Olympics chief puts new Equestrian Australia chairwoman on notice over safety

Ricky MacMillan, a former Olympian, has vowed to change the culture of Equestrian Australia.

Equestrian Australia chairwoman Ricky MacMillan.

Olympics supremo John Coates has endorsed the appointment of new Equestrian Australia chairwoman Ricky MacMillan while calling on the embattled body to implement the coronial recommendations made after the deaths of Olivia Inglis and Caitlyn Fischer in 2016.

Ms MacMillan, an Olympian who represented Aust­ralia in dressage at Sydney and Athens, has vowed to change the culture of the organisation, which has had three chairpeople in the past 12 months and seen its entire board reconstituted.

A year ago, Mr Coates, the Australian Olympic Committee president, warned the internat­ional eques­trian body that the future­ of the sport, which has delivered­ Australia 12 Olympic medals, including six golds, was in the balance. Speaking to The Australian, he said he was “very positive and optimistic” about Ms MacMillan’s appointment.

“I’m pleased someone of international standing is heading it up so I’m very positive and behind them,” he said. “But they have to implement the recommen­da­tions of the coronial inquiry, which is, I know, not easy.”

NSW Deputy State Coroner Derek Lee deliv­ered more than 30 recommend­ations in October to improve safety in the sport. He also found the jump at which Olivia fell and died breached guidelines set by the international body, the Federation Equestre Internationale.

Mr Coates urged Ms Mac­Millan to make rolling out the safety recommendations a “top priority”. Ms MacMillan has written to members, saying there was “much to be done” to put EA back on a “sound and respected footing … As a board, we are concerned about the culture and behaviour across the sport and are directly initiating a program, controlled by the board, to look at cultural change.”

The Australian understands that, prior to Ms MacMillan’s appoin­tment, the board was split on a range of issues including Equestrian Australia’s handling of sexual assault allegations against elite athlete Callum Buczak, who was charged with raping another rider earlier this year.

“I couldn’t believe it took the FEI to prompt Equestrian Australia to deal with the athlete who had been charged with rape,” Mr Coates said. “I was surprised it took the international federation to get them to see the errors of their ways.”

Former chairman Alistair Mac­Kinlay stepped down two weeks ago amid a furore over comments in the annual report, where he said the inquest into the teenage riders’ deaths was a “distraction”.

Olivia, whose surname has been synonymous with the bloodstock trade for 150 years, was 17 when her horse somersaulted over a rail and crushed her as they competed at the Scone Horse Trials in the Hunter Valley on March 6, 2016.

The next month, on April 30, Fischer, 19, died instantly when her horse entered a rotational fall while competing in an elite competitio­n.

Mr MacKinlay’s decision to step down came 10 months after former chairwoman Judy Fasher and two directors were ousted followi­ng a coup to unseat them.