A Message from your CEO/GM

Dear Members, 

First off, I would like to thank everyone for the warm welcome I have received since I joined. It was a wonderful opportunity to start this role before the Zeep Melbourne International 3-Day Event. Werribee Park has been a hive of activity with the amazing volunteer force doing a herculean job of putting this event together. Congratulations to all the competitors of this event!

One of my first orders of business has been to dig into the FY23 Budget for Equestrian Victoria. As we look at the year coming, it is critical that Equestrian Victoria is funded to maintain the highest level of service to our member base. This service includes office resources, coaching and officials’ education, young rider activities, and improvements to the systems and tools required to manage our member database, events and shows.    

With COVID, the last couple of years has been challenging financially for everyone. Equestrian Victoria had to absorb significant costs due to event cancellations and other COVID issues, but we did not raise our membership fees. We are also aware that we need to be prepared to weather increases in our expenses. Additionally, Equestrian Australia and Insurance levies have increased, which is outside of our control.  

Going back to our principle that our membership base comes first, I have worked with the Board on a membership fee structure to minimise the financial impact of the fee increase. We have agreed to treat the Equestrian Australia and Insurance Levies as a pass-through cost and increased the Equestrian Victoria Operational fee by only 3%, which is lower than the forecasted CPI.  For your reference, I’ve included a breakout of the Membership Fee allocation below.  

*based on a Snr Competitor Membership