26 May 2021
Proposed modifications to the FEI Driving Rules 2022: read the details
During the FEI Sports Forum 2021 which will be held online this year, the FEI will on 2 June focus on the proposed modifications to the FEI Driving Rules. This proposal will afterwards be shared with National Federations and stakeholders and will be implemented on 1 January 2022. The FEI published the major proposed modifications:New scoring system
The current scoring system works as follows:
- Driven Dressage average score, originally given in percentage, then transformed into penalty points multiplied with a certain coefficient +
- Marathon total time taken in the obstacles and penalties transformed to penalty points +
- Cones course penalty points (balls down, time exceeding) added to the D+M scores.
- This scoring system is difficult to understand and entails a lot of transformations/modifications, giving a final score that doesn’t reflect clearly the Drivers performance.
The FEI proposes to change the Scoring System as follows:
The goal is, to have dressage count for 30%, the marathon for 40% and the cones also for 30% from the total score.
Dressage
Concept
- Result in %
- Difference multiplied by 4 seconds.
- Therefore giving the result in seconds.
Example
- Result in %: 80% for the number 1
- Result in % : 75% for the number 2
- Difference between number 1 and 2 is 5%, this x 0.4 seconds is 20 seconds, the number 1 starts at zero, the number 2 starts with 20 seconds in the marathon.
Marathon
Concept
- Results in seconds
- Penalties incurred during the Marathon competition in seconds +
- Total time taken in the Marathon obstacles =
- Therefore giving the result in seconds, which must be added to the Dressage score.
Example
- Number 1 has 50 seconds due to various penalties (ball down, groom down, etc.) +
- 400 seconds in the Marathon competition (total time taken in the 8 Marathon obstacles) =
- 450 seconds total in the Marathon competition for the number 1 and the number 2 was faster in the obstacles and had a total of 435 seconds in the marathon+
- 0 seconds to add. For the number 1 zero (0) to add for the dressage and 20 seconds for the number 2 to add for the dressage
- Total number 1 is 450 seconds ( 450 marathon and 0 dressage)
- Total number 2 is 435 seconds in marathon and 20 in dressage= 455 seconds
Then the Athletes carries her/his difference to the cones, so the number 1 start with 0 and the number 2 start with 5 seconds on the clock.
Cones
Concept
- Results in seconds
- Penalties during the Cones competition in seconds +
- Total time taken in the Cones competition =
- Therefore giving the result in seconds, which must be added to the D+M scores.
Example
- Number 2 starts first, he starts with 5 seconds on the clock, on the finish he has a time of 194 seconds ( included the 5 from the start ) and 1 ball ( 15 seconds) makes 209 seconds
- Number 1 has now 209 seconds to finish his course.
- When he starts, he got 209 seconds on the clock in a countdown. So everybody can see how much time is left on the clock, when he hits a ball, the 15 seconds goes off from this time. At the end if he got no more seconds on the clock then the number 2 is the winner.
Advantages of the new scoring system
- Easier to understand for the Public/Officials/Athletes/Scoring Office
- Easier to calculate for the Scoring Office
- Easier data handling for Service Providers
- Less possibility to make calculation errors
- Eliminates judging mistakes
- Creates more excitement during the Event
- Immediate results at the end of the Event
- Keeps the balance between the three competitions
- Makes Driving Sport more popular and understandable
Photo: Krisztina Horváth
New Horse Inspections at FEI Driving Events
- The proposed inspections allow for a constant monitoring of the Horses by the Veterinarians, due to the addition of an inspection before Dressage, and before Marathon.
- The Horses are checked before and after every competition.
- The new inspections are focused on Horse Welfare and safety of the Participants.
- It solves many negative points raised during the last years, such as footing issues during HI and overall Horse welfare concerns.
Photo: Krisztina Horváth
FEI Officials required at FEI Driving Events
In order to encourage Organising Committees to organise CAI3* Events, where Athletes will be able to obtain qualification results for FEI Championships, the requirements for CAI3* Events have been reviewed. Qualification for Championships will not be possible anymore at CAI2* Events.
The Driving Committee is sensible to the fact that it’s getting more and more difficult to organisers to have many Officials in their events, sometime overlapping the number of competitors, therefore a proposal to reduce the number of Officials will be presented. The Level of the Officials is also modified.
The FEI proposes to change the officials’ requirements as follows:
Photo: Karolina Swärdh
Everybody welcome to participate!
Consultation with the community and feedback from the stakeholders is an important part of the FEI’s Rules Revision process. The FEI highly recommend and encourage all concerned individuals and organisations – National Federations, Athletes and support team personnel, Veterinarians, Medical Officers, Coaches, Chefs d’Equipe, etc – to join this session in order to share their feedback on the initial proposed changes.
The session on 2 June starts at 15.15 and finishes at 16.30.
The session will be presented by Károly Fugli (HUN), Chair, FEI Driving Committee, FEI Board Member and
Jeroen Houterman (NED), Member, FEI Driving Technical Committee.
