Equine Hippique Canada (EC) is a sanctioning organization for equestrian sport in Canada. For the Roman class see Equestrian (Roman Equestrianism refers to the skill of riding or driving Horses This broad description Country to "Dominion of Canada" or "Canadian Federation" or anything else please read the Talk Page Formerly known as the Canadian Horse Show Association, the French word "hippique" (meaning "equine") was inserted into its name to create the appearance of bilingualism, although the vast majority of its activities are still conducted in English only. It is recognized by the International Federation for Equestrian Sports (FEI) as Canada's representative equestrian federation. The Fédération Équestre Internationale (commonly known as the FEI or in English the International Federation for Equestrian Sports, is the international governing body of
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Equestrian sport in Canada
EC regulates eight of the ten FEI disciplines: dressage, driving, endurance, eventing, reining, show jumping, paraequestrianism, and vaulting. Dressage (pronounced dress-ahhzh /ˈdrɛsɑʒ/ (a French term most commonly translated to mean "training" is a path and destination of competitive Horse training Combined driving also known as Horse Driving Trials is an equestrian sport involving carriage driving. Endurance riding is an equestrian sport based on controlled long distance races Eventing is an equestrian event which comprises Dressage, cross-country and Show-jumping. Reining is a Western riding competition for Horses where the riders guide the horses through a precise pattern of circles spins and stops Show jumping, also known as "stadium jumping" or "jumpers" is a member of a family of English riding equestrian events that also includes Equestrian vaulting is most often described as Gymnastics and dance on horseback and like these disciplines it is an art and not a competitive sport [1] Two of the FEI disciplines have remained independent of EC: horseball[2] and tent pegging[3]. Horseball is a Game played on Horseback where a ball is handled and points are scored by shooting it through a high net (approximately 1 Tent pegging (sometimes spelled "tentpegging" or "tent-pegging" is a Cavalry sport of ancient origin and is one of only ten equestrian disciplines
EC also regulates the following non-FEI disciplines: hunt seat, pony club sports, saddle seat, and some breed-specific sports. Hunt seat is terminology used in the United States and Canada to refer to a style of forward seat riding commonly found at American Horse Pony Club is an international youth organization devoted to the educating youths about horses and horseback riding Saddle seat is a style of horseback riding within the category of English riding that is designed to show off the high trotting action of certain horse breeds It does not regulate the non-FEI disciplines of classical dressage, horse racing, or polo. Classical dressage evolved from Cavalry movements and training for the battlefield and has since developed into the competitive Dressage seen today This article is about the sport For other uses see Horserace (drinking game or Horse race (politics. Polo is a team sport played outdoors on Horseback in which the objective is to score goals against an opposing team
National challenges
EC has faced many of the challenges typical of a national organization in a federated country, such as tensions between the central committee and the ten provincial entities. In addition, it candidly admits that it suffers from "dissatisfaction of all four divisions", "sub-standard infrastructure", "inadequate management structure", and persistent "debates on old arguments". [4]
More seriously for a bilingual and multicultural country, EC is often perceived as a captive of white, anglophone, social climbing classes[5], for which money is more important that talent or good sportsmanship. The fact that horseball (a primarily francophone sport in Canada) and tent pegging (the most racially-mixed equestrian sport in Canada) have both remained outside of EC has tended to reinforce this view. Horseball is a Game played on Horseback where a ball is handled and points are scored by shooting it through a high net (approximately 1 Tent pegging (sometimes spelled "tentpegging" or "tent-pegging" is a Cavalry sport of ancient origin and is one of only ten equestrian disciplines
Perhaps as a result of these issues, EC concedes that it has become a "little known and hardly recognized"[6] entity in Canada.
Financial challenges
The organization has been riven with internal conflict as a result of a permanent funding crisis since its inception. According to its own governance self-assessment, "Competition for scarce resources leads to internal conflict. This results in continuing disagreement amongst the various parts of the organization as everyone seeks to survive. "[7]
Olympics
EC has confirmed that Canadian athletes have qualified for all three equestrian disciplines (dressage, eventing, and show jumping) at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
References
- ^ Equine Canada Sports, retrieved 7 February 2008
- ^ Horse-Ball Canada, retrieved 7 February 2008
- ^ UNICEF Team Canada Tent Pegging, retrieved 7 February 2008
- ^ Organizational Review, retrieved 7 February 2008
- ^ "Stop subsidizing the horsey set", National Post, 18 August 2004
- ^ Organizational Review, retrieved 7 February 2008
- ^ Equine Canada 20/20 White Paper 18 September 2007