International three-day eventing is to revert to the old scoring method, following intense criticism of the new scoring system brought in at the beginning of this year.

The old system is to be reintroduced worldwide on January 1st, 2000 following unanimous agreement at a two-day meeting of the International Equestrian Federation (FEI) eventing committee in Holland, which finished yesterday afternoon.

Many riders believed that the new scoring system, which had increased cross-country time faults from .4 to one penalty point per second over the optimum time, put too much emphasis on speed.

The system was first tried out at the French three-star fixture in Saumur at the end of April and met with widespread resistance after a high percentage of fallers was recorded.

It was similarly decried at Badminton two weeks later when appalling weather conditions and the increased penalties for the cross-country meant that many riders pulled up their horses after just one refusal.

Since then the riders have been campaigning for the replacement of the old scoring system, which not only put less emphasis on speed, but was also more lenient on jumping penalties. Faults for a first refusal were 20 penalties under the old rules and 60 for a fall. These were doubled under the new system.

Following the deaths of five riders in Britain over a four-month period this year, the sport has come under intense media criticism and the senior international riders have laid much of the blame on the new scoring system.

Many voiced their opinions at the open forum held in Holland on Wednesday at the Dutch fixture in Boekelo. In response to increasing pressure, the international governing body has finally agreed to revert to the old system for a two-year period starting on January 1st, 2000.

During that time a comprehensive review of the sport and its scoring system is to be undertaken by an FEI working group, in co-operation with the recently formed safety committee set up jointly by the FEI and the British Horse Trials Association.

The joint safety committee and the FEI ad hoc working group are to be given a brief to have the welfare of the horse and safety of the rider as their priority. Safety measures recommended in the review will be implemented at the end of the two-year period and it is planned that these will also form the basis of a new scoring system.

In a further bid to improve safety in the sport, qualifications for all international fixtures are to be tightened up. From January 1st next year, riders will have to complete a minimum of two one-star events, designed as an introduction to three-day eventing, before upgrading to a two-star.

Similarly, riders will not be able to run in a three-star before completing two events at two-star level, and must have completed two three-stars before moving up to the top four-star level.

All these decisions have still to be rubber stamped by the FEI bureau at its meeting next month.