Equestrian Australia (EA) has announced that it will be working with sports data analytics company, EquiRatings, to trial their pioneering safety tracking system, the EquiRatings Quality Index (ERQI).
This trial will be funded through the generous support of the EA ‘Making Eventing Safer’ Fund which was set up after a significant donation from benefactor, Terry Snow and will be an extension of the existing Minimum Eligibility Requirements (MER) and reverse qualification rules.
Earlier this year, EquiRatings and the FEI announced a long-term partnership to embark on a similar project at international level around the world in both Eventing and Endurance. The ERQI was described by FEI Secretary General Sabrina Ibáñez as “a powerful tool for understanding and predicting risk in Eventing”. In embarking on this initiative, EA joins Eventing Ireland, British Eventing and USEA in implementing ERQI at the national level.
In welcoming the initiative, EA CEO, Paula Ward said, “One of the core pillars of our Strategic Plan is to focus on member safety and horse welfare. The ERQI data aims to be another valuable component of our wider safety initiative to better position us to minimise the risk of injury during competition.”
EquiRatings’ Managing Director, Diarm Byrne noted, “The aim of every federation in the world is to make the sport as safe as possible and to reduce unnecessary horse falls. We are delighted to be playing our role in this in Australia by analysing data and providing tools for the federation to better assess and manage risk.”
