I recently came across a press release announcing that the USEF’s EQUESTRIAN magazine was named the Official Publication of Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games 2010.
Wait a minute.
Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games? When did that happen? The last I knew, the thing was supposed be called the FEI Games.
My daughter, Jamie, says I need to pay closer attention to things.
“Where have you been? They picked up Alltech as their sponsor and changed the name last year.”
“I guess I didn’t get the memo, Jamie.”
“Actually, they changed the name twice last year. They went from World Equestrian Games to just FEI Games and then to Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games”
“Yeah, I remember the first change. They did it because a hired consultant told them that the official name of the games could only be two words long and one of the words had to be ‘FEI.’ For the second word, they chose ‘Games.’ What else could they do?”
“You do pay attention – you’re just a year behind, Dad.”
I recall that some people were upset about the change “to just FEI Games.” Everyone I knew in the horse publishing industry (all three of them) hated the name change. And John Strassburger, former editor of The Chronicle of the Horse, certainly didn’t like the new name either. “’FEI Games’ is absolutely meaningless,” he opined in the May 12, 2006 issue of The Chronicle. “Why not just plunk FEI down in front of World Equestrian Games?” Strassburger asked.
I never thought of the FEI as the sort of organization that does a lot of plunking. Besides, from my point of view, the name problem was bigger than either the FEI or John Strassburger realized. Strassburger wrote he was “…willing to bet the house that 95 percent of the people who ride or own horses in North America couldn’t tell you what the three initials stand for.” While this is probably true -- I’m willing to bet Strassburger’s house that 95 percent of North America’s general public couldn’t tell you what equestrian means. Utter this mysterious term in the presence of a non-rider/owner and you will almost always have to repeat the sentence replacing “equestrian” with “horseback riding.”
So how about “World Horse Riding Games?” Or better yet, “World Horse Ridin’ Games?” And while we’re at it, we can do away with confusing event names like eventing, driving and dressage. What’s wrong with jumpin’, pullin’ and prancin’?
Now Jamie tells me the FEI thinks they fixed the whole thing by reinserting “World Equestrian” between “FEI” and “Games” and plunking “Alltech” on the front end. Some European had to stay up all night for that one.
It’s perfectly understandable. Big sponsors want their names on the front of things. And the FEI needs the money to help pay the consultant’s bill.
What I’ve never been able to figure out is why an organization like the Financial Executives International would want to put on a horse show. Can someone please explain this to me?
Equine humorist Bob Goddard hails from Ravenna, MI. His hilarious new book, Horse Crazy! A Tongue-in-Cheek Guide for Parents of Horse-Addicted Girls ($9.95 from Dog Town Press) is now available at www.horsecrazy.net. To contact him, send an e-mail to bobgoddard@verizon.net.
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