New EA CEO Lucy Warhurst's Address at 2018 AGM

In my very short time in the role of CEO of Equestrian Australia, I have been fortunate enough to meet many of you in the room today, as well as get out and meet with a number of the people who make up this amazing sport.

In accepting this role, I wanted to bring an open mind and spend some time listening to the members about what their immediate and longer term vision for the sport is.

I did this by asking three simple questions:

Firstly, what could the sport of Equestrian in Australia look like by 2021, and then in 2030?  What is the role of the National office in helping to achieve that short and long term vision for the sport?

Secondly, to support that vision, what capabilities do we need more and less of? For example, digital capabilities, brand and marketing, communications, participant pathways, project management or strategic planning capabilities? And, what are the benefits of investing in the capabilities?

Thirdly, what is the “experience” we want for equestrian as a sport by 2030?  For current and potential participants, for coaches/officials/specialist discipline providers, for Sport Australia, for international level competitions and for the broader equestrian industry partners?

Why did I do this? While EA has a strategic plan, and there have been significant deliverables against this plan, we need to build the next chapter for EA. We need to build on our strengths but also identify and agree on the vision for Equestrian Australia for the next 3 years and beyond ...and develop a clear road map to get there.

My initial observations are that we have a vibrant and strong sport – every weekend around the country there are so many activities going on from official competitions, people having lessons with their coaches or attending a training day. There are stewards and judges honing their skills at workshops and clinics. We have a strong community in equestrian.

The overwhelming response received was not that the sport is broken ...on the contrary… what people want is to be engaged, they want to understand what is going on and want to have a say in their sport.

In setting the next strategic plan, EA has the opportunity to :

• Be a leader in governing Equestrian sport
• To retain and grow participation and membership
• To Increase revenue and strengthen our brand
• And to build public and private partnerships

So how do we do this? I recognise we have some frustrations that we need to address, but this is normal in any organisation. The key is for us to recognise this, develop a respectful culture and work with trust and integrity within the organisation. We need to focus our energy and passion on achieving our goals.

We have an enormously important role at Equestrian Australia to represent our sport on a local, state, national and international stage. We are all one organisation with a common goal to work in the best interest of Equestrian sport for Australia.

Through our work, we continue to achieve great things:

• A renewed focus on Member safety, risk and horse welfare
• We have increased our membership participation from grass route levels with our ‘’Sporting Schools Programme’’
• We have recently launched a “Ride a Horse Program” off the back of the success of the Sporting Schools Program and the Ready Set Trot Program
• AND Australia was 1 of 5 countries in the World, the only one from the Southern Hemisphere, to field a full team in every discipline at the 2018 World Equestrian Games

There is no doubt that on the back of Australia’s success at WEG this year, being one of only two countries in the World to qualify all three Olympic disciplines (which is a first for Australia), we have the opportunity to really get behind our Olympic and Para-Olympic sports  and help them in the lead up to Tokyo 2020 and beyond.

None of these achievements are possible without a dedicated team of people, and I’d like to thank the state branches, national discipline committees, volunteers, and all my staff and the Board for their hard work and dedication and everyone who’s contacted me personally to wish me good luck. Our staff members Lyn, Christine, Kirsty, Alisha, Sashi, Viv, and Board members Judy, Suzanne and Colin, are here today.

I  also wish  to extend our thanks to those who provide essential funding for our organisation, particularly our main sponsor Sport Australia, who provide over $3M of funding annually for high performance and participation.

At tomorrow’s sports forum, I would encourage all of you to be open-minded and to forge a positive culture for Equestrian Australia. I would ask that you take a moment and think how we can all assume responsibility and contribute to our successful future.

Rest assured that my talents and experience will be devoted entirely to the best interests of the equestrian community. I will do my very best and I look forward to playing my part in the great achievements which I am sure we will witness in the years to come.

Thank you.

Lucy Warhurst, Chief Executive Officer