The 27-month FEI suspension on a virtually unknown Qatari endurance rider Nasser Khalifa NJ Al Thani received a lot of media coverage recently. There is nothing new, of course, about an endurance rider from Group 7 (Middle East) being banned for doping, but the reason it is now News with a capital N is simple: […]
To those of us locked in the debating chamber in Lausanne six weeks ago, it seemed like the end of the world was coming, as drastic changes to the Olympic formats were discussed at the FEI Sports Forum. But if you are out in the field actually doing the riding, and are not one of […]
I don’t share my compatriots’ obsession with soccer, but have been wedded all day to the BBC’s 24-hour news channel to follow the gripping developments in the FBI arrests of FIFA officials, dragged from their beds in a luxury Zurich hotel at dawn on charges of corruption. The US attorney general gave a press conference […]
It’s been interesting to read reaction on social media to the FEI’s suspension of the UAE, posted by disparate (and maybe desperate) parties around the world who make their living selling endurance horses to Dubai and Abu Dhabi. It is strongly rumoured that if the suspension drags on, the UAE will simply set up an […]
The marathon debates in Lausanne earlier this week, into the remodelling of equestrian sports for our survival in the OIympic movement, were stimulating and enjoyable. But now that I have slept on it for a few nights, too much of the discussions at the FEI Sports Forum seemed like change for change’s sake. FEI technical […]
There is a glimmer of hope that at least the UAE’s equestrian federation, the EEF, is not quite as untouchable as it thought.
Colleagues discussing the latest drama in Middle East endurance often use the phrase “you couldn’t make it up.” But making it up seems exactly what the UAE has been doing for years, with the “bogus” ride scandal eclipsing everything else about the unvarnished awfulness of desert racing. The FEI has launched (March 10th) an investigation, […]
My phone has been red hot this past week, with colleagues keen to discuss the politics behind the FEI’s unprecedented cancellation of two UAE CEI’s as the endurance crisis escalates. So it was a relief when one buddy called with this practical query: will disaffiliating these rides affect horse and rider FEI qualifications for anything […]
In Middle East endurance, the number of FEI disqualifications and yellow cards handed out are inversely proportional to the number of offences occurring.
Two weeks after the Al Reef double fracture scandal, the FEI president has finally managed to say something, in this email today to national federations, a cut-and-paste embellishment of something sent to the many individuals and groups who have already written in to complain. Call me a cynic, but it’s funny how the damage limitation […]
