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International Federation · Equestrian

FEI — Fédération Équestre Internationale

The Fédération Équestre Internationale, formed in 1921 by eight national signatories and based in Lausanne; an ASOIF full member and World Anti-Doping Code signatory with 136 member national federations by its own count.
✓ Last reviewed: September 2026
Founded1921, by eight member signatories, per the FEI and Olympedia; the FEI links its birth to Paris and to the 1921 Olympic Congress in Lausanne[3][4]
HeadquartersLausanne, Switzerland, per the FEI and Olympedia (January 2026)[5][4]
Members136 national federations on the FEI’s history page; Olympedia gives 135[2][4]
DisciplinesJumping · dressage · eventing · driving · endurance · vaulting · para dressage · para driving[2]
Umbrella bodiesASOIF full member; World Anti-Doping Code signatory[10][9]
Anti-doping deliveryInternational Testing Agency, for human athletes, since January 2019[8]
Last World ChampionshipsAachen, Germany, August 2026 — six disciplines[11]

What is the FEI?

The Fédération Équestre Internationale (FEI) is the international federation for equestrian sport. Marking its centenary in 2021, the federation described itself as “the world governing body for equestrian sports, looking after the interests of nine disciplines”.[3] Its current About page puts its role differently, as “a service organisation committed to providing its members and the greater equestrian community with solid leadership and good governance at all levels”.[1]

The disciplines have changed since that centenary statement. The FEI’s own reining page records that reining “was an FEI discipline from the year 2000, up until 2021.”[6] The FEI’s history page now lists three Olympic disciplines, jumping, dressage and eventing, alongside the non-Olympic disciplines of driving, endurance and vaulting and the para-equestrian disciplines of dressage and driving.[2] Olympedia, an independent Olympic-history database, records that para dressage “is also sanctioned by the FEI since 2006 (as well as Para driving)” and that it “has been a regular fixture since Atlanta 1996” at the Paralympic Games.[4]

The federation is run from Lausanne. Its headquarters page describes a staff of “just over 100” led by the President, Ingmar De Vos, and the Secretary General, Sabrina Ibáñez.[5]

What does the FEI govern?

The FEI writes the international rules for each of its disciplines, sets the calendar of international events and awards its championships. Its headquarters page lists among the federation’s responsibilities the welfare of the horse and of athletes, the FEI Rules & Regulations and the FEI Calendar.[5] The federation’s history page ties its creation to that rule-making role: it was formed to establish “internationally approved rules and qualification systems” for Olympic equestrian competition.[2] See international federation.

Clean sport. Equestrian anti-doping covers two athletes, the rider and the horse. The FEI’s Clean Sport page states: “We owe it to ourselves and the horses entrusted to us to ensure that equestrianism flourishes in a doping-free environment.”[7] For human athletes, the International Testing Agency states that it has supported the FEI “with the delivery of their anti-doping program since January 2019”, listing among the delegated services in- and out-of-competition testing, therapeutic use exemptions and results management.[8] See anti-doping.

What it no longer governs. Reining, which the FEI’s own page dates as an FEI discipline from 2000 to 2021, is no longer among the disciplines the federation lists; the FEI’s history page now names eight disciplines across Olympic, non-Olympic and para-equestrian sport.[6][2] Results and rankings for FEI events are published through the FEI Database.

When was the FEI founded and where is it based?

The FEI’s history page states that the FEI “was created to oversee the Olympic disciplines of Jumping, Dressage and Eventing with just 8 member signatories”.[2] Its 2021 centenary article dates its creation to 1921 and names them: “The body was established by eight member signatories – Belgium, Denmark, France, Italy, Japan, Norway, Sweden, and the US”, with “Frenchman Baron du Teil elected as its first President”.[3] Olympedia, independently, gives the same year and the same eight nations.[4] The founding year is therefore confirmed by an independent source.

The place is stated two ways. The FEI’s centenary article says that it was in Paris “that the idea for a governing body for equestrian sports came to fruition”, and that the centenary dates mirror those on which “the FEI came into being following the Olympic Congress in Lausanne (SUI) in 1921.”[3] Olympedia states that the FEI “was formed in 1921, in Lausanne, Switzerland, by eight member signatories”.[4] No exact founding day could be confirmed from a source retrieved.

No change of the French name is recorded in the sources retrieved. The seat is Lausanne: the FEI’s headquarters page calls the city “the Olympic capital” where the federation is located, and Olympedia places its headquarters there as of January 2026.[5][4] The FEI’s statutes, which would fix the legal seat, could not be retrieved.

How is the FEI recognised?

