their absence) may, in their sole discretion, ring the bell (or instruct another Ground Jury member to ring the bell) to eliminate an Athlete/Horse combination while a round is ongoing if the President of the Ground Jury (or their designee) decides that it would be contrary to the principles of horse welfare to allow the combination to continue the round. The decision to eliminate is final and not subject to appeal or protest."
The IJRC riders had some issues with this new rule!
Who is capable of judging and stopping a horse and rider? Who has the competence to train judges?
- The possibility, as proposed by the IJRC, of having a champion top rider as the supervisor for chief stewards and judges to provide advice. This would create a decision-making panel so as not to entrust responsibility to just one individual.
- The importance of the educational process used for officials;
There is no question that the blood rule remains and horses with blood showing must be immediately retired from the competitions. Furthermore, Nick Skelton proposed that changes should be made to the sentence “be contrary to the principles of horse welfare” and it should be replaced with “for the safety of horses and riders”.
There is no question that the blood rule remains and horses with blood showing must be immediately disqualified from the competitons. The entire subject is linked to ‘social license’ that is developing day after day.
source: IJRC/ Equnews