A recent issue of the German horse magazine Cavallo contained a report about the World Championships 2007 for Icelandic horses. In this article the authors comment negatively on the riding style of some riders, and present some pictures of particular moments during the WC where they observed this. The article might lead uninformed readers to believe that this represents a general trend in the Icelandic horse world. Unfortunately, FEIF wasn’t invited to comment on the article. Our first goal is to put the welfare of the horse first in everything we do. For this reason an open letter was sent to Cavallo, including an invitation to the editors to attend one of our seminars:
“As the umbrella organisation of the Icelandic horse associations we would like to comment on the article “Die Leidtragenden”, published in the November edition of Cavallo. We believe the view you gave of our sport was not as balanced as it could have been and we were disappointed with some of the generalisations you quote in it.
As the welfare of the horse (see FEIF vision-mission statement under www.feif.org) is one of our main concerns, we have been working hard on developing procedures/measures for trainers and judges education and the rules and regulations. In sport and leisure riding the focus should always be on our horses being treated and trained with respect. We are
continuously working towards this goal. Thus, we would have appreciated to be contacted by Cavallo with regards to this article so that we might have had the chance to respond.
Nevertheless, it is never too late for a conversation and we would like to discuss this openly. We would, therefore, like to invite one of the editors of Cavallo to participate in the 5th international trainer/instructor seminar in Kalø, Denmark.
Looking forward to a hope for a frank and open dialogue,
Hannes Kirchmayr, Director of Education
Marko Mazeland, Director of Sport”
FEIF answers Cavallo
