Well, certainly we cannot keep going as we have been going if we, the Equestrian Australia members, are to take our sport forward.
Aussie eventer Chris Burton secured the individual silver medal at the Paris Olympics with Shadow Man. Image by Michelle Terlato Photography.
Forward? what do you mean forward?
Well, we just came 10th in the Dressage at the Paris Olympics. We came 15th in the Eventing at the Paris Olympics, 15th in the Jumping at the Paris Olympics, and 12th in the Para-Dressage at the Paris Paralympics. Australia has top athletes; that is not the problem. We need to plan and change so our athletes are best placed for medal-winning performances come the 2032 Brisbane Olympics. What we have been doing in recent years is no longer on the pace. We are stagnating and not moving forward.
To be fair, I think our riders and the horse owners today are having to do much of this Olympic campaigning on their own and there is very little management recognition of what is really important for top of the range results. Clearly, the countries that did well at Paris did well right across the board in all equestrian disciplines. The riders in these countries had wonderful and state-of-the-art administration support from their national bodies. Ours didn’t. Of course, we have to change. Right now! All of these Olympic disciplines we in Australia do have the potential to medal in, and honestly, we can do gold medals. We in Australia can do excellence.
Chris Burton did win an individual silver medal in the eventing. Thank goodness for that!
Bill Roycroft, pictured here on a Thoroughbred named Version. Image supplied
Our EA chair, Christie Freeman is a very determined lady with lots of passion, and for me she is exactly the right person to lead Australia out of mediocracy and challenge the very best standards that the world has to offer.
As riders, Australians are tough, committed, and super, super competitive. We have a historical legacy of horsemanship. We can be injured and still get out of hospital and with everything we have challenge the best in the world. Our first gold medal was in 1960 at the Rome Olympics where Bill Roycroft signed himself out of hospital with a broken collarbone and rode the round of his life in the show jumping phase to win a team gold eventing medal.
“Restructuring is
not going to answer
EA’s problems.”
We are raw talent. Performing back at the top in 2032 at the Brisbane Olympics is something we can do. We do, however, need a tough, committed, super, super competitive leader who will not take no for an answer. An Australian leader. For me, we have this in Christie Freeman. I do think, however, that Christie has to get onto brainstorming and implementing policies and actions that will take Australia forward. Christie can right this moment impact on High Performance. She doesn’t need a restructure for this. Christie can right this moment impact on the production of EA officials as in judges, technical delegates, course builders and management policy at Olympics and World Championships. We don’t need a restructure for this. Developing shows and competitions which are in line with promoting a) the popularity of the disciplines and b) promoting the standards right up to the top of the disciplines. We don’t need a restructure for this.
Developing horse welfare policies, developing rider health and safety policies, and developing an EA approach which 100% backs the riders and officials that have to go out on the front lines and push the boundaries, which are necessary for Australia to climb right back up to being competitive with the leaders in the world. We so need as EA members 100% support from the EA. All of this requires leadership. I am 100% convinced that none of this requires EA restructuring.
One of Western Australia’s top eventing combinations, Kenya Wilson and Sandros Salute MW, competing on the world stage. Image by Bit Media.
URGENT ISSUES
Big problem. Christie Freeman is 100% focused on and leading the EA board through an Australian national organisational restructure process. This process is huge and has failed miserably in recent history. This process is not popular, is going to take lots and lots of effort, and lots and lots of time. Even if Christie and her board succeed with the restructure of EA, it will still in my opinion then need to be refocused – and goals which are important now will still need to be addressed. A restructured EA is not automatically going to answer urgent issues which need to be dealt with now. I think this is a big misconception. Restructuring is not going to answer EA’s problems.
Winning gold medals at the Brisbane Olympics is not the only urgent issue that needs to be addressed right now. Already Christie has been at the helm leading EA for the last 12 months and she is grinding her way through the restructure process. She is making progress, however at this point I think very few of we EA members are yet across how radical this change is going to be and how much effort the EA board is putting in here, and consequently, in my opinion, neglecting other initiatives that are urgent.
