In the interests of becoming interested once more in the equestrian political machine, I spent a few minutes making a reading dent in the long but very revealing ’10 Questions for the FEI Presidential Candidates’ posted on Horse-Canada.com today. In order not to exceed my stamina or your interest, I’m going to go at commenting on the information in small bites, starting with the biographies and backgrounds of each candidate (6 – 1 = 5 in total, after Spain’s Javier Revuelta threw in the towel not long after throwing in his hat). Without even looking at these candidates’ manifestos (am I the only one who finds this term faintly sinister?), I can read a fair amount between the lines already; and of course it wouldn’t be me without a few off-the-cuff comments based more on my instincts than hard facts.
The candidates were presented in alphabetical order in today’s Q&A, and I see no reason to spoil that linear approach (though I’m not sure that Ingmar shouldn’t be at the end of the list), so here goes:
1. Ingmar de Vos – while the text is peppered with terms like ‘equestrian’ and ‘Olympic’, Ingmar is the only candidate whose bio contains no mention of ‘horse’, never mind ‘riding’. One can deduce from the material that Ingmar, with his syrupy baritone voice (see my FEI GA comments from 2013), is a career politician. The fact that he is the youngest of the candidates at 51 is further evidence of my suspicion. His age also gives practical cause to his campaign to make the position for which he is running a paid one, since he clearly is not ready for retirement from a salary. And let’s just get this straight right now for anyone to whom this isn’t already obvious: if HRH is grooming a candidate, the qualities of Ingmar’s mugshot alone are ample evidence that he’s the groomee.
2. Pierre Durand – if you come from the camp that believes the head of a sport organization should be someone who really knows the sport from inside, Pierre is your mec. If miles in the saddle are your thermometer, he’s hot stuff, no doubt about it. This guy knows what the Olympics look like from between a horse’s ears (as does HRH, I hasten to add – just check out the cover photo on the FEI History Olympic home page if you don’t believe me). A couple more things that jump out at me in a positive way about Pierre’s CV: he has work experience in both the media and in high performance sport outside the equestrian world, both of which are highly relevant to the position of Prez of Mission Control, in my opinion.
3. Pierre Genecand – speaking of mug shots, Pierre needs a publicist. I’ve never seen this man look more fascinating in a photo than Mr. Magoo. Surely with the right encouragement he could give us a smile and look like he has a sense of humour, even if as a Swiss man, he probably doesn’t. And this photo for the bio? Well presumably the bars behind him are those of a stall in a barn, but they look a bit too much like prison bars. How about an actual horse in the photo? Pierre has better equine creds than Ingmar, but he doesn’t come across as one of the more horsey of the candidates. How about a photo of him playing polo? Or is he more of a clubhouse player? Pierre has one big plus to his candidacy – he’s the only one not to wait until HRH had pulled the barn door closed on her third term, but to have declared his intention to run when it was still looking like he’d be running against Lady Landslide herself.
4. Ulf Helgstrand – as a DQ I should like Ulf better than I do. He’s the only candidate who comes from Dressage. And on paper, he has the right stuff both in terms of actual horses and political involvement in equestrian organizations. The trouble is, I didn’t really like him when he spoke publicly during the FEI GA last year. I’ve never met a Danish person that came across as pompous, but I’d be lying if I said that adjective was not on my mind when Ulf took up the mic. I don’t even remember what the topic was when he opened his cake hole. I fully acknowledge that this is both a personal observation and not something contained within the bio – I’m just sayin’. I should also point out that likability is a questionably desirable trait in a leader anyway. Everyone said they’d like to have a beer with Dubya, and look what happened there.
5. John McEwen – before Ingmar announced his candidacy, many of us assumed John was HRH’s puppet pick. He is her 1st veep, after all. Here is another candidate who, on paper, seems to have some relevant and useful background, at least up until the point at which he became an FEI enabler. Adding to the minus signs beside his name is the fact that he has been involved with one of HRH’s ‘babies’, the International Horse Sports Confederation (which marries the FEI to the horse racing industry). This man would be as dependable a back-seat driving ex-Prez’s front man as anyone, including Ingmar.
6. Javier Revuelta – now here is the man whose name perfectly fits what has happened to his candidacy. ‘Revuelta’ in English is ‘revolt’. And that is exactly what Javier did when the Ingmar faction failed – either for real or ingenuously – to pull back from the assertion that it’s perfectly acceptable for him to lobby to turn the volunteer position he’s trying to get into a paid one. Highly relevant fact: Javier is a LAWYER. For the Spanish GOVERNMENT. If this man says what Ingmar is up to is no good, I think it’s worth listening to him. Javier is up there with Pierre for having plenty of experience in the kinds of things we would, at least on an emotional level, like to see in the FEI Prez. He’s an Olympic Eventer, the only candidate representing that discipline. I mean the only former candidate.
Two final notes before I leave you today: not a single female candidate, and no one from outside Western Europe. In a sport that, at all levels and in most disciplines, is more heavily represented by women. Just another FEI sausage party. Boo. And so much for globalization. Boo two.
