MADAM,

IN recent times, there have been a number of posts on social media regarding volunteering at dressage shows. I have been genuinely shocked by the proposed implementation of penalties upon those members who may fail to volunteer throughout the year, in various regions around the country.

Penalties include being disallowed to compete at finals and being ineligible to receive awards. Volunteer demands placed upon members range from assisting for a few hours through to helping for up to two full days.

Whilst any event is only as good as the team behind it, each event should remain within the spirit and ethos of the sport that it represents. A shortage of volunteers at equestrian events is undoubtedly a problem, and very often it is the same familiar faces doing the hard yards.

However, these enforced regional policies entirely contravene the membership agreement when registering with Dressage Ireland. On the official membership form, people are asked to fill in where they may be able to volunteer - those options include the National Championships, the Winter Finals, and shows within the member’s own region. There is no mention of penalty for failure to volunteer anywhere on the official membership form.

Therefore, people are unaware of possible penalties applied within their proposed region at time of registration. To that end, should Dressage Ireland not then allow members the option of a membership refund in the event that they are – for whatever reason – unable to volunteer during the year?

Those with young children, unwell relatives, a difficult home circumstance, no one they can substitute to volunteer for them etc should not be penalised for circumstances beyond their control, that may prevent them from fulfilling the volunteer requirements of their region.

I contacted Dressage Ireland regarding this matter. The response that came advised that there is no national level protocol regarding volunteers, and that terms re volunteering are set out by the individual regions. Given that unfair penalty enforced at regional level is hardly an incentive to any possible new members of Dressage Ireland, it would appear that the right hand is entirely unconcerned with what the left hand is doing within Dressage Ireland.

At time of registration with Eventing Ireland, members are asked to name an event and a type of job that they may be able to do in a volunteer capacity. There is no mention of penalty for failure to volunteer.

Showjumping Ireland operate a code of conduct for all members and assistants at events. They do not have an official volunteer protocol, and recruiting assistance when running shows is mostly the responsibility of the individual show centres.

Riders competing under any of the affiliate bodies already pay significant registration fees, and many feel that they already make a substantial financial contribution to their relevant sport via registration and entry fees.

Rather than attempt to strong-arm members into assisting with threats and penalties, could Dressage Ireland not take a lesson from, for example, the SJI? Show jumping is treated as a professional sport, and by extension, so are SJI members. Could Dressage Ireland look at for example a small increase in registration fees, in order to provide better regional funding? This could be used to employ people to assist at shows. Surely a far better incentive than a penalty?

An alternative option for Dressage Ireland regions would be to recruit from the National Volunteer Database. Upon contacting Volunteer Ireland, I was advised that the database contains people of all ages at all stages, with a wide range of skills and interests - including many sports. Surely recruiting from a national database and having guaranteed assistance, would be preferable over threat of penalty toward Dressage Ireland members?

Yours etc,

Christa Dillon

Kilbeggan

Co Westmeath