Can you blame them?
It sounds oh so gallant of FEI to protect horse welfare but the reality is a morass of special requirements for conducting FEI classes that drive show managers crazy, run up costs and drive up the cost to compete. And they don’t enforce their own rules consistently. AQHA and NHRA shows will do just fine continuing as they always have without FEI.
Far from blaming them, I congratulate them. :yes:
The FEI wanted total control.
Every NRHA and AQHA show in Europe now under their rules and requirements, not just the FEI shows.
That doesn’t even make sense, any more than the NRHA or AQHA demanding that all shows, morgan, arabian, open, 4H, now sign up to be licensed and supervising according to their rules?
Seems that someone in the FEI was clueless how that works.
One of our local AQHA affiliates wanted to add dressage that was sanctioned. The cost was out of control. They ended up scrapping it. If the FEI got total control, then I cannot imagine what it would cost the weekend shows.
Several of the dressage groups on Facebook are spinning this the other direction - FEI is the only one that cares about the horses and AQHA/NRHA are all meanies that only care about winning, prizes and lots 'o money.
Maybe the FEI is eyeballing all that money and wants a piece of it.
There are horse trials with upper level divisions that don’t do FEI divisions because they lose money on them. So I heard from the organizers.
But I don’t think that’s why the NRHA and AQHA decided not to go FEI any more. The FEI model is designed around other disciplines that don’t start their horses until much later ages than the AQHA and NRHA. Just not a match.
As I understand it, to get a discipline into the Olympics, they have to go through the FEI. So it’s a matter of supporting the discipline in the Olympics, or deciding it is not worth it. However I gather that Europe is still doing reining, the FEI way, so I suppose reining could get into the Olympics with riders who qualify outside of the AQHA and NRHA.
I wouldn’t be surprised…
The FEI has taken money from the UAE and, after having had to suspend the entire UAE federation (only when people outside of the FEI brought attention to the rampant cheating and horse abuse by the UAE and one or two FEI sanctioned veterinarians) all is now forgiven, and the FEI again drinks at the UAE trough.
Yuck.
Its actually the FEI who have ended the agreement.
Yes, by making unrealistic demands and then saying if you don’t like it, we won’t work with you.
The AQHA has a now long history of cooperating with other organizations of all kinds in ways that help everyone.
If they had made the demands the FEI is making, there would not be those agreements or the explosion of western events and participation that permitted.
Makes you wonder why the FEI decided to be difficult.
We will never know the rest of the story, only what everyone on all sides wants us to know.
Is how those deals generally work.
The dealing may not be over yet.
We will have to see how that dust settles as time passes.
will watch with interest.
Anyone see FEI awards gala? No wonder they need to robv every horse sport of their money. Over the top much.
That makes sense since Dressage is without a hint of scandal under the guidance of FEI.
There are two sides to every story …
read this
http://www.reiningtrainers.com/nrha/…odbye-reiners/
In addition to the training methods used by some trainers that are now recognized as abusive (including a reining equivalent of rollkur), reining has had to struggle with the use of drugs on horses. Reining horses are started and moved up to high levels, with lots of competitions, as early as 2 years old. The work is hard on their bodies, and some medicinal help is used to keep horses going.
BTW when reiners talk about “junior reining” and “senior reining” champions, they aren’t talking about the age of the humans. They are talking about horses 3-5 years old and horses 6 and older.
Of course there are junior rider, young rider and youth divisions as well.
Junior reining = junior horse has substantial prize money in many of the big reining championships, $20k or more. There is huge pressure on professional trainers and their horses to produce results at an early age for the horse. This is not the easy low-level ‘starter’ division we are more familiar with in ‘English’ disciplines.
If I read the COTH article correctly the FEI would only be involved with competitions for horses 7 and older…perhaps I misunderstood?
What I read was that the FEI would regulate ALL shows.
Under FEI regulations horses don’t start showing until 6-7.
The FEI requires that as part of their horse welfare programs.
By insisting on that, they ignore the now several very good studies that show, in several disciplines, horses ridden in competition before 6-7 are no worse off in the long term than those that don’t start showing until 6-7 and in some instances are better prepared for the task at hand and longevity at it than those starting to compete later.
Similar for human athletes, one started in the school years will outpreform most that pick up a sport as a mature individual.
Bodies growing into the physical tasks they will be asked to perform while young makes it so.
Under those high age restrictions in FEI rules, that would mean all those earlier ages western horses compete now would be eliminated in all those shows, all over Europe.
As I understood, that was one of the sticky points to what the FEI proposed as non-negotiable.
I don’t know, have been wrong before, so will have to hear more to understand what all is involved here.
The reining trainers site above is a total sham, starting by an australian woman with an axe to grind… Some of the points though are VERY valid.
So, what are the key points and differences
Drugs… NRHA allows some , that FEI and AQHA dont… this makes it difficult to manage a drug ban over all 3 groups
Age… FEI now does run young horse classes , as do NRHA and AQHA
Manage all classes of horses 7 and older is a ludicrous suggestion and cant imagine who would agree to that…
Ugh … I’ve seen links to that “reining trainers” site being passed around on fb and wish people would stop.
Sure, FEI and NRHA and AQHA all have their issues, but sharing links to a trash site like that one makes the general public believe that all equestrian sports are bursting at the seams with animal cruelty.
legitimate issues should be brought to light, sure, but that site exists solely for the purpose of smearing the entire discipline of reining … and gives radical animal rights groups fodder to attack all equestrian activities.
Thank you!!! I do not show reiners, but several friends do and I ride with a reining trainer. I actually show cowhorses. Are there issues in reining? Sure, however, that is no different from any other discipline. There is good and bad to them all as well as great trainers and the 10 ft pole variety. The FEI rules do not work for the western disciplines. There is way too much money to be made from furtities and derbies. If either AQHA, or NRCHA or that matter, went with FEI rules, it would be detrimental to the associations.
While, yes, the FEI ended the agreement, I suspect it is because neither organization would agree to their terms. I honestly do not see what the big deal is. These organizations have done very well without the FEI and will continue to do so.
