Horse welfare and Los Angeles 2028 qualifications take centre stage on opening day of FEI Sport Forum 2025
Media updates FEI
FEI President Ingmar De Vos welcomed almost 300 in-person participants and a global online audience to the 14th FEI Sports Forum, which opened today at the IMD Business School in Lausanne (SUI), reaffirming the Forum’s role as a crucial platform for discussion and consultation ahead of key decisions at the FEI General Assembly later in the year.
As always, welfare is a key focus at the Sports Forum and, in his opening address, the FEI President stressed the importance of keeping equine well-being to the forefront at all times. "We must be very careful when we train horses and think not about the performance, but about the welfare", he said.
Setting the stage for two days of sessions, De Vos introduced Professor Stéphane Michel, IMD Dean of Faculty of Research, who delivered a thought-provoking keynote on “Breakthroughs in Business, Sports and Life” that explored how reframing perspectives help to challenge existing assumptions to uncover new solutions.
In keeping with the welfare and wellbeing theme, one of today’s key announcement was the creation of the FEI Equine Welfare Advisory Group made during Session 3. FEI Veterinary Director Göran Åkerström introduced the Group, which will be chaired by FEI Vice President and Chair of the FEI Veterinary Committee Jenny Hall.
“Today we are proud to introduce the FEI Equine Welfare Advisory Group, which is composed of the world’s most prominent specialists in this area who represent key areas of expertise”, Dr Åkerström said. “This is one of the main action points of the FEI Equine Welfare Strategy Action Plan. Our fundamental goal when defining the criteria for the work of the Group and the profiles of its members was the positive and collaborative approach to the use of horses in elite sport.”
Madeleine Campbell, independent consultant, Professor and European Veterinary Specialist and Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons (RCVS) Specialist in Animal Welfare Science, Ethics and Law, highlighted the importance of the work of the Group. “Our belief is that the use of horses in sport is ethical provided certain key principles are fulfilled,” Professor Campbell said. “The guiding principles to which our group will be working will be to ensure that negative welfare effects are minimised, positive welfare effects are maximised, avoidable and unnecessary risks to horses are identified and mitigated, and the FEI regulations and the law are complied with.”
Lise Berg, Associate Professor at the University of Copenhagen’s Department of Veterinary Clinical Science and a member of the recently created FEI Dressage Strategic Action Planning Working Group, was a member of the panel for session 2 on Dressage. She emphasised the importance of making decisions based on independent scientific research and also encouraged communication with all sectors. “It’s super important we don’t shy away from the discussion.”, she said. “We need to face it head on, not as a conflict but as a conversation.”
Sessions summaries
Summaries from each of the day’s four sessions are available at the links below:
Session 1: Qualification Systems for the LA28 Olympic and Paralympic Games
Session 2: Dressage Strategic Action Plan
Session 3: FEI Equine Welfare Strategy Action Plan
Session 4: FEI Jumping Rules full revision
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