Presidential Blog, Approaching Amsterdam 2025

Presidential and Secretary General Blog
The first quarter of the year is over …

Dear friends and member colleagues,
Time flies and it is almost 3 months since our General Assembly in Amsterdam. It has been busy weeks since
then, time to report on what happened so far. Therefore, we make this a “Presidential and Secretary General
Blog” as we also want to report on the FEI Sports Forum (where our Secretary General represented IJOC).

Starting in Amsterdam
Our events in Amsterdam were (also thanks to your massive attendance) yet another success. This year, in
addition to our standard activities, we’ve had additional and different items on the table including but not
limited to the FEI Noseband Tightness Measurement Device. Our Board has displayed valuable effort to
accommodate all the practical sessions as well as the on-site distribution of the devices. To this end, I would
like to convey my heartfelt gratitude to all those involved in the organisation of yet another sparkling IJOC
event.

Warm Welcome to our colleagues, FEI Veterinarians
We were also very excited about another new topic. For the first time in the history of IJOC, we could officially
welcome the FEI Veterinarians into the IJOC membership. This was thanks to the revision of our Statutes which
was voted with overwhelming majority with only one abstention and no one against. We sincerely look
forward to this great collaboration in near future. Since this decision, we’ve seen FEI Veterinarians becoming
member of our club and we are preparing, together with them, a first combined webinar.

FEI Rules Revision Process, this year’s number one focus
Immediately after Amsterdam, we have started to work on the FEI Rule Revision process. We have collected
feedback from our members and have provided our submission to the FEI. Ofcourse this is a living document
when we consider its annual characteristics so please do not hesitate to share with us your proposals during
the year without actually waiting for the year end. We have been actively participating and throughout the
year, please continue sharing your comments and ideas to make this effort as thorough as possible.

Along the way … the FEI Officials Working Group
Simultaneously, our active involvement in the FEI Officials Working Group continued and we already had our
first in-person meeting of the year early March where we prepared the FEI Sports Forum. It is an honour for
me to represent the jumping officials. Throughout the discussions I balance my thoughts and ideas in a way
that concerns and interests of all functions and all regions are taken into consideration.

Connect with us through the website and Facebook
Especially for our new members, I would like to re-iterate the use of our website. You can readily access the
previous webinars on the homepage as well as the IJOC Archive dating back to 2002. You can watch re-play the
previous presentations shared during our General Assemblies. We would much appreciate if you can also
check your own profile for the correct level and function. Once logged in you can always update your own
credentials. As for our Facebook group, some members are not able to join. Following our consultation with
the IT colleagues, we have been informed that you should check your account security settings (which allows
invitations to groups or for you to directly request for joining).

As you see, much of our focus was also part of the discussions during the FEI Sports Forum, in the second part
of this blog, I let our Secretary General report out on these interesting two day activities in Lausanne.

FEI Sports Forum 2025
This year, the event gathered many interesting topics and esteemed speakers. Alongside the regular rule
revision process, there were also very important and interesting discussions such as, the FEI future President,
Equine Welfare and Los Angeles 2028 Olympic Games qualification systems. The FEI is keen on establishing a
firm ground ahead of the new FEI President, who should continue the progress of the organisation in the years
ahead. The participants welcomed the initiative and provided input as such. The highlights for the IJOC
members though, were the jumping rule revision process and the FEI Officials Working Group first findings.
The rule revision discussions centered around 5 main topics as follows: hours of competitions, article 241
blood on flanks rule, MERs, Young Horses, and Special competitions (which are almost not used at all). The last
session of the Forum was the “FEI Officials Working Group” and the results of the FEI Surveys as well as first
findings were shared. Accordingly, the appointment and rotation of officials are still a main point of attention
for the FEI and introduction of a well sought-out IT system can recover significant part of the recurring issues.
Additionally, the lack of experience for the upcoming officials were also covered. It was clear that the FEI is on
the right track with the right diagnosis. We will be following and sharing the developments as to how this
diagnosis will reflect on the ground. So please stay tuned.

Overall, we are pleased to share the latest information with you as our members and look forward to our
future communication.

Kind regards

Glenn Maes
President IJOC