The Riders’ Association held a marathon meeting late into the night – the government did not get a discharge in the mess about aid losses

In a meeting that lasted more than nine hours, a vote was taken to absolve the Board of the Riders’ Association from liability in the case. The membership of the Swedish Riders’ Association did not grant a discharge from liability to any member of the board.

The meeting also did not approve the 2025 financial statements, but demanded clarifications.

Riders’ Association the spring meeting was originally supposed to be in April. It was interrupted because during the meeting it became known that the Riders’ Association had lost a total of 330,000 euros in grants from the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry in 2023 and 2024.

The Ministry did not pay grants during the application process

As a result of the uproar, the executive director of the Riders’ Association Jukka Koiviston employment ended. The CEO was responsible for making applications.

The board of the Riders’ Association acted as the executive director’s employer and was obliged to monitor both his work performance and the association’s finances. The CEO should have signed the grant applications together with the chairman of the board Marjukka Manninen with, but in 2023 and 2024 this did not happen.

Before the meeting the actions of the board and executive director were published both an external investigation ordered by the board and a report by the inspection task force set up by the membership.

Both reports stated that the board of the Swedish Riders’ Association had neglected the operations of the executive director and the supervision of the application process.

Many members of the meeting said they were disappointed with the government’s actions. The chairman of the board, Marjukka Manninen, stated that the board does not intend to resign itself, but wants to wait for a decision until the autumn meeting in November.

However, the membership wanted to organize an extra meeting already at the end of August, when the resignation of the board and the possible election of a new board will be discussed.

At the same time, it was decided that the previously selected audit group will make additional investigations so that last year’s financial statements can be approved.

For the former executive director Jukka Koivisto has been sent a compensation claim for the loss of grants, so that Koivisto can apply for that compensation from the liability insurance of the management of the Riders’ Association.

The membership did not grant a discharge of liability to the board of the Riders’ Association, so that the possibly elected new board can clarify the current board’s compensation obligation in the matter later.

Acting Executive Director Kaisa Kähö admitted that the situation has had an impact on the practical activities of the Riders’ Association since spring. The office has been without an executive director, so some of the planned work has not been done.

The new board, which may be elected in August, will hire a new executive director, but the hiring process and familiarization with the new board will take time.

Emotions have been heated in previous meetings, but now the discussion took place in a matter-of-fact mood. However, many meeting representatives were worried about the damage caused by the noise to the reputation of horse riding.

The discussion in the media and social media was felt to have been tearful and partly inappropriate.

“What image does the discussion give the students of the riding school about the sport? What do they think about all this media and social media discussion?” Tuija Rosenqvist, who works as a riding school entrepreneur in Lempäälä, asked at the meeting.

Government and the audit team agreed not to give media interviews before the August meeting.

The meeting was attended by a rider legend, a multiple Olympic athlete Kyra Kyrklundwho was visiting Finland. He also expressed his deep concern about the effects of the situation on the reputation of horse riding.

“For me, the reputation of Finnish equestrian sports has always been the A and O of everything. It has been terrible to read about the Finnish Equestrian Association, the reputation of equestrian has gone pretty deep,” Kyrklund said.

Kyrklund said that he hoped that the issues would be dealt with within the sport, not through tearing publicity or the media.

“Even though I have been treated in different ways over the years, I have never dealt with it in public, but I have always thought that the sport’s external reputation is the most important.”