FN General Secretary Lauterbach is open to new rules for baby breaks in equestrian sport. Currently, mothers are strangely disadvantaged.
Women and men in the same competitions – this is one of the hallmarks of equestrian sport. A “universal and equal playing field” for everyone, that’s what the international equestrian sports association FEI lists as a central value on its website. But the case of show jumper Janne Friederike Meyer-Zimmermann makes it clear: At one point in the regulations, women have a structural disadvantage.
Meyer-Zimmermann is in top form with her horse Messi, as she proved at the CHIO in Aachen. At the Nations Cup on Thursday (06/30/2022), the 41-year-old led the team to victory with two clear rounds. This is all the more remarkable because her son was only born six months ago.
Meyer-Zimmermann only paused for two months, then at the end of March he competed again in Oliva, Spain – with negative consequences. “I had an insane loss of world ranking points. Now I have to slowly fight my way up”, Meyer-Zimmermann told the NDR in early June. From 107th place it went down to 270th place.
Penalty for too short a break
The reason for this is curious: Meyer-Zimmermann rode again too early. If she had only returned after six months, she would have been allowed to keep 50 percent of her world ranking points under a long-term injury rule. But she got all the points from the same period last year canceled – and was punished for taking a break that was too short. “The rule is not thought through to the end”, says carpenter.
Pregnancies are treated like long-term injuries. The latter can happen to anyone. but “the babies get the women,” says Meyer Zimmermann. As a result, women have an additional risk of losing world ranking points compared to men in the course of their careers, so they are disadvantaged.
FN Secretary General Lauterbach open to new rules
That’s why Meyer-Zimmermann founded the initiative together with three fellow campaigners “Equal Equest” with the aim of persuading the FEI to change the rules. The initiators can already claim partial success, because the German Equestrian Federation FN is taking on the topic.
“We are now discussing in our committees and will propose changes to the FEI over the course of the summer or autumn”, said FN Secretary General Sönke Lauterbach in the WDR interview. “I can well imagine that our proposal would amount to saying: For young mothers, we will lift the minimum period of six months. And that the young mothers can also keep 100 percent of the world ranking points from the same period last year.”
The decision lies with the world association FEI
Then mothers would probably be treated differently than long-term injured people, Lauterbach believes. “Because I assume that the world community will say: We stay at 50 percent for injuries.” Ultimately, the decision rests with the FEI. “We can only make one suggestion now and then the world association has to give a thumbs up or thumbs down in its general meeting,” said Lauterbach.
The world association wrote to the sports show request that it was based on that “Principle of Equality and Fairness” and therefore want the concerns of Equal Equest as part of the normal rule change process. Accordingly, amendments can be submitted up to July 6th, which will then be “thorough consultation process” possibly put to the vote at the November 13th General Assembly. In addition, the FEI emphasizes that they have the approval of the equestrian association “International Jumping Riders Club” need to be able to change the world ranking rules.
Supported by Bredow-Werndl and Michaels-Beerbaum
Jessica von Bredow-Werndl will follow with interest how the associations react. Because the dressage Olympic champion is pregnant. Next to her is also a show jumper Meredith MichaelsBeerbaum to the prominent supporters of Equal Equest. The birth of her daughter in January 2010 was one of the reasons why the 50 percent rule for pregnant women was introduced at all.
“Back then everyone said: ‘Great, there is now a solution for these cases.’ And then everyone lived with it for twelve years”, said Lauterbach. Meyer-Zimmermann has now noted the existing weaknesses and is participating “Equal Equest” also draws attention to the fact that there is not even a 50 percent rule for vaulting, endurance riding, para-dressage and eventing. There, female riders always lose all points during a baby break.
Equestrian sport with a special constellation
Other sports also have the topic on the list. For example, the women’s tennis tour WTA made improvements at the end of 2018 and made it possible for mothers and long-term injuries to take a break for up to three years without major disadvantages. Two differences to equestrian sport: on the WTA tour, the women are among themselves, so there is no direct disadvantage compared to male competition. And the physical demands in tennis are so great that many players stop in their early 30s and only start a family afterwards.
Equestrian sport, on the other hand, enables longer careers, for example the US show jumper Laura Kraut still world-class even at the age of 56. The founders of Equal Equest therefore speak of one “special constellation” and hope that the equestrian sport will now have a new set of rules “Leading the Way”.