USEF Authorizes Americans to Enter CDIs Directly, Global Extends Deadline for 2014 Season Launch CDI

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Palm Bach International Equestrian Center's Global Dressage Festival grounds. © 2013 Ken Brsddick/dressage-news.com
Palm Beach International Equestrian Center’s Global Dressage Festival grounds. © 2013 Ken Braddick/dressage-news.com

By KENNETH J. BRADDICK

WELLINGTON, Florida, Dec. 19, 2013–The U.S. Equestrian Federation on Thursday authorized Americans to enter dressage CDIs directly with show organizers while the deadline for entries for Florida’s Adequan Global Dressage Festival’s 2014 opening CDI has been extended by two weeks to Dec. 30 to deal with problems with the launch of the FEI Online Entry System.

The USEF said that Americans should submit entries directly to show organizers as they had in the past during what they described as a “trial” up to April 1, 2014. Competitions affected include the eight AGDF CDIs in Wellington, Florida that begin with the World Cup event Jan. 8-12 and three California CDIs in Burbank and San Juan Capistrano in February and March organized by Glenda McElroy’s Cornerstone Management.

What happens after April 1 when the FEI system is scheduled to be introduced worldwide will be communicated to Americans by the USEF in the coming months.

Some riders from the 15 to 20 nations that typically compete on the Florida winter dressage circuit reported that their federations did not appear to understand the new FEI system so had not confirmed their entries and the offices were now closed until January. Foreign riders can contact AGDF organizers to attempt to resolve issues.

Canada has a sophisticated online entry system for its riders that make up a large part of the Florida circuit and is being used to confirm entries. But it is not fully compatible with the FEI system that was reported to have been introduced first in the United States with no consultation with dressage show organizers.

“The USEF has been working with all U.S. CDI Organizers and will continue to work with all U.S. CDI organizers to ensure all athletes are properly entered in their desired CDIs,” a federation spokesperson said.

“The USEF Competitions Department, which has already worked with the FEI Entry Systems for Jumping and Endurance, will work with Dressage CDI Organizers to ensure competitions are not negatively affected by the new FEI Entry System. USEF is confident that the FEI will be making the needed updates to the FEI Entry System for Dressage.”

Organizers of the AGDF in Wellington, Florida used the word “confusion” to describe implementation of the system for dressage that is being implemented in the United States first ahead of Australia, France, Great Britain and the rest of the world on April 1.

The FEI announced introduction of the system for dressage on Dec. 3, just two weeks before the original closing date of Dec. 18 for entries for the first of eight Global Dressage Festival CDIs. The first online training session for American organizers was a week later but used Endurance entry forms with no class breakdowns as no dressage samples had been prepared.

And its introduction comes at the same time as the FEI and most national federations are closing for two weeks over the Christmas-New Year’s period and do not plan to reopen until Jan. 6, the week the AGDF World Cup event is held.

“Due to the confusion with this new system, the Organizing Committee has extended the Definite Entry date to December 30, 2013, with permission of the FEI,” the AGDF said.

“This new system requires the National Federation of each Athlete to provide all athlete and horse information for each FEI (CDI) competition in which the athlete/horse combination plans to compete. This is required for all levels of FEI (CDI) sanctioned classes, from Pony to the Grand Prix levels.”

The FEI process is an extra step as it does not replace the competition entry form and payment that athletes still need to submit directly to the competition.

The prize list and information is currently posted at www.GlobalDressageFestival.com. Included is a link to the online system of entering the show for both the National and CDI divisions.