About Team Ireland Equestrian

THE TEAM IRELAND EQUESTRIAN BRAND
All Irish teams competing in FEI competitions will do so wearing the ‘Team Ireland Equestrian’ brand. The logo will encompass the eight FEI disciplines: Show Jumping, Eventing, Dressage, Para-equestrian, Carriage Driving, Endurance, Reining and Vaulting. It will be worn by the senior teams and all under age teams; Young Riders (U21), Junior Riders (U18), Ponies (U16) and Children on Horses (U14). It will also include Ireland’s studbook teams in Eventing and Show Jumping.

BACKGROUND
Horse Sport Ireland became the Governing body for equestrian sport on January 1st 2008. The organisational initial efforts were focused on putting High Performance structures and coaches in place to maximise Ireland’s chances of success on the International stage. The new Governing Body also set out to address the sport’s image with the general public. The two keys issues were; the perception that there was a problem with the use of banned substances on horses in the sport and the fact that the sport frequently received adverse publicity as a result of internal wrangling.

MEDICATION AND ANTI-DOPING
The International Governing Body, FEI have put a huge focus on trying to address this issue. New FEI rules, which set a specific list of banned substances will be in place from April of this year. In addition the FEI have introduced a new website www.feicleansport.org which provides guidance to riders and vets and should reduce the incidence of inadvertent breaches of the rules.
Horse Sport Ireland has also put additional measures in place, such as a medication logbook for team horses.
However, this issue will be kept high on the agenda at all levels. As well as being crucial for fair sport and horse welfare it is also central to encouraging commercial sponsors to become involved in our sport.

NEW HORSE SPORT IRELAND RULE BOOK
A significant milestone was achieved this year when a new set of rules was put in place by Horse Sport Ireland. The Rule Book deals with issues such as: veterinary logbooks, codes of conduct, disciplinary process and rider commitment to Irish teams. The new rules which came into place on January 1st this year also require riders to kit themselves and their horses out in ‘Team Ireland Equestrian’ gear on the day of Nations’ Cups and during the course of FEI championships.

COMMERCIAL SPONSORSHIP
Given the changes that have been made, Horse Sport Ireland now feel they are in a position to go to the marketplace to seek a corporate sponsor for Ireland’s teams and this is one the key reasons behind the development of the new ‘Team Ireland Equestrian’ brand.

TEAM IRELAND EQUESTRIAN LEISUREWEAR AND RUGS
The organisation has secured an Official Supplier for team gear and rugs with Horseware Ireland developing a new Team Ireland Equestrian line of rugs and leisurewear which will be supplied to all High Performance coaches, squad members and teams and will be available for purchase by supporters.

PUBLIC PROFILE
Horse Sport Ireland wants to create a real Irish presence at events and the clothing line is an important element in this. Protoypes of the new gear were unveiled at last year’s Dublin Horse Show. The new line will be unveiled in full next week and will be available for purchase from the end of the month.

A further reason for developing the new logo is to try and increase the profile of Ireland’s equestrian teams, riders and horses. The new brand will be the vehicle through which this will be done. Horse Sport Ireland already has a seven day a week press service in place and is devising a new media strategy in consultation with the Irish Sports Council. A particular emphasis will be placed on getting more coverage in the sports pages of national newspapers and on the sports bulletins on the radio.

Emphasis is also being placed on getting more people who are involved in the leisure side of the industry to follow the Irish teams.

TEAM IRELAND EQUESTRIAN FACEBOOK PAGE
Horse Sport Ireland has launched a new Team Ireland Equestrian’ Facebook page. The new page was only set up on January 20th and there are already over 1,000 fans registered. There is now also a Twitter service in operation.

We believe the growing strength of our online presence through this and other means will demonstrate the level of interest in the sport to the mainstream media in Ireland.

About Team Ireland Equestrian

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