13 February 2013
Leonard Liesens - Endurance-belgium.com
- According to chats after the conference, it appears that several chef d’equipe fear the backslash for their team at upcoming championships. Are they suffering from acute paranoia or will the course of events prove they were right?
The ESPG showed self-satisfaction, more exactly relieve to have completed its mission without too shootout of the federations .
Yet its most active and most clear in his statements, namely Jean- Louis Leclerc, did not seem to be lulling into complacency during and after the conference. Most European federations were represented. Yeah, but some showed a passivity and extreme shyness. We did not hear the UK or Italy , Sweden, Portugal, Czech Republic. Spain intervened but in a minor key and swinging raw truths.
France has expressed clearly and politely , by the voice of Christophe Pélissier . It is not obviously useful to raise your voice to be heard and Pelissier has nevertheless not failed to come back especially on the subject of veterinary reports ( 2012 Florac presumably) sent by France to the FEI and which did not land on the right FEI desk (or maybe better land directly in the bin) .
While the FEI had just told the organisation hardly received damning reports from official bodies. But once again, Ian Williams was able to maneuver to claim not to have received / seen these reports. And no one in the assembly dared intervene to push and dig more about this particular subject. We therefore remained the polite exchange of good intentions, it was congratulated , we even made hugs in front of the stage. There was no ' selfies ' (maybe the non French readers will not understand but the recent visit of President Hollande to Obama was a good occasion for journalist to picture themselves inside the White House) but we were not far away. Clip-Devos-RapportsFEI The two representatives of Italy did not say a word, they just came to listen, make an appearance and enjoy the lunch buffet - BTW delicious and flavorful. Bravo to the FEI for that. It must be said that Italy is entangled with a league judicial review and intergovernmental cooperation agreements with Emirates. Must not offend the patron. According to chats after the conference, it appears that several chef d’equipe fear the backslash for their team at upcoming championships. Are they suffering from acute paranoia or will the course of events prove they were right? It is once again Pierre Arnould (which is still part of the FEI Endurance Committee, but was "impeachment" in relation to ESPG and therefore could speak freely on behalf of the Belgian Federation) was the most incisive. He was also the first to intervene in the afternoon, after everyone fell asleep during presentations of self-satisfaction orchestrated by ESPG .
It was right before that, at the start of the conference, that we had to listen to a guy from ESPG reading a strong statement responding to the open letter sent by the Swiss Federation, concerning the lack of professionalism of the compilation of the responses of the federations. A sudden cold wind was then blowing thru the assistance, like someone opened the door overlooking the nice Lausanne Lake Leman…. oddly the Swiss did not respond . Arnould began the debate by asking the killing question (La Question qui tue) :
"We are here to discuss a problem that affects 10% of federations who practice endurance , namely the Middle East, while they have not deign to come.As long as there is no clear answer to the question of whether you prefer the economic and financial aspects of our sport ethics and respect for our horses , all the debates and change regulations will be useless. "
Clip-Video-Arnould ici He has obviously not received a response from the FEI or the ESPG . He was even retorted that his thinking did not advance the debate. When is the next "Verbal Warning" ? He was unequivocally supported by the Team Leader of USA, Emmett Ross , convinced that sport has lost its identity , all because of the Middle East. As might be expected, all federations have all voted for a return to classic endurance, technical, tactical. Endurance that allows horses to have a long career, riders express their riding skills and horsemanship. But does money not command? ...
For more, including video clips click here:
http://www.endurance-belgium.com/n-gazette/dubaigate.htm#espg1201
