Equestrian: Changing horse world at a canter

Ingmar Vos

Ingmar Vos, the new boss of the International Equestrian Federation, knows the old mantra well: when things are going well it's not the time to sit back in happy contemplation.

And so Vos, the first non-royal to head the FEI in 60 years, wants his sport to become more pro-active in introducing change, and a more modern face to the traditionally conservative sport's various disciplines.

The 51-year-old Belgian, formerly secretary general of the organisation and Belgium's equestrian chef d'equipe at several Olympic Games, was elected by an overwhelming majority in December.

While chuffed at the size of the victory, he also knows the time is right to get his sport's stakeholders thinking of the future.

"You can never be happy with where you are," he said.

"You always need to look to the future. Although people have chosen me for continuity, that does not mean standing still."

He's convinced the sport needs modernising in several respects. Some of the proposals about to be dispatched to the 133 national federations which make up the FEI won't get past a first scrutiny. However, Vos is encouraged that some of those hard-to-budge attitudes are softening.

A recent forum of the sport gave him an insight into the changing face of equestrian.

"I was very surprised that people I saw as very conservative were open and coming up with proposals," he said.

"That is the climate we need to create in order to have a debate, but we're not going to throw away the baby with the bathwater."

Traditions need to be respected, but minds must be open was the crux of his message on a whistlestop visit to New Zealand this week.

Take dress codes as an example. Vos believes changes to follow fashion traditions, introduce modern sports wear and doing away with the formal clothing which has been the rule for generations is worth a hard look.

"It wouldn't be bad for the image of our sport.

"Our dress is also giving the impression it is an elitist sport. It is not. Look at the background of our champion riders and they are all normal people."

So could a fresh dress code be in place by the Tokyo Olympics of 2020? "I think so yes. I really believe we should."

Another proposal, to trim eventing teams down from the five of the London Games of 2012 to four at Rio next year, and even three - with substitutions allowed in case of injury - beyond 2016 might meet with sterner resistance.

Fitting competitions into one-and-a-half-hour bites for television coverage is already being worked on. Vos' dream is to see equestrian on television every day.

"We are in a world of competition. There are more and more sports and we are fighting with them to be on TV, to get commercial partners and we need to position ourselves with a good product that is interesting to television, and easy to understand."

For Vos, there is a pile of untapped equestrian potential outside the established areas of Europe and North America.

More than 150 projects are under way around the globe; there are 3800 international events every year.

"We need to make our sport more attractive for larger audiences that do not have a specifically equestrian background.

"We are throwing a lot of proposals to our stakeholders and I am very confident our community is ready to take some of them on board," Vos said.