I think conservatively the restructuring process will take another five years at least, and that is if, against all the odds, Christie were to prevail. The Los Angeles Olympics in 2028 will be over, the results will be mediocre, and the development of a new Australian generation to turn our international results around will not be advanced enough to against all the odds turn the Brisbane Olympics into an Australian statement of how good we really are.
All of the state boards, made up of volunteer members from that state, have some concerns about the restructuring, and given the different needs of their membership and committee structures in each state, that’s probably reasonable.
The South Australian board and I am not sure about the Northern Territory board are willingly embracing the restructure process.
Eventually the vision is that EA will replace our state bodies with a national EA body overseeing National Discipline Committees with enhanced autonomy, budgets and resources.
VOTING AGAINST YOUR STATE?
Big problem. As mentioned above the needs of riders and members in each state are quite different, so getting 75% of EA members to vote for the change and state branches to support a one-step massive scale of change is likely to be difficult, even though I’m sure all of the people involved want a better performing EA.
For some easy reading on why getting rid of our states is not a good idea, go to the Equestrian Western Australian (EWA) Q&A on restructuring on their website.
Unlike most states in Australia, EWA has tried to communicate with its members about this issue. I think most states are trying to ignore this restructure process and stalling the inevitable confrontation. Personally, I think this restructure is probably the biggest EA issue on the table for all of us at the moment. Indeed, this is the least advertised EA issue, but right this moment it should be the most important of all issues for all EA members all over Australia. I think inevitably the restructure means conflict is coming, which is maybe why most state branches aren’t communicating much – no one likes conflict, and easy solutions to the diverse needs of members across the country is unlikely, but delaying the hard conversations is not going to benefit the sport.
Most EA members know nothing about it, and that includes the South Australian members who are about to be signed up as guinea pigs by their board.
Initially it is just going to be SA that is no longer state run. All the other states are going to sit back and watch and see how this goes with the EA running a single state. Guinea pigs. I can tell you, SA has a history of enormous governance problems over recent years – why, I don’t know – however, coming right their way right this moment, is the grandfather of all governance headaches unless the current ESA board duly notifies all of its members. I mean proactively notify them. I think SA members will be horrified when they understand why all the other states are so nervous about this process. Let’s just see how the South Australians go!!
Anyway, the above EWA link is easy reading. EWA sure does not make available its membership for the EA to experiment with. The EWA Q&A on its website sure does spell out why it is not in favour of the restructure. Interestingly, it does, however, in turn, also have a link to the EA National Structure Discussion Paper. This is extraordinarily difficult to find so this link is very interesting. It is around this paper that Christie Freeman and the EA board are moving forward with the restructure program. This is a really big paper and I personally find it repetitive and confusing. It’s not something that the average EA member like me will enjoy reading. I was completely bamboozled by the time I had got to Page 3 and the colourful diagrams. There are 46 pages in this document. Ouch! For me, it creates more questions than answers.
Equestrian Victoria runs several of the state’s big events, such as the Victorian Dressage Festival. Image Equisoul Photography.
Nevertheless, it should have been sent direct to every EA member in Australia. After all, we are all members of the EA. They should be communicating directly with us. Especially allowing for the fact that EA wants to take over from the state bodies. EA needs to communicate with its members. There will be enough members who will brave their way through this 46-page document and then start talking to everyone else.
STATE GOVERNMENT FUNDING
One of the big issues is that some states are very dependent upon state government grants which are available to sporting bodies in each state. Once EA takes over the running of all the states on a national basis it is possible that state grants are no longer available to a nationally run sport. For some states this would be devastating. This is also the case with junior squad schools and senior High Performance clinics in each state; funding.
