January Board Communication 2024

Regional/Committee Updates

The updates from all the committees and regions was circulated to the Board in advance of the meeting.

Focus on the Northern Region

The Northern Region has been very busy organising training for new EI dressage judges.
In addition, Alain Ponsot will be visiting the region for 5 days to help mentor course designers. During his five days he will be kept busy with:
- Course Designers. He will spend time with Adam Stevenson at Tyrella, David O’Connor and Jonathan Hagan at Tullymurry, Andrew Napier at Hazeldene and Declan Cullen at The Clare.
- Grassroots Training. Alain is also providing a series of Cross-Country training sessions with Grassroots members.
- Evening Lecture. There will be an evening lecture open to everyone.
The Northern Region is also arranging a Volunteers Training day on 5 March and we hope to be able to live stream this to all officials and members who may not be able to go to the training in person

Focus on The Amateur Committee

The Management Committee met with the Amateur Committee to present the Strategic Plan and to discuss the future of Amateurs.
Eventing Ireland is happy to support the committee in promoting the Amateurs. They were asked to appoint a member to the National Training Committee so there was representation.
Further discussions were had in relation to the small numbers participating in amateur classes and pushback from Event Organisers. The option of amalgamating classes and providing prizes for amateurs within that class was considered. Alison to provide statistics on members affected.
Encouraging growth for the Amateur League was also reviewed.
A meeting is scheduled for February to discuss further.
The rebranding of Amateurs was considered and the Marketing and Sponsorship Committee will help

Focus on the National Training Committee

The National Training Committee met for the first time with all the committee members in place on Monday 22 January. There is huge enthusiasm to provide training for all our members, not just riding members, but officials and volunteers, over the next 12 months
One of the first action points is to send a survey to the membership asking exactly what training you require. Please expect a survey soon and please do respond

Constitution and Strategic Plan

We are in the process of arranging the EGM next month to approve the new Constitution which we have discussed online with our members as well as having face-to-face meetings with the regions and various committees.
The annual AGM is planned for March and the new Constitution, if approved, will come into effect at the AGM.
The Strategic Plan, which has also been presented to the regions, committees and members, will be launched at the AGM.
It is a very exciting time to be involved in Eventing Ireland and we could not have done this without your feedback and support.

Insurance

Insurance and adverse weather are the main reasons for Eventing Ireland’s operating loss in 2023. Tough and ongoing negotiations with Howden’s Insurance broker have finally provided a package that can potentially save Eventing Ireland and its members €40k in 2024. This package offers various options for our Internationals and, secondly, a move to our members providing their own personal accident insurance. It has been advised that members will have better cover by taking out their own personal accident cover than paying higher costs to Eventing Ireland for restricted cover.
The Board discussed a potential claim. It was felt that the claim is outside of the remit of Eventing Ireland—David O’Meara to draft communication.

Membership and Registrations

Once again, the Board has made a tough decision to increase membership and registrations for 2024 which will come into effect immediately.
The Eventing Ireland Board has not increased either membership or registration for a number of years and with rising costs, it felt that now is the right time.
The membership and registrations will now be as follows:

Rule Changes

The Rules Committee is working hard on the 2024 Rule Book and a separate communication about Rule Changes will be issued in the coming weeks.

Horse Sport Ireland

Eventing Ireland has still not received the 2024 High-Performance Training Plan and Budget promised in November 2023 from HSI. We have also received complaints from riders and owners that they have not received communication. The Board will send communication to HSI once again.

Watering Grants