CEO Update: February

It's great to see the 2023 events in full swing again for the equestrian community. During February we moved closer to providing the structure recommendations with models being mapped and shared for input. We commenced some critical strategic projects incuding the research and planning for the digital IT projects. There was lots of activity for High Performance including the FEI Endurance World Championships, Leadership changes and Paralympics Australia sharing their Brisbane 2032 strategy. 

Read below for al the update.

National Equestrian Strategy & Structure

In February members of the EA leadership met face-to-face with the National Equestrian Strategy & Structure Working Group (NESSWG) to further develop the structual recommendations and work through more of the detail for where the sport is heading.

Following this we commenced a roadshow to visit the states and their boards to share the direction of this work and listened to their feedback on the various scenarios. As always this was very constructive and collaborative process to help guide us to the best outcome for our members.

The next phase we will undertake is a deeper dive into the financial modelling and finalising the recommendations to EA's Board.

Strategic Projects Underway

The first phase, of a critical strategic project for Equestrian, has commenced with the initial research into improving the database, nominate and IT as a priority for our members. The team are researching requirements and putting the business case together and this will be an all-of-sport team that works on the research, development and implementation phases.

High Performance

Congratulations to our two Australian Team members in the FEI Endurance World Championships in Butheeb (UAE). We were absolutely delighted to have a top 10 finish. Jodie Salinas and Baroud Rio who have come home in 5th Place and Andrea Laws-King and Heathfield's Bin Sadaqa finishing in 31st Position

In other big news, we have restructured our HP Leadership with Will Enzinger promoted to Director of High Performance, while Chris Webb continues in a High Performance Advisory role working directly with athletes and their teams leading into Paris 2024. I give my heartfelt thanks to Chris for his contributions and success over the past 9 years and congratulate Will on his new role. The full announcement can be read here.

It was unfortunate with the Oceania event being cancelled and understood the disappointment of the athletes that were due to compete over in NZ. Our HP team are working on the pathway events including the major events in Adelaide over the next month.

Paralympics Australia

Paralympics Australian shared their strategy for Brisbane 2032 & Beyond with us and will be releasing this new strategy on Wednesday 1 March.

Equestrian Australia alongside Paralympics Australia, embraces the Federal and Queensland Governments’ major agreement on funding for the 2032 Brisbane Paralympic and Olympic Games, which will deliver venues and infrastructure that align with Paralympics Australia’s strategic and legacy goals for the Games.

The Queensland Government will fund a $2.7 billion redevelopment of the Brisbane Cricket Ground, known as the ‘Gabba, and the Federal Government will provide $2.5 billion for the development of Brisbane Arena.

We have lots to look forward to next month for the sport of equestrian.