What is the FFE?
Created in 1987, the French Equestrian Federation is an organization that manages activities related to equestrian sports, from leisure riding to equestrian tourism in France.
The FFE being the third French Olympic federation, the missions it assigns itself are multiple. From the management of competitions to the issuing of licenses, through the development of regulations to high-level management, the FFE is today one of the most indispensable organizations in the field of equestrianism. In reality, what is the FFE? We talk about it in this article.
What is the story behind the FFE?
One of the very first things you need to know is that the French Equestrian Federation (FFE) was born from three entity meetings in 1987. These are the French Federation of Equestrian Sports, which was created in 1921, the National Association for Equestrian Tourism, which was created in 1963 with the support of the National Stud Farms, and then the Pony Club of France, which was born in 1971 with the intervention of the National Stud Farms.
The FFE was therefore a grouping of three different national delegations, including the national delegation for equestrian sports, the national delegation for equestrian tourism and the national delegation for pony riding DNEP. The delegations have all been dissolved since 1999 and are incorporated into the FFE. The steering committee that was then created includes a horse committee, a pony committee, a tourism committee and a competition college.
Today, the French Equestrian Federation is the third largest women's Olympic federation and includes 7,792 equestrian groups in 2010 and more than 700,000 licensed individuals registered in 2011. The majority of these licensed professionals obtain their accessories from La Sellerie Française .
What is the FFE for?
The statutory missions that the FFE sets itself generally concern the issuing of licenses as well as the maintenance of the file of these licenses in addition to the relevant assessment of the level of technical mastery of the practitioners who have obtained said licenses and the issuing of the corresponding certificates.
The other role played by the French Equestrian Federation is the organization of sporting events at international, national, regional and departmental levels. The FFE also takes care of the development and approval of establishments, facilities and equipment used during equestrian activities, including competitions.
The FFE also organizes various training courses and issues federal diplomas. The federation also takes care of participating in the definition and organization of training courses that lead to obtaining horse riding teaching diplomas that are issued and approved by the State.
In addition, the FFE also deals with the development of sports regulations as well as equestrian activities. It deals with the high level in the different equestrian disciplines. It allows the establishment of so-called decentralized organizations such as and the organization of international relations with other federations of other countries.
Finally, the FFE is a federation which deals with so-called equestrian activities such as publications, the organisation of assemblies, congresses, etc.
In figures, we can see that the FFE has enabled the creation of a single mixed Olympic sport. This federation has made France the leading continental nation for equestrian tourism. The FFE has participated in the popularization and development of 30 competition disciplines and issued 265,707 federal certificates in 2010 alone. Other figures available on the internet also demonstrate the effectiveness of the FFE.