Five people have been named as recipients of the new FEI Awards.
The winners were announced at a ceremony yesterday in Copenhagen, where the FEI General Assembly gathered this week.
German show jumper Meredith Michaels-Beerbaum received the Best Rider accolade.
"It's a great honour for me to win this award, particularly as it's the first time it's been awarded. It's an accomplishment every rider would consider very important, and it's so nice to have my achievements recognised," said the 39-year-old, who has won the last two Rolex FEI World Cup finals on Shutterfly. Meredith was not present in Copenhagen.
Michelle Robson, a 25-year-old Australian, won the Best Groom award. She has worked for Olympic event rider Shane Rose for six years, caring for his competition horses and also working with young racehorses.
Darlene Milord, from Haiti, is the very worthy recipient of the Against All Odds prize. A severely handicapped orphan, Darlene's love for horses and determination to succeed has led her to perform in Special Olympics events.
China's 19-year-old Alex Hua Tin was also recognised. Known as "one in 1.3 billion" in the Chinese media in the lead-up to last year's Olympic Games, he is China's firstinternational event rider - and the winner of the HSBC Rising Star award.
Wendy Gidlow, who owns and manages Heritage Equestrian in South Africa's Transvaal, receives the Alltech Development Award for her work with children from extremely underprivileged backgrounds, giving them opportunities to become involved with horses.
There were more than 1200 nominations for the five awards, designed to reward the fair play, team spirit, inspiration and prowess that equine competition espouses, as well as celebrating the achievements of often-underrated athletes.
The judging panel, headed by FEI president Princess Haya, who herself show jumped at Olympic level, had a hard job, indicating all of the short-listed nominees would have been worthy recipients.
The judges also included eventing and show jumping Olympian and multiple medallist Mark Todd, Dominican Republic dressage rider and judge Diana Ramos, Italian show jumping organiser Eleonora Ottaviani and German vaulting champion Kai Vorberg, along with representatives from key FEI sponsors Alltech and HSBC.
The ceremony was hosted by the BBC's Clare Balding, herself a former amateur jockey and event rider in Great Britain.
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