Shortage of Officials

For a number of years now, the issue of senior officials has been a concern of mine, particularly the stewards, judges, and technical delegates needing to be more independent from horse show organizers, as well as more accountable. For me, this was an issue of transparency as much as a need to establish a strong and efficient officials’ development pathway for all equestrian disciplines.

In the current system, officials are selected at the sole discretion of the show organizers and their contractual agreements are not public. The lack of transparency for both the process and the wages paid (with no minimal fee) is a source of speculation, frustration, and concern. In many cases, the officials’ livelihoods depend on the revenues they generate from officiating at various shows and it is a difficult situation for them to be in when a show organizer feels their decisions may affect their revenues.

I know of numerous situations, including many serious incidents, when horse abuse was not reported officially, as it would lead to the suspension of well-known trainers/coaches who would then move his/her clients to another horse show. There have even been serious injuries to riders (with the ambulance taking them to the hospital) that have been omitted by stewards in their official reports, likely as this would result in an increase in the insurance costs of the horse show organizer. I heard, and even witnessed, a number of such cases happen during my time at Equestrian Canada with very little recourse available to take action or implement sanctions. This has been a frustrating situation for many people affected and those wanting to make things right.

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Just like what is done with drug testing for the horses, EC is well-positioned to ensure the independence of the officials and the best way to achieve that is for EC to assign (and pay) the top senior official(s) of all EC-sanctioned horse shows. Of course, EC would invoice the horse shows for such services to cover its direct costs including its management of the program, but also to generate revenues that would be needed to invest back into the development of officials. This is how most sports manage their officials programs and an area governing bodies are expected to be in charge of.

OFFICIAL EDUCATION

Another aspect of the development of officials is the education programs, including clinics. These are left to the various disciplines to organize and depend on the goodwill and availability of course directors that are also busy officiating. Many Canadian officials take levels and other mandatory refresher clinics in the USA after filing a request to do so with EC. It would be interesting to see what the scope of such a trend actually is compared to the number of clinics held in Canada.

The shortage of qualified officials in Canada is a crisis in the making, as many of them are reaching the retirement age limit in the next few years and this trend is increasing quickly. An action plan will be needed to fill these vacancies and funding for a development plan must be a high priority for EC. I cannot see this left to the discretion of the show organizers as they are concerned, rightfully so, by the impact on their own operations and their financial bottom line. As the shortage in stewards, judges and technical delegates increases, the various horse shows will compete to secure the services of the senior officials they feel are the best and most suited for their needs. This will obviously come at a cost that will be passed down to the riders and horse owners. That is how it works!

A national officials development program is, in my opinion, the only way to go, not only to ensure transparency, consistency, quality and fairness across Canada, but also to implement the use of technology with a proper database (including horses, riders, etc.) that could generate the results (and other points systems) directly online, likely on EC’s website. This would ensure the results are officially from EC, rather than posted provisionally on the show organizer’s website before they are even sent to EC. It would be the right thing to do and could also be a great help to smaller horse show organizers that could not afford some of the current sophisticated software on their own. Who knows if such platform could eventually include webcasting opportunities? Such webcasting could actually be used to help with officials’ development and education by reviewing their performances.

With the proper approach in a win-win perspective for the officials, the horse shows and the governing bodies, a national officials development program could be a way to build improved communications and value-added opportunities. Expect very vocal resistance from several senior officials, but at the same time many respected officials will agree privately that this needs to happen.

Another potential hurdle in the establishment of a national officials’ development program will likely be between the different disciplines seeking to protect their independence and the provinces/EC that have the staff required to manage such a large endeavour and the many challenges that come with it. This is no small task and the implementation of any program with a similar size and scope, as the FEI has recognized, will need to be taken a small step at a time while keeping the officials involved in the process, perhaps in mentorship roles.

CANADIAN OFFICIALS BY THE NUMBERS

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It is a small world at the top levels. Therefore, the independence of senior officials, particularly the stewards, is needed for a new approach to establish a national officials’ development program and ensure safe, fair, and fun competitions through quality officiating. I am not suggesting stewards have a bias when carrying out their duties, but it is just natural for those who reach to top levels to want to keep the best assignments and this doesn’t provide the opportunities for officials needing more experience to move up the ranks. This is particularly crucial for officials coming from provinces and regions that don’t host many events and it has a ripple effect down to the beginners’ levels.

FEI JUDGES

For judges, the situation is even more alarming, with 48 FEI-listed officials in Canada including 10 identified as retired, having reached the age limit of 70 years old (or young!), so we are looking at 38 in total:

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Usually, a sound feeder system would ensure there would be a greater number of lower-level officials seeking to move up the ranks to the higher levels. This is far from the case (see jumping, dressage and reining examples on chart). Compared to countries such as Australia (97), Brazil (53) and the USA (127) our overall number of FEI judges is alarmingly low, especially when we think of how many of them are actually judging south of the border.

Technical delegates are more important in disciplines like eventing and endurance, but the overall number of Canadians listed at the FEI level being 15 is also surprisingly low when compared with other countries such as Australia (54), Brazil (40) or the USA (38).

AN AGING DEMOGRAPHIC

It wasn’t possible to assess the average age of the stewards, judges, and technical delegates in order to have more insight at the scope of the problems facing the equestrian sports in the future, but it is likely the average age is over 60 years. With an age limit set at 70 by the FEI, one could argue that a shortage of senior officials is more than likely, if not already here. Many will make a point suggesting the FEI age restriction is a problem, as individuals live longer now and an age limit is actually a form of discrimination.

Removing the age limit and implementing physical tests similar to what is requested for your driving license, including eyesight (some say officials really need to be tested!) would be more appropriate. In the end, this would be a short-term solution to a long-term officials’ development problem, as it takes years, if not several decades, for an official to reach the top levels.

The FEI is also well aware of the challenges facing equestrian officiating, as it had devoted four of the six topics of its Sports Forum held on April 4-5, 2016, featuring topics such as: FEI Official Career Pathway, FEI Official Education, and FEI Officials Appointment and Remuneration. Interestingly, the FEI secretary general recommended the creation of a working group to follow-up on the issues raised regarding officials. An Officials Working Group has now been established and is chaired by Mark Samuel of Canada. Its first meeting was held at FEI headquarters in Lausanne, SUI, on September 11-12 with another meeting set to take place in early 2017.