The Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI) was created in 1921 in the form of an association. It is the international governing body of equestrian sports. It brings together 135 national equestrian federations. Its head office is in Lausanne in Switzerland. It is currently presided over by her Royal Highness, Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein of Jordan.
It is recognized by the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and is the only sports authority for international competitions concerning the 8 disciplines which are internationally recognized: dressage, show jumping, eventing, driving, endurance, vaulting, reining and para-equestrian sports.
Like all international sports federations, it establishes the sports rules and approves the programmes of the different international equestrian competitions (the championships, the regional games and the Olympic Games).
In 2006, more than 1951 international equestrian competitions were organised under the patronage of the FEI. France was the country which organised the biggest number of international competitions with 249, followed by Germany (179) and the United States (162).
Show jumping is the leading discipline (722 competitions) followed by eventing (413) and endurance (393).