The Fédération Equestre Internationale has signed a four-year agreement with Irish equestrian data science company EquiRatings, which will see the two organizations working together on risk management initiatives for both eventing and endurance.

The partnership will see EquiRatings work with the FEI’s extensive database which, alongside competition and veterinary data, has been collating statistics on fences, falls and injuries in eventing and other information related to risk management in international competition for the last 10 years, working closely with national federations and stakeholders.

As an important step in the FEI’s ongoing risk management work in eventing, the company will initially focus on the implementation of the EquiRatings Quality Index at all level of events starting with the four-star level. The ERQI is an index which helps assess the risk of horse falls in the cross-country phase and has proved an accurate indicator at national level. EquiRatings and the FEI will work on specific projects at the request of the FEI Eventing Committee and the FEI Risk Management Steering Group.

The agreement will also see the FEI and EquiRatings further collaborating on horse welfare and data analysis projects in endurance, formalizing exploratory work between the parties over the last 12 months. Initially this will include developing data analysis and predictive analysis tools to measure and manage risk for both human and equine athletes.

“This exciting new partnership with EquiRatings is part of a holistic approach to risk management, working with our national federations from grassroots right up to elite level,” said FEI Secretary General Sabrina Ibáñez. “The ERQI is both a powerful tool for understanding and predicting risk in both eventing and endurance and brings a new layer of insight into the decision-making process at a global governance level.

“We have worked with EquiRatings in the past, but formalizing this partnership provides us with a platform to move forward with more concrete analysis of the FEI’s data, and gives valuable insight into performance and risk. It also has the potential to contribute greatly to the promotion of our sport and the way in which it is consumed by fans,” she continued.

EquiRatings director Diarmuid Byrne commented: “Managing risk in equestrian sports is a collective responsibility, and we are delighted to be working alongside the FEI as we all play our part. This official partnership shows the ongoing commitment of the FEI and the FEI Risk Management Steering Group to new measures and tools. We will also be working with a number of national federations around the world in 2017 to implement ERQIs at national level.”

EquiRatings will make a presentation on data analysis as part of the eventing risk management session at the 2017 FEI Sports Forum in Lausanne, Switzerland, on the afternoon of April 11. The FEI Sports Forum will be streamed live on the FEI YouTube channel.

Full details on risk management in eventing can be found on the FEI website.