FEI Outlaws Whisker Trimming From 2021

The FEI General Assembly on the 23rd of November was held online, for the first time, due to the global pandemic. Several notable changes arose from there including the appointment of Diane Baxter to the jumping technical committee, while at the second meeting, a number of rule changes were approved, including a new FEI rule regarding the trimming of the horse’s whiskers.

The proposal put forward by the Veterinary Committee is to include an addition in the veterinary regulations under Article 1004: prohibited Methods, which has a new addition for 2021. Art 1004.1i reads: “Horses are not permitted to compete in FEI Events if the Horse’s sensory hairs have been clipped and/or shaven or in any other way removed unless individual sensory hairs have been removed by a veterinarian to prevent pain or discomfort for the Horse. Areas of hair that must be clipped, shaven or removed to allow veterinary treatment are exempt from this rule. As of 1 July 2021, Sanction 39 in Annex VI will be applicable.”

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The proposal of this new rule was met by some concern by the USA as they queried whether the rule would apply to mildly trimmed as well as fully trimmed and also queried the trimming of the sensory hairs above the eyes stipulating that if left at natural length, they could be caught in tack and should be eligible for trimming.

While the veterinary committee agreed that trimming the ear hair is still acceptable, as they do not constitute as sensory hairs, the decision to add the ban on whisker trimming was unanimous, despite the concerns raised by the USA and is set to be in effect as of July 1st 2021. While exceptions may be made due to medical necessity, athletes caught violating this new rule, will have the horse in question disqualified from the event.

-The JumpOff-

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