PrintThe Fédération Equestre Internationale has announced the creation of the Dressage Judge General, a position created to “ensure greater consistency and accuracy of judging at all levels of dressage competition.”
Ghislain Fouarge of the Netherlands was elected as the inaugural Dressage Judge General at the five-star judges seminar held Jan. 24 and 25 in Warendorf, Germany. His primary duties will include encouraging proper communication between FEI judges and FEI Headquarters and Course Directors. The first term of office for the Dressage Judge General will be two years, and a five-star judge will always fill the position.
“There has traditionally been a top judge chairing the FEI Dressage Committee, and this person automatically took the leader role in discussions related to judging,” said Trond Asmyr, FEI Director Dressage and Para-Equestrian Dressage. “As the current Dressage Committee is structured differently, we needed to create a ‘leader judge’ role to ensure that all judges follow the same line.”
Fouarge is a well-known international official and has acted as a top-level judge for competitions such as the 2008 Olympic Games in Hong Kong, the 2006 FEI World Equestrian Games in Aachen (Germany), the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games 2010 in Kentucky and at two FEI World Cup Finals.
Additionally, Eric Lette of Sweden, David Hunt of Great Britain and Dieter Schuele of Germany have been appointed as the first three members of the Judges Supervisory Panel, which was recommended by the Dressage Task Force and then approved at the 2010 FEI General Assembly in Taipei, Taiwan.
