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(FEI Press Release) Valerie Kanavy (USA), the former athlete representative on the Endurance Committee, is to replace her compatriot Dr Margaret (Meg) Sleeper on the Temporary Committee set up in October to urgently review the Endurance rules in order to address the issues currently affecting the discipline.\nMeg Sleeper, who was initially announced as one of the members of the Temporary Committee chaired by Dr Sarah Coombs (GBR), has resigned.
\nValerie Kanavy, who won individual gold with Pieraz at the FEI World Equestrian Games\u2122 in Den Haag (1994) and took the world title again four years later with High Winds Jedi in Abu Dhabi (UAE), was a member of the FEI Athletes\u2019 Committee and the Athletes\u2019 Representative on the Endurance Committee for the four-year term 2014-2018. She has been competing at the elite level of the sport for more than three decades and won her most recent FEI event, a CEI2* 120-kilometre ride with Amir El Arab AT in July of this year, a week before celebrating her 72nd birthday.
\nThe other members of the Temporary Committee are Tarek Taher (KSA), an international Endurance athlete elected by his peers as a member of the FEI Athletes\u2019 Committee earlier this year; Pieter Wiersinga (NED), chef d\u2019\u00e9quipe of the Dutch Endurance team, a Police Commissioner and former Head of the Mounted Police in the Netherlands; and Dr Tim Parkin (GBR), who was elected onto the FEI Veterinary Committee at last month\u2019s FEI General Assembly and who heads up the scientific research conducted at the University of Glasgow as part of the FEI\u2019s Global Endurance Injuries Study (GEIS).
\nThe Temporary Committee is chaired by Dr Sarah Coombs (GBR), a top FEI Endurance veterinarian who has many years\u2019 experience of officiating at FEI Endurance events. Dr Coombs was formerly the British Endurance team vet, is a Trustee of the global equine charity World Horse Welfare and is also chair of its Veterinary Advisory Committee.
\nFEI Vice President Mark Samuel (CAN) will also be involved in the work of the Temporary Committee and will help facilitate communications between the Committee and the FEI Board.
\nThe first in-person meeting of the Temporary Committee will be held at FEI Headquarters in Lausanne (SUI) on 12 December.
\nThis first meeting will establish the methodology to be used to fulfil the Committee\u2019s remit to carry out an in-depth review of the rules in order to identify the most effective way of bringing the discipline back to its original roots of Endurance riding as opposed to Endurance racing, with horse welfare and horsemanship at its core, while still maintaining the competitive aspect of the sport.
\nThe Temporary Committee will also use this first meeting to determine the crucial consultation process with relevant key people in order to tap into their expertise and in-depth knowledge of the discipline.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"