President of the Antigua & Barbuda Horse Society, Janie Easton, said the body was recently denied a grant by the sport’s international arm, the International Federation of Equestrian (FEI), which would have served to improve the Spring Hill facility and other areas of the sport here.
The FEI’s withdrawal of the grant, Easton said, came after government failed to fulfill a number of what she is calling “simple” requirements requested by the international body.
“Eighteen months ago I got somebody from the world body to come to the stables and inspect us and they gave us a wonderful grant, pending the government doing a couple of things that didn’t cost them any money and of course, it ran out before they could do those things so we lost the grant,” she said.
“They were going to give me a longer lease [because] at the moment, I’ve only got an agricultural lease but I’ve had the lease since ‘74. We are not asking for any more land; it’s just that piece and the other thing they were going to do is empty two dams in the Picadilly area and bring the fill over to us which is like a gravel for part of the base,” she added.
More in today’s Daily Observer.