It comes as part of the world governing body's measures aimed at minimising the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on the FEI calendar.

The new policy was initially discussed with the International Jumping Riders Club specifically for the Longines Jumping Rankings, but will now be used for each of the disciplines where a rolling 12-month period is used for the calculations.

Starting from April 1, the period during which ranking points remain valid in jumping, eventing, dressage and Para-dressage will be prolonged by one month and will continue to be prolonged for an additional month with each new ranking until the competition calendar returns to normal.

Points earned in ranking competitions at events that take place during the current period affected by COVID-19 will continue to count, and the maximum number of results that count for each athlete will remain – best 30 for jumping, best eight for dressage and best six for eventing and Para-dressage.

Rankings for the other FEI disciplines – driving, endurance, vaulting and reining – are calculated on a fixed period so they will remain untouched.

A change to the driving rules that means the discipline rankings will be based on a rolling 12 months does not come into effect until January 1, 2021.

For jumping, eventing, dressage and Para-dressage, the rankings established after February 29 remain unchanged.

The rankings established after March 31 have been calculated based on the best results at events taking place between March 1, 2019 and March 31, 2020.

The rankings established after April 30 will be calculated based on the best results at events taking place between March 1, 2019 and April 30, 2020.

This system will continue to apply until the competition calendar returns to normal.

A working group will recommend to the FEI Board at what point the competition calendar is deemed to have returned to normal worldwide.

As of that date, the rankings will continue to be calculated over the extended time frames above, guaranteeing there will always be at least 12 months of normal competitions included in the calculation of the rankings.

"The new system provides a level playing field for all our athletes as ranking points can still be earned in countries where the sport is able to continue, regardless of the length of time the current situation lasts, but athletes in countries where the sport is on hold will not lose points," a FEI statement reads.

"An athlete's ranking points can only improve, not decrease during this period, as the relevant number of best results in each discipline still applies.

"Twelve months after the competition calendar is deemed to have returned to normal globally, the time frame during which ranking points remain valid will be decreased by one month with each new ranking until the standard 12-month rolling time frame has been reached."