Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

Linda - I have some of the same questions as you do, but I don't  
think there is one simple answer. i.e. I don't think FEI has any  
rules to address the questions 'who can compete at any given ride'.

I don't know of any non-championship FEI rides that have been chiefly  
comprised of invited riders. usually there's the regular group  
(nationals) plus a few invited riders.

Regarding the Presidents Cup - the list of 'Invited Riders' is simply  
a list of riders/horses that are specifically being invited with all  
expenses paid.  The event is basically open tho. If somebody wants to  
enter on their own dime, they are welcome to.

When I agreed to add an FEI division to our National Championship,  
AERC required that the FEI riders also meet the AERC qualification  
criteria - this means the ride was not 'open' to all FEI competitors.  
I asked the question of our Federation (USEF) - can we do this? can  
we tell riders they can't enter an FEI ride because of arbitrary  
(AERC) qualification criteria?  I never got an answer, so I assume  
there never was an answer.

To answer your final question,  the Presidents Cup typically sends an  
invitation to a Federation (e.g. USA, France, England) and the  
Federation decides who will go. The USA has a rider ranking list that  
they use to prioritize special invitations - riders earn points based  
upon how they do 'ranking approved' rides. The USEF will start at the  
top of the list and ask 'do you want to go'? 'is your horse sound'?  
etc. There are  times tho when Presidents cup is specific about what  
riders they want to invite - e.g. winner of Tevis Cup, winner of  
Championship, etc. So, to stay at the top of the list riders usually  
have perform well.  Just like in any sport, an important event wants  
to draw important competitors - those that are doing very well, or  
have done very well in the past. It's not as sinister as you make it  
sound :)

Steph


> OK, this has been bugging me for a long time.  What, exactly, is an
> "Invitational" endurance race?  Does it mean that only those  
> competitors
> that the host invites can compete?  Does it mean that anybody can come
> and compete, but only the invited competitors get their way paid?
>
> How can any endurance "race" that is composed of only hand-picked
> invited competitors--or whose field is so vastly skewed in favor
> of only hand-picked invited competitors--be considered a Fair
> competition?
>
> How can the FEI possibly sanction a race that is made up of
> chiefly or exclusively "Invited" competitors?
>
> And most particularly, what compromises to integrity must a
> competitor make--both in actions but most particularly in words--
> in order to stay on any particular billionaire's "Invited" list?
>
> Linda Marins


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