IOC. Equestrian sport is on the programme of the Olympic Games, and the FEI runs its Olympic events. Olympedia records that “Jumping and dressage were first part of the Olympic Programme in the Paris 1900 Games” and that, since their return at Stockholm 1912, the equestrian disciplines “have never left the programme since”.[4] The year and form of the FEI’s own recognition by the IOC could not be established: the FEI’s About, History, Structure and Headquarters pages and Olympedia’s organisation page were each opened, and none gives a recognition date; the statutes could not be retrieved.[1][2][14] See Olympic programme.

ASOIF. The Association of Summer Olympic International Federations lists the Fédération Équestre Internationale among its 30 full members.[10]

WADA. The World Anti-Doping Agency’s list of Code signatories includes the “International Equestrian Federation (FEI)” in its ASOIF-members category.[9] Delivery of the human anti-doping programme is delegated to the International Testing Agency, as noted above.[8]

Paralympic sport. Para dressage is on the Paralympic programme, which Olympedia dates as a regular fixture from Atlanta 1996, with the FEI as its federation.[4] See Paralympic Games.

What does the FEI organise?

World Championships. The FEI’s centenary article states that in 1990 the federation held the first FEI World Equestrian Games, “where all its disciplines were represented for the first time”.[3] The most recent multi-discipline edition, the FEI World Championships Aachen 2026, brought together jumping, dressage, para dressage, eventing, driving and vaulting in Aachen, Germany; the FEI’s event page lists it from 10 to 23 August 2026, while the organiser’s fact sheet gives 11–23 August.[11][12] The fact sheet states that “Host and organiser of the FEI World Championships Aachen 2026 is the Aachen-Laurensberger Rennverein e.V. (ALRV)”, counts “686 with 816 horses” in the World Championships and 65 nations overall, and recalls that Aachen staged the “FEI World Equestrian Games Aachen 2006” in seven disciplines, reining and endurance among them.[12] Endurance was not among the six Aachen disciplines. See FEI World Championships.

World Cup and continental championships. The FEI Board allocates the federation’s finals and championships. On 7 May 2025 the FEI announced that the 2027 jumping, dressage and vaulting World Cup Finals would go to Gothenburg, Sweden, and that the “FEI Driving World Cup™ Finals 2027 and 2028 will be staged in Bordeaux (FRA)”. The same decision awarded the 2027 European Championships in jumping to Waregem (Belgium), dressage and para dressage to Randboel (Denmark), vaulting to Verolanuova (Italy) and four-in-hand driving to Baborowko (Poland).[13] See FEI World Cup.

Who are its members?

The FEI’s members are national federations, one per country. The federation’s own figures differ by page: its history page gives 136 member national federations, the same number its 2021 centenary article gave, while the International Testing Agency’s profile of the FEI states that it “has 137 member National Federations”.[2][3][8] Olympedia, independently, gives “135 member National Federations”, without a date on that figure.[4] The count therefore stands at roughly 135 to 137 depending on the source and date.

Between the national federations and the FEI sit other layers: the federation’s Structure page names among its bodies the General Assembly, the Executive Board, the FEI Tribunal, Regional Groups and Continental Associations.[14] The headquarters page names Ingmar De Vos in that office, and Olympedia records him as President since 2014.[5][4]

National federations run domestic competition and enter riders and horses in FEI events. In the United States that federation is US Equestrian (USEF). The eight founding signatories of 1921, Belgium, Denmark, France, Italy, Japan, Norway, Sweden and the United States, are named by both the FEI and Olympedia.[3][4]

References

  1. FEI — About the FEI. Accessed 2026-09-30.
  2. FEI — History. Accessed 2026-09-30.
  3. FEI — Celebrating 100 years of the FEI (centenary article, 2021). Accessed 2026-09-30.
  4. Olympedia — Fédération Équestre Internationale (organisation page). Accessed 2026-09-30.
  5. FEI — FEI Headquarters. Accessed 2026-09-30.
  6. FEI — Reining. Accessed 2026-09-30.
  7. FEI — Clean Sport. Accessed 2026-09-30.
  8. International Testing Agency — Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI) partner page. Accessed 2026-09-30.
  9. World Anti-Doping Agency — Code Signatories. Accessed 2026-09-30.
  10. ASOIF — Members. Accessed 2026-09-30.
  11. FEI — Event: FEI World Championships Aachen 2026. Accessed 2026-09-30.
  12. Aachen 2026 — FEI World Championships Aachen 2026: Facts & Figures (organiser’s fact sheet). Accessed 2026-09-30.
  13. FEI — FEI Board Allocates Key Finals and Championships for 2027 and 2028 (7 May 2025). Accessed 2026-09-30.
  14. FEI — Structure. Accessed 2026-09-30.