In this year’s Education Committee meeting in Frankfurt several items were on the agenda.. The committee welcomed Mathilde Ladefoged as a new young committee member. Furthermore, different systems of rider education with tests and rider’s badges used in the member countries were compared. Discussion was on ways to exchange available systems and ideas between countries. Possibilities to use the Icelandic system of “Knapamerki” were looked at.

A thorough evaluation of the recently held and very successful Education Seminar ‘Harmony before Performance’ in Wången, Sweden, gave rise to new ideas for the future. The committee looked forward to the program for the combined seminar of Education and Sports Judges to be held in Århus and Vilhelmsborg, Denmark, 7-9 March 2025. The program will contain both topics on science and practical work to the most up to date standard, possibly contributing to a better understanding of possible actions in relation to horse welfare. Important issue was a first round of inventory of de need to update the trainer matrix to the modern standards and actual situation in the different countries. Several items need a new way of wording according to the modern standards f.i. with regard to aspects of horse welfare and legislation. This will be an ongoing action for the near future. In a joint meeting with the Youth Committee ideas were exchanged to search for better ways to make a system of competitions that is more capable of supporting young people in their development as riders. A joint meeting with the Leisure Committee gave rise to searching for possibilities to use the exchange of knowledge of professionals in the field of training and instructing as a platform for leisure riders to increase their knowledge and experience as well.