LAUSANNE (Switzerland), Nov 4: The International Equestrian Federation (FEI) is trying to remove senior officials who run the Olympic discipline of dressage because it says they are too inflexible.

The federation said Monday it has asked for immediate resignations from the six-member dressage committee.“The committee has been seen to work in isolation, not fully representing the interests of the dressage community as a whole,” the FEI said.

The request for resignations was made by the FEI’s executive board, which is led by President Princess Haya of Jordan, who is also an International Olympic Committee member.

FEI Sports Director David Holmes said problems with dressage officials’ decision-making began last year and continued through the Summer Olympics. The dressage events were held in Hong Kong.

“Some of the issues were related to the Olympic Games,” Holmes said. “But there was no one specific thing occurred in Hong Kong that led to this decision.”

The federation is waiting for a response from the committee, which is chaired by Belgian official Mariette Withages-Dieltjens and includes members from Germany, Italy, Japan and Spain.

Calls by The AP to Withages-Dieltjens were not immediately returned on Monday.

The FEI hopes to name a replacement panel before its general assembly, which is being held on Nov 17-22 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

“This decision has not been taken lightly,” Holmes stated. “The general assembly is the high point of the year for the FEI. The last thing we would want is to have anything distract from that.”—AP