So, state funding is a perceived problem. Maybe a big problem with the EA national restructure. So far, the EA, despite repeated questioning, has not addressed this. Other issues also include that individual members like you and I have local issues which need to be addressed by people with authority who are very aware of individual needs. The smaller states like Tasmania will feel that their small membership numbers mean that they are not in a position to have a voice in a big national picture which recognises, disciplines rather than state representation. There are no four-star event riders in Tasmania, there are no international-level Grand Prix dressage riders in Tasmania, there are no World Cup show jumping riders in Tasmania, and there are no Paralympic riders currently in Tasmania. Certainly, Tasmania in the past has had top of the range riders so it would be not astute to suggest that they don’t have the potential, small as they might be. Nevertheless, a small membership means less attention on a national level than they would get on a state-based level.
The National Restructure is thought to introduce much more efficiency and so the wages for CEOs from each state will be saved and these resources will be put back into the sport. Local government in NSW has been amalgamating shires or councils and so getting rid of perceived extra general managers for similar reasons. Efficiency. What has been transpiring, however, is that general managers are replaced with a new level of governance in each area all reporting into a single general manager (GM). The costs with this new level of governance are just as costly and sometimes more costly than the original governing structure of separate GMs. More resources going into the community? Good theory but doesn’t actually stand up to reality.
So, there are lots of questions and perceived obstacles which no one can answer. Will this proposed discipline model headed wholly and solely by EA, and which is to replace the current state model, improve our governance, efficiency and return a better service to members? Almost like searching for the holy grail.
OTHER CONSIDERATIONS
Whilst this is going on there are other areas of the EA in desperate need of attention, including the High Performance department which I have already touched on. Other considerations include:
COACHING AND ACCREDITATION: To be fair, I think there is some action here in terms of communication and a new national board, but in saying that these developments have also introduced quite a disconnect. The developments that have been put in place by EA are without respect to transitioning and recognising what has already been there for decades and what the states have in place. Disconnect! We will see how this goes.
EDUCATING AND QUALIFYING OFFICIALS: Judges, dressage, para, show jumping and eventing, technical delegates, course designers. I think this is a very important aspect of EA, especially in taking the sport forward. Currently, updating or advancing qualifications is indeed complex and not friendly and personally expensive for these individuals. In lots of areas, we have less qualified officials today than we had 10 years ago. Our officials are very much a part of the Australian team going forward. Our officials are also very much a part of developing our grassroots which are an essential part of our future.
SUPPORTING SHOW ORGANISERS: In Victoria, Equestrian Victoria actually does run some of the big shows like the Victorian Dressage Festival, the Barastoc Horse Of The Year Show (Show Horse), Dressage & Jumping with the Stars, and the Melbourne International Three-Day Event. Actually 10 big shows across all disciplines. This is different to most state bodies who do not actually run shows. Shows are normally run by organising committees. Each state does have different needs and different structures in place.
The Australian team atop the podium at the 2023 Virtus Global Games. Image by Virtus Global Games.
DEVELOPMENT OF HORSE WELFARE POLICIES.
ONGOING DEVELOPMENT OF RIDER HEALTH AND SAFETY POLICIES.
SUPPORTING EA MEMBERS: In this time of social media and videos and mental health issues, I personally feel really exposed as a coach and a competitor. If somewhere along the line I overstep the mark – or seemingly overstep the mark –and it is presented to the EA, I am in all sorts of trouble. I have spent my life in the EA and have loved every minute of it. Nevertheless, the EA would come after me without any consideration for services rendered over the past decades. I feel the EA has to in the first instance protect its members: not guilty until proven otherwise. Members should have a two-week moratorium to present their case before being suspended. With social media the way it is now there is lots of room for mischief and troublemakers. The EA in the first instance has to back its members.
INTEGRITY
I have noted a couple of posts put up by Berni Saunders suggesting that EA members need to support Christie Freeman and the EA board in restructuring, or a voluntary administration (VA) may well be invoked a second time.
The VA in 2020 was shrouded in secrecy with the Australian Sports Commission the main driver. You can only do a VA if the board sincerely believes that it is insolvent and cannot pay its bills. None of us really understood anything at the time and it was just one big blur. In hindsight, going through old posts and minutes, Korda Mentha, who were the administrators, started on 9 June 2020 and on 5 July had a meeting of creditors and claimed they had already spent $250,000 and that the EA needed to pay this. EA did pay the $250,000 upfront that day.
