Today, 21 May, marks 100 days to go to the London 2012 Paralympic Games. The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) has announced that these will officially be the biggest Games ever, with 165 countries set to participate in 21 sports over 17 days.

Soraya Ourrais, the Franco-Moroccan winner of the FEI Development Award 2011, has set the bar very high for this category of the FEI Awards, for which nominations opened last week.

From 10–13 May, over 1,000 performers and 550 horses from around the world staged a glittering pageant in the grounds of Windsor Castle in a stirring start to the major celebrations to commemorate the Diamond Jubilee of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. Each evening was attended by thousands of visitors.

In a super-tight fight to the finish, the Belgian team came out on top at the opening leg of the FEI Nations Cup™ 2012 series in La Baule, France this afternoon.  It took three tough rounds of jumping to decide the result however, as The Netherlands  chased them all the way to a third-round jump-off in which Gregory Wathelet clinched it with his new ride, the 10 year old mare Euphony Cadjanine Z.

The FEI today launches the FEI Awards 2012 and invites the international equestrian community to contribute to this annual celebration of outstanding talent.

The Swiss team will be first into the ring when the FEI Nations Cup™ 2012 series gets underway in La Baule, France tomorrow afternoon (11 May), while the host nation has drawn the coveted last-to-go spot. The draw took place this morning, and the eight competing nations will enter the arena in the following order:

The FEI has warned its member National Federations against the use of Gamma amino butyric acid (GABA) and Hydroxy-gamma butyric acid (Hydroxy-GABA), following advice from the FEI List Group. The warning has been issued outside the List Group’s usual annual review process.

As the FEI Nations Cup™ celebrates its 10^th anniversary in 2012, the world-class series will have an extra edge in the lead-up to this summer's London Olympic Games. Chefs d'Equipe and trainers will use this most testing team Jumping tournament to view the form and medal-winning potential of the talent available to them, and there is huge anticipation of a great season ahead.

Lummen in Belgium played host to the opening leg of the 2012 FEI Nations Cup™ Promotional League European series today (4 May), and it was the Italian team who came out on top in the tough 14-nation contest. 

The inaugural FEI Sports Forum, which opened on 30 April in the Olympic capital Lausanne (SUI) for three days of discussion to help shape the future of equestrian sport, has now moved online.