The FEI through the years.

Founding, 1921

The FEI's own centenary pages refused our requests, so its founding story here comes mainly from Wikipedia, a secondary source. Wikipedia says the FEI was founded in Paris on 24 November 1921, after discussions at that year's Olympic Congress in Lausanne, by eight national federations: Belgium, Denmark, France, Italy, Japan, Norway, Sweden and the United States. Its first President was Baron du Teil of France, from 1921 to 1927, and the first Olympics held under its authority were in 1924. It is now based in Lausanne.

British Dressage's timeline places the founding in Lausanne instead. Search summaries of the FEI's 100-year report give the reason for founding as the need for internationally recognised rules, overseen by a world body, once riding had joined the Olympics in 1912. We could not read that report, so the stated reason is unconfirmed.

Presidents

Wikipedia lists among the FEI's presidents Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (1964 to 1986), Anne, Princess Royal (1986 to 1994), the Infanta Pilar (1994 to 2006) and Princess Haya bint Hussein (2006 to 2014). Ingmar De Vos of Belgium has been President since 2014. An FEI release carried by US Eventing reported his unopposed re-election in Manama, Bahrain, on 20 November 2018, and noted that the FEI constitution limits a President to three four-year terms. An FEI release carried by AAP, seen only as a search summary, reports his re-election for a third and final term on 13 November 2022, running to 2026.

Team competition: the Nations Cup

Team jumping is older than the FEI. Horse Network (Carley Sparks, 10 February 2019) and Wikipedia date the first Nations Cups to 1909 and say they came under FEI rules about 1930. Horse Network also traces the series through a succession of sponsor names, up to the current title used since 2019. Two other dates for the first Nations Cup turn up only in search summaries: a book blog names the 1912 Olympics, and another result names Aachen in 1929 as the first Nations Cup held there. Neither could be checked. Today's series is covered on the Nations Cup page.

The first World Championships

The FEI's own history of its World Championships was blocked to our research, and the dates below come from FEI text as quoted in search results unless another source is named:

• Jumping, June 1953: the first FEI Jumping World Championship at the Parc des Princes in Paris, with 19 athletes from 11 countries and no women. Olympedia, separately, says Hans Gunter Winkler won "the first two World Championships" in show jumping, in 1954 and 1955. The two accounts do not fit together, and we could not check the FEI wording.
• Dressage: European Championships began in 1963, and the first Dressage World Championship was held in Bern in 1966. British Dressage's timeline, which we did read, also gives Bern, 1966.
• Eventing, 1966: the first Eventing World Championship at Burghley, Lincolnshire, with 39 athletes from five nations: Argentina, Great Britain, Ireland, the United States and the USSR.

The World Cups

Wikipedia records FEI World Cup series starting in jumping in 1978, dressage in 1985, driving in 2001 and vaulting in 2010, with an eventing World Cup that ran from 2003 to 2012. British Dressage's timeline gives 1986 for the introduction of the Dressage World Cup, scored half on the Grand Prix and half on the freestyle. The current seasons are on the FEI World Cup page.

The World Equestrian Games, 1990 to 2018

For almost three decades the FEI held its world championships together. Wikipedia says the first World Equestrian Games were in Stockholm in 1990, with 13 events in six disciplines, followed by The Hague (1994), Rome (1998), Jerez de la Frontera (2002), Aachen (2006), Lexington, Kentucky (2010, the first outside Europe), Normandy (2014) and Tryon, North Carolina (2018).

Tryon 2018: the endurance ride that was stopped

The Tryon Daily Bulletin reported on 14 September 2018 that the endurance championship opening the Games on 12 September had to be restarted after several riders were sent the wrong way at the start, was shortened from 100 miles to 74 miles and from five loops to four, and was then cancelled before it finished. Officials cited a dangerous mix of heat, humidity and trail conditions after heavy afternoon rain: a Wet Bulb Globe Temperature reading of 31 was judged an unacceptable risk to the horses. The FEI cited its General Regulations Article 109.12 and its extreme-weather code, and asked its Equestrian Community Integrity Unit to investigate the misdirection.

• The FEI's position (Tryon Daily Bulletin, 2018): the decision was unanimous among the ground jury president, the technical delegate, the veterinary commission president and the organisers, and was taken for the welfare of horses and athletes.
• The critics (search summaries of Eurosport and other coverage, unconfirmed): some teams, including France and Spain, who were leading at the time, criticised the cancellation, and France's technical director Sophie Dubourg blamed organisational errors and a lack of FEI oversight.

Wikipedia records that a horse in that competition, Barack Obama, ridden by Jenny Champion of New Zealand, was euthanised after kidney problems.

The end of the Games

According to Wikipedia, citing FEI minutes, the General Assembly of 20 November 2018 dropped the multi-discipline format and invited bids for separate world championships from 2022. The 2022 championships were split between Herning in Denmark and Pratoni del Vivaro near Rome.

For 2026 the FEI awarded six disciplines to Aachen, on a joint bid by the German Equestrian Federation and the Aachen-Laurensberger Rennverein, at its General Assembly in Mexico City (CHIO Aachen, 19 November 2023). Those championships were held from 11 to 23 August 2026 and are finished; the results are on the 2026 World Championships page. Endurance was awarded separately. Your Horse reported on 6 August 2026 that the FEI Board had confirmed the Butheeb International Endurance Village near Abu Dhabi as host, for 14 to 20 December 2026; on 21 October 2026 it has not yet taken place.

New disciplines, and one that left

An FEI release carried by US Eventing in 2018 says the FEI took on para-equestrian dressage in 2006. Reining went the other way:

19 November 2018

The FEI ended its 2014 cooperation agreement with the National Reining Horse Association and its agreement with the American Quarter Horse Association, citing breaches over anti-doping, stewarding and minimum horse ages. The AQHA disputed that any breach had happened (Chronicle of the Horse, 26 November 2018).

October and November 2021

The FEI Board declined to sign a proposed new agreement, saying it lacked meaningful commitment, and in November the General Assembly approved statute changes removing reining, because the FEI must be the sole governing body of its disciplines (EquNews, 18 November 2021).

Rules that changed the sport

Several of the FEI's biggest changes have their own pages in this section: the anti-doping and medication rules adopted in Copenhagen on 19 November 2009 after the Hong Kong Olympics, the rollkur round table of 2010, the jumping blood rule changed in 2025 and the Equine Ethics and Wellbeing Commission are on welfare controversies; the helmet rule in force from 1 January 2013 is on riding helmets and safety standards; and the eventing safety committee of 2000 and the frangible device rules are on eventing safety history. How the FEI is organised today is on the FEI page.