Edwina Tops-Alexander and Identity Vitseroel; Edwina has been competing at Hubside Jumping in France.
© Marco Villanti / HUBSIDE JUMPING
Below is the latest udpdate from Equestrian High Performance…
We hope you have all been keeping safe, well and healthy.
The return of FEI competition overseas continues to motivate and inspire as we see many of our High Performance riders return to the arena with their sights firmly set on Tokyo 2020. Domestically our riders have been able to attend training days, which have been a welcomed motivator whilst preparing for the recommencement of competition in Australia.
Last week the Eventing High Performance NEXT Squad riders took part in their second virtual workshop with Olympian, Chris Burton. These virtual workshops have been created to maintain and cultivate proactive communication with Squad riders, which has also produced a level of engagement, interaction and collaboration that has never been seen before within the Equestrian High Performance Program.
The workshop focussed on the importance of horse preparation and fitness for the cross-country phase of Eventing. Chris, who is renowned for producing fit, fast and phenomenal cross-country horses, spoke to the riders and offered advice surrounding galloping, progressive training and clarity of the aids when teaching a horse something new. Chris was also able to answer specific questions the riders had about their own horses and has offered his ongoing assistance to each squad member. Chris, who is an Eventing High
Performance Gold Squad rider himself, encouraged all of the NEXT Squad riders to utilise the opportunities and resources available to them through the Equestrian High Performance Program. We would like to thank all the riders who took part in the interactive workshop, with a special thank you extended to Chris Burton for giving up this time to work with the NEXT Squad on progressing Australia’s Eventing talent.
From 1 July 2020, ASADA has ceased to exist as an organisation and was merged into Sport Integrity Australia. This new agency has become Australia’s National Anti-Doping Organisation (NADO). Given this change, Equestrian Australia’s Anti-Doping Policy will be updated to ensure the anti-doping operations of Sport Integrity Australia are recognised. To ensure that Sport Integrity Australia is the recognised entity for the current anti-doping policy a variation document has been adopted and approved to replace all references to ASADA, with references to Sport Integrity Australia. This announcement was shared with all stakeholders last week and the notice of variation can be found on the Equestrian Australia website here.
The High Performance Panel and the National Selectors continue to engage in ongoing communication with the FEI, the Australian Olympic Committee (AOC), Paralympics Australia (PA) and the Australian Institute of sport as we all work towards a sustainable future in the best interest of equestrian sport. The participation of our athletes at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games remains our priority and we are ensuring all requirements are met to make certain this happens without question. Currently we remain focussed on
preparing our athletes for the postponed Games in 2021 and fulfilling Australia’s quota spot of which our athletes deservingly acquired at the World Equestrian Games, Tryon 2018. Our National Selectors are also in the process of reviewing the Olympic and Paralympic Selection Policies and we look forward to presenting these updated policies once they have been through the required review process with the AOC and PA.
As always the health and safety of our people and horses remain our highest priority as we work together as a united high performance community to navigate these unprecedented times.
We thank you all for your understanding and continued support and please feel free to contact the High Performance team directly if you have any questions or queries.
Source: Equestrian High Performance team
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