Open to the highest scoring Futurity Graduates, the purpose of the Equine Bridge is to support the transition of British-bred young horses into the sport. Centred on the equine athlete’s needs it brings together all stakeholders, riders, owners, breeders, trainers and the Olympic disciplines to identify and nurture talent.
Conceived as a continuation of the British Breeding Futurity, the aim of the Bridge is to identify young horses and ponies who have the potential and talent to represent Great Britain at FEI level. Investing in the training and production of a young horse represents a significant economic commitment. By identifying horses and ponies not only with the ability to reach the highest levels in the sport, but with the constitution and longevity to stay successful at that level, the Bridge provides invaluable information for those seeking to invest their resources, from owners, to riders, to other stakeholders such as the Olympic disciplines.
The basic structure of the Bridge event is inspired by the German-style “performance test” for young horses, in that the candidates are observed by a team of highly experienced evaluators over several days and challenges to determine their individual abilities. Where the Bridge differs significantly from other performance tests is that it offers the detailed veterinarian and allied professional input that is the hallmark of all British Breeding assessment, as well as an introduction to the benefits of technological and behavioural advances to facilitate horse care and management, aimed at supporting the key objectives of longevity and the promotion of equine health.
The Equine Bridge programme seeks to provide meaningful support to riders, breeders and owners to ensure the Bridge horses fulfil their potential. We recognise that while the annual Bridge event itself provides excellent feedback and PR opportunities, and while its support for the optimised management and equine health is worthy, concrete financial help (or its equivalent) is necessary to facilitate the ongoing production of talented young horses. We are therefore offering a bursary to the top scoring horse in each discipline of £1,000 to support further training and career development.
Our vision for the Bridge is to create a mechanism to fulfil the need to the industry to source the best horses for the best riders and to understand and overcome the impediments that are currently leading to good horses not fulfilling their potential, and talented riders being unable to find good horses in this country.
Riders and investors tell us that they need to be able to come to one place where they can see a good range of suitable horses to choose from for the future. The Equine Bridge provides an excellent opportunity by bringing together the best crop of young horses forward from the Futurity and putting them through a rigorous 2 day programme designed to provide reliable information about ability, soundness and rideability via its public, livestreamed events, webinars and public database, which provides pedigrees, linear profiles, evaluators’ comments, videos and photographs. All evaluations are carried out by an independent team of experts.
We warmly invite all interested riders and investors to attend the Bridge to take advantage of the opportunities to meet the horses and their breeders.
