Different opinions on bit equipment – Interview with Gunnar Sturluson, newly elected FEIF board member

 

He is also the president of the horse club Snæfellingur as well as breeding horses at the farm Hrísdalur in Snæfellsnes. At the FEIF annual general meeting recently, Gunnar was elected into the board of the organization. 

 

He visited the Eiðfaxi headquarters and discussed his new international role and the issues which were on the agenda at the annual meeting.

 

“I had a really good feeling for this meeting. Lots of discussions took place in the different committees around many different topics but everyone on the board seemed to be in agreement about most of the issues within the board. In the sports board, people discussed the proposition from the German and Swiss people, which is about the prohibition of an angled noseband used along with the English noseband, when a sliding cheek bit is used with a chain. The Icelandic representatives lost in this discussion so we lost this discussion in the vote,” Gunnar said. During the meeting it was decided to prohibit the usage of this kind of bridle equipment in the sports competition.

 

Gunnar explains that discussion on bit equipment is a part of the well-being discussion which has been debated on lately. Icelandic horse riders in the European mainland have been criticized by horse people riding other horse breeds, for using equipment which is too rough and especially along with sliding cheek bits. Many of them want to prohibit sliding cheek bits except in very limited and defined cases. Before the committee lay another proposition which is about the prohibition of sliding cheek bits in the lighter categories, but this was not accepted. That debate will likely be discussed next. Our people in the sports committee have been fighting for maintaining of the rules staying unchanged, but the angled English noseband will still be permitted in the gæðinga competitions and breeding shows,” Gunnar said. 

 

He said FEIF is representing a reconsideration of the show- and competition rules of the association which is being worked on by a special committee named “Task Force” and the object is among other things to harmonize rules between the different competition events and therefore this newly agreed regulation within the sports committee was disagreeable to many who felt that it was quite peculiar to change those rules in the middle of the entire reconsideration and coordination work.

 

“My philosophy is that we should have as few and as clear rules on equipment as possible. You do not correct gross horse riding with endless rules. It is the hand on the rein which is the deciding factor, not the noseband or the bit.” 

 

Gunnar feels that there is need for good preparation as well as good reasoning in the discussions which lay before FEIF and says that at the general board meeting this kind of discussion was lacking. “It is fine that people have opinions on bit equipment, but no professional analysis lay before us at this time which supports the statements that sliding cheek bits are generally speaking worse equipment than snaffle bit is. It is imperative that Icelandic horse trainers and horse people in general participate in these discussions and view their opinions. We need to know if they want to make it possible for us to be able to follow this through.”

 

He feels that it is urgent for Iceland to take its international role as leaders very seriously. “In this country we have the greatest selection of great horses. Here in Iceland most breeding horses are being assessed and this is why we should be the ones to lay the rules in horse breeding, training and riding of Icelandic horses. If Iceland is going to be a leader we need to take initiative in all discussions on whatever is the topic at whatever time. We need to catch the propositions as they come, view them and make a well founded stand to them. We have to get our professionals to work with us and to be able to present constructive, well grounded and well prepared cause.”

 

An interview with Gunnar Sturluson will be published in the next Eiðfaxi edition.