National federations, and the bodies beneath them.

At a glance

United States: US Equestrian

Wikipedia, a secondary source, traces US Equestrian through several names. It was founded on 20 January 1917 as the Association of American Horse Shows, became the American Horse Shows Association (AHSA) in February 1933 and USA Equestrian in 2001, merged in 2003 with the United States Equestrian Team (USET) to become the United States Equestrian Federation, and rebranded as US Equestrian in 2017. Wikipedia adds that after the 1936 Olympics, the United States' FEI membership passed from the US Cavalry Association to the AHSA, and that the federation moved its headquarters to the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington, Kentucky, in 1999. A search summary of Sidelines Magazine says the USET was formed in 1950 as a separate nonprofit to field international teams; we could not read the article, so that date is unconfirmed.

Wikipedia describes US Equestrian as the national governing body for most equestrian sports in the US. It rates shows AA, A, B or C, and its recognised affiliates include the USHJA (hunter/jumper), the USDF (dressage) and the USEA (eventing).

Leadership, as of 21 October 2026: Tom O'Mara has been President since 2020, with a term ending in 2028. Chief executive Bill Moroney announced on 15 June 2026 that he will retire at the end of 2026 (The Plaid Horse; Chronicle of the Horse). We found no named successor in the sources.

Great Britain: British Equestrian and its member bodies

British Equestrian is the consumer brand of the British Equestrian Federation (BEF). It says it was established in 1972 and is the national federation for horse sport in Great Britain, affiliated to the FEI. Its own description of its work includes:

• working with the FEI on the British international calendar, disciplinary procedures and doping control;
• overseeing the training of British international judges, stewards, vets and course designers;
• supporting Olympic and Paralympic sport through the World Class Programme, funded by the Exchequer and the National Lottery through UK Sport;
• a strategy to 2030, launched in February 2025.

British Equestrian is a federation of other bodies. Its page, as read in October 2026, says it has 20 independent member bodies, 14 members and six associates; older British Equestrian notices, seen in search summaries, gave 18 or 19. Its member bodies page names: ABRS+ (Association of British Riding Schools, Livery Yards and Equestrian Centres), British Carriagedriving, British Dressage, BETA (British Equestrian Trade Association), British Equestrian Vaulting, British Eventing, the British Grooms Association, the British Horseback Archery Association, the British Horseball Association, The British Horse Foundation, British Showjumping, Endurance GB, the Mounted Games Association of Great Britain, Retraining of Racehorses, Riding for the Disabled Association, The British Horse Society, The Pony Club, The Showing Council, the UK Polocrosse Association and World Horse Welfare. Horsescotland is listed separately as the Home Nation representative.

Founding dates of some member bodies

The Pony Club, 1929

Founded in England, according to British Equestrian's member bodies page.

British Showjumping, 1923

British Showjumping says the British Show Jumping Association was founded in 1923 and formally incorporated as a company on 31 December 1925, with Lt Colonel Charles (Taffy) Walwyn as chairman from 1925 and royal patronage from 1952.

The British Horse Society, 1947

It describes itself as the largest equestrian and horse welfare charity in the UK (British Equestrian member bodies page).

ABRS+, 1954

It runs what it calls Britain's longest-established riding school approval scheme, and widened to livery yards and equestrian centres in 2021.

BETA, 1979

Formed as the representative body of the equestrian trade.

British Eventing, independent since 1997

British Eventing, formerly the British Horse Trials Association, says it became independent of the British Horse Society in 1997. It is the national governing body for eventing in England, Scotland and Wales, and its season runs from March to October.

British Dressage, 1998

British Dressage's timeline says it became the national governing body for dressage in 1998, succeeding the BHS Dressage Group set up in 1961, which had 123 members and eight competitions in its first year. It gained charitable status on 15 January 2014. A search summary of Companies House shows the company itself incorporated on 1 October 1997 under a former name; we could not open that record.

Canada: Equestrian Canada

Equestrian Canada's account (31 July 2023) is that the Canadian Equestrian Federation (CEF) was founded in 1976 by merging the National Equestrian Federation of Canada and the Canadian Horse Council, and has been Canada's amateur athletic association for equestrian sport since 1977. Wikipedia, a secondary source, gives 1977 as the founding year. The CEF later merged with the Canadian Equestrian Team to form Equine Canada, restructured in 2015 under the Not-for-Profit Corporations Act, and renamed itself Equestrian Canada in 2016.

Equestrian Canada lists its roles as competition rules and sanctioning, coach and judge certification, the national team programme, representing Canada at the FEI, and acting as the national registry for athletes and as the national federation for active breeders and breed registries. In the same 2023 article it also claims to be the only one of Canada's 66 National Sport Organizations that includes both human and animal athletes.

Australia: Equestrian Australia

Equestrian Australia's history page says the Equestrian Federation of Australia (EFA) was formed in 1951/52, first state by state and then nationally, for one purpose: to field an Australian team at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics, which Australia had been awarded in 1948. Its later milestones, as the same page gives them:

• 12 July 1997: the EFA became Equestrian Federation of Australia Ltd, a company limited by guarantee.
• 18 January 2004: a skills-based board of five was adopted.
• 2021: every financial member gained voting rights.

The change of name to Equestrian Australia Limited took effect on 14 November 2008, according to a search summary of Wikipedia; Equestrian Australia's own history page gives no date. Equestrian Australia groups its disciplines as Olympic (dressage, eventing, jumping, para equestrian), FEI (driving, vaulting, endurance) and national (show horse, interschool).

Germany: the FN

The German Equestrian Federation is the Deutsche Reiterliche Vereinigung, known as the FN from the French "Federation Equestre Nationale". Wikipedia, a secondary source, says it traces its origins to 1905, when an association of German half-blood breeders formed in Berlin, and that it is now based in Warendorf. Wikipedia disagrees with itself on when the FN joined the FEI: its text says 1927 and its information box says 1947.

The FN is an umbrella for both sport and breeding. Wikipedia lists its rulebooks as the LPO (competition rules), the APO (training and examinations) and the ZVO (breeding). Its membership figures are covered on the how many people ride page.