President of the Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI) HRH Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein invited the President of the Malta Equestrian Federation, Ronald Gaerty, to judge the FEI Awards for 2012.

Mr Gaerty will form part of a judging panel of three, together with Rosana Maria Roig, Director and Secretary General of the Puerto Rico Equestrian Federation and Pan Zhichen, President of the Chinese Equestrian Association. The judging panel will be chaired by FEI President HRH Princess Haya for the fourth consecutive year.

Various athletes were nominated for the FEI Awards 2012, which comprise five categories, namely Reem Acra Best Athlete, HSBC Rising Star, Best Groom, Development and Against All Odds.

Ronald Gaerty co-founded the Malta Equestrian Federation (MEF), which was set up in 1999 to attract and develop new talent on the local level and provide professional training opportunities for horses and riders in all equestrian disciplines.

Mr Gaerty was coordinator of the MEF until his election as President in 2006. He strongly supported the acceptance of Para-Equestrian as an FEI discipline at the FEI General Assembly 2004 in Paris and also helped to clarify and amend the rules relating to the nationalities of riders.

He is committed to developing Maltese equestrian sport so that it is proudly represented in international arenas. Ensuring a level playing field for all is very important to him and his motto is "Try hard to win, but win fairly. This is the very essence of sport!"

For more information, visit www.feiawards.org.