Fédération Équestre Internationale

Equestrian disciplines are governed by the Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI), which was formed in 1921, in Lausanne, Switzerland, by eight member signatories: Belgium, Denmark, France, Italy, Japan, Norway, Sweden, and the United States. As of January 2026, its headquarters is also located in Lausanne. The federation has 135 member National Federations, and its current president is Ingmar de Vos of Belgium.

The FEI governs several different disciplines of equestrianism, namely the Olympic disciplines of Jumping, Dressage, and Eventing. Jumping and dressage were first part of the Olympic Programme in the Paris 1900 Games. Both disciplines would reappear, along with eventing, at the Olympics at Stockholm 1912, when only men allowed to compete, and they never left the programme ever since.

Women have joined the Olympic dressage competitions since Helsinki 1952, the jumping competitions since Melbourne 1956, and the eventing competitions since Tokyo 1964. At the world level, the FEI organized the first World Jumping Championships at Paris 1953, and the first World Championships for dressage (Bern, Switzerland) and eventing (Burghley, Great Britain) would first be staged in 1966.

Two other equestrian disciplines have appeared at the Olympics only once each: a driving event was part of the Paris 1900 Games, and two vaulting events were part of the programme at Antwerp 1920. Driving would become an FEI discipline in 1970, with its first World Championships taking place at Münster 1972, and Vaulting joined the FEI family in 1983, with the first World Championships at Bulle 1986.

The Para Dressage discipline is also sanctioned by the FEI since 2006 (as well as Para Driving), being the only equestrian discipline included in the Paralympic Games, where it has been a regular fixture since Atlanta 1996.

At the Youth Olympics, equestrian jumping has been part of the programme since the event’s inception at Singapore 2010.

The non-Olympic discipline of Endurance joined the FEI family in 1982, with the first World Championships in Pratoni del Vilvaro, Italy, in 1986. Reining would also become an FEI discipline in 2000, with the first World Championships held two years later, in Jerez de la Frontera, Spain. However, on 17 November 2021, the FEI Extraordinary General Assembly voted to remove reining as an FEI discipline.