What the hell? I thought a company had to be insolvent to go into VA. We just happened to have a lazy quarter of a million dollars in the bank account. I am told this is not illegal, as long as the board genuinely felt they were insolvent. Of course, we did own our own offices in Homebush with a value of $1.3 million. Anyway, Korda Mentha stayed for 12 months and had to be paid $800,000 all up and I had always thought that the states had all come together and paid this account. Apparently not. I am only just now aware that I think EA paid that.
This is very difficult to rationalise in hindsight. And you know what we got for all that money? Nothing. We were already state members and we were already EA members; however, what we did get is the ability to vote for the EA board. The EA board still had the ability to inspect nominations for the board, and if they don’t like a nominee, they can disqualify them and so we as members are unable to vote on all nominations for the board. Only on a sanitised list of nominations. Wow!
Now, I have spoken to Christie Freeman on this, and she has promised that there will be no VA on her watch.
The whole point of the VA in 2020 was an effort by the Australian Sports Commission to restructure EA. It failed miserably and cost all of us a lot of money which, apparently, we didn’t have! Historically, restructuring has already cost us EA members lots and lots of discomfort, lots and lots of money and zero progress or improvements. History repeating itself here.
Christie and the EA board are also prioritising the development of a new IT platform. I think they feel that this is a serious income-generating initiative and are trying to do bigger and better than perhaps what we have at the moment. At the moment we do have nominate.com.au along with a number of other private competition entry platforms like Snafflebytes, Event Secretary, Global Entries, Equipe and Equestrian Hub.
Historically, the EA has launched enormous efforts and funds into developing its own IT platform. It was called the Equinect effort in 2010. This initiative lasted for two years and cost EA members something like $1.2 million. It was catastrophic and it finished with the software being taken to the dump and thrown out. In that effort, we were trying to develop software called SharePoint.
With the collapse of the Equinect effort, nominate.com.au did pretty much come in and rescue the EA. The Nominate system used by EA today has been built under EA instruction and therefore should in theory meet it needs. Nominate itself has no say in the system’s ongoing development; this is done by the Nominate working group. Interestingly, EA doesn’t pay the bill for Nominate – this is covered by the States. One has to ask the value in replacing a system that EA can control and update at no cost to itself.
I am very aware that Nominate continues to support and sponsor little clubs right across Australia with their fundraising efforts and I also ran a fundraiser in 2016 helping Australian riders in the northern hemisphere who had run out of money to come home. In that effort we raised $280,000 which we deposited into riders’ bank accounts.
In more recent times I have been involved with fundraising for the first Virtus team to travel to France last year for the Virtus Games. That fundraiser brought in something like $80,000 and that was all through magnificent support from Nominate. This fundraiser actually went over Mother’s Day weekend and we were really under the gun getting invoices out at the close of the auction and so Nominate staff worked straight through Mother’s Day. Pretty amazing.
Of course, personally I am old fashioned and very supportive of Nominate from a loyalty point of view. Loyalty is kind of an important thing for us riders. Loyalty is one of the key factors in the partnership between the horse and the rider. I just hope that Christie and the EA know what they are doing. The EA has gone through a very expensive tender process calling for applications for a new IT program. It makes me very nervous to see familiar faces from that disastrous VA time reappearing.
Anyway, congratulations to anybody who has read this far. I think we are in the middle of a defining moment in terms of EA history and in terms of whether we embrace the Brisbane Olympics or not. EQ
Cheers,
Heath
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Mary Hanna has an intriguing recent post on Facebook that she has called “Reflecting on the 2024 Paris Olympics”. I think this is a fascinating insight into the future by one of Australia’s most seasoned Olympians, certainly our most experienced dressage Olympian ever!
What a fantastic Olympic Games the 2024 Paris Olympics delivered! Australians stood up against the very best in the world and we can hold our heads high.