The 2008 FEI General Assembly week got underway this week in Buenos Aires (ARG) and is set to run through until Saturday 22 November.  An impressive number of meetings are scheduled for the week, including the General Assembly on Thursday 21 November, as well as informative sessions and forums with guest speakers on the current issues facing the sport today.

A brief glance at the programme
Monday             Bureau Meeting I
Tuesday            Regional Group Meetings
Wednesday       Regional Group Meetings with Bureau
Thursday          Forums and Sessions
Friday               Extraordinary General Assembly & Ordinary General Assembly followed by the Prize-Giving Ceremony and Gala Dinner
Saturday           Bureau Meeting II

Live Webcast
A live webcast of the General Assembly will be available through a link on the FEI website – from 09:00 to 18:00 Thursday (Argentina time GMT-2h) – so that the all the fans and stakeholders as well as the media can follow the debates and discussions as they unravel throughout the course  the day.

Simply go to the FEI homepage and a link will lead you straight to the FEI General Assembly in Buenos Aires (ARG).

  
Approval of the Rules for the FEI Jumping Series
In the Jumping discipline, the Bureau approved the following:

- the new rules for the FEI Nations Cup series, the main elements of which are

• The 2009 FEI Nations Cup will comprise three levels: Top, Promotional and Entry levels;
• In the 2009 Top Level Nations Cup, there will be a maximum of eight events with a total of ten teams. If the host country is not qualified, the home team is entitled to participate at the event;
  
• The 2009 Top Level series will include La Baule, Rome, St Gallen, Falsterbo, Rotterdam, Aachen, Hickstead and Dublin. The last leg will take place in Dublin, but extra points will NOT be on offer;
  
• The following seven teams have qualified through the Samsung Super League Series: Belgium; Germany; Great Britain; Ireland; The Netherlands; Switzerland; and USA. The remaining three teams will qualify through the Rolex Rankings as at 31 December 2008;
  
• The new format will operate for just one year after which it will be reviewed and possibly modified.
  

These Rules will be presented to the General Assembly on 21 November 2008 for information. The full FEI Nations Cup are available here.

- the modifications to FEI World Cup™ Rules for the 2009/2010 season. The updated rules are available here.

- the creation of a Grand Prix Series held in Wellington, FL (USA) in 2009. The details of the series are as follows:

• Grand Prix competition at eight events, all in Wellington;

• Minimum Grand Prix prize money at all events = USD 75,000; prize money at Final event = USD 350,000; total prize money = USD 1,150,000;
  

- the creation of the an FEI Nations Cup Series for Ponies and Juniors on a trial basis for 2009. It will be based on the format of the FEI Nations Cup Promotional League and comprise the following events: Moorsele (BEL), Fonatinebleau (FRA), Wierden (NED), Aach (GER) and the 2009 European Championships. The series could be expanded in future to events in Poland, Italy and other European countries.

The Bureau also approved in principle alterations to the Rolex Rankings pending outcome of discussions with the International Equestrian Organisers Alliance on the occasion of their General Assembly at the end of November.

Where the 2009 FEI European Jumping Championship is concerned, one horse per rider and two rest days instead of one were approved.

HSBC FEI World CupTM Eventing and FEI World CupTM Driving Rules Approved

The rules for the 2009 season of the HSBC FEI World CupTM Eventing and the 2009/2010 season of the FEI World CupTM Driving were approved. The full texts are available through these links:

EVENTING
DRIVING
 
 
Update on the FEI Dressage Committee
The FEI Bureau voted on a motion to take the issue of the removal of the Dressage Committee Chair for decision to the General Assembly on Friday, 21 November.

   
Allocation of Championships by the FEI Bureau
The following Championships were allocated for 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011:

2008

JUMPING
Americas Amateurs -Wellington, FL (USA) – 10-15 Dec 2008

2009

JUMPING
Americas Juniors, Pre-Juniors & Children - Bogota (COL) – 8-12 October
Balkan Young Riders, Juniors & Children - Piatra Neamt (ROU) – 4-6 September

DRESSAGE
World Breeding – Verden (GER) – 6-9 August
Balkan Seniors, Juniors & Children - Plovdiv (BUL) – 7-9 August

EVENTING
European Young Riders/Juniors – Waregem (BEL) – 11-14 September
World Breeding – Le Lion d’Angers (FRA) – October
Balkan Seniors & Juniors – Shumen (BUL) – 21-24 May

ENDURANCE
Central Asian – Almaty (KAZ) – 16-17 May

REINING
Master’s Final - Oklahoma (USA) – 2-3 December

VAULTING
European Seniors & Juniors - Fyyinge (SWE) – 29 July - 2 August

2010

JUMPING, DRESSAGE, EVENTING
European Ponies - Bishop College (GBR) - 27 July - 1 August

JUMPING
European Young Riders/Juniors/Children- Haras de Jardy (FRA) - Last week of July
Children’s Final -Doha (QAT)-6-12 December

DRESSAGE
FEI World Cup TM Final-s'Hertogenbosh (NED)
European Young Riders/Juniors-Kronberg (GER) - 6-8 August

EVENTING
European Juniors-Bad Segeberg (GER) - Dates TBD

DRIVING
FEI World Cup TM Final-Geneva (SUI)

2011

DRESSAGE
European Seniors-Rotterdam (NED) – 18-21 Aug (TBC)

EVENTING
European Seniors-Luhmühlen (GER) – 25-28 August

DRIVING
World Seniors Pairs-Conty (FRA)-TBC

Bids for the 2011 FEI European Jumping Championship will be reopened.

Changes – Dates and/or venues

JUMPING
Central Asian – Astana - 2-5 July 2009

DRESSAGE
Central Asian – Almaty - 11-14 June 2009