British Breeding Re-Launch Equine Bridge
Friday 05 July 2019
British Breeding Director, Rachael Holdsworth, says, “We listened to potential buyers of young horses who told us that they would like to be able to see a range of high quality young horses and ponies in one place and who want better information about the future prospects of their investment. The Equine Bridge is ideally placed to showcase the very best of British bred youngstock while also providing objective and trustworthy information.”
The ridden Bridge horses will undergo a two day evaluation programme designed to provide helpful support and feedback, as well as an objective and detailed assessment. It will include a detailed veterinary inspection of correctness of conformation and soundness and nutritional, saddlery and farriery advice from industry experts. The horses and ponies will be observed by a team of three internationally renowned judges over both days. On day 1, the participants will receive training under their usual rider with senior discipline trainers, then on day 2, the horses will be presented again under saddle, first with their own rider, and then with one of the disciplines’ test riders who will contribute to the feedback.
As well as recognition for having completed the Bridge assessment, British Breeding and the Olympic Disciplines are working together to provide an attractive range of benefits, from reductions on membership and entry fees, to access to further opportunities designed to offer incentives and support.
CEO of British Dressage, Jason Brautigam, says, “Our vision for the Equine Bridge is to create an ongoing programme of support and opportunities. The October event is an important start to a range of activities designed to get the very best British bred horses out there representing their country. We will continue to monitor the progress of all Bridge candidates and offer incentives and support where it is needed. We are particularly interested in ways in which we can provide better information about and accessibility to young horse classes, at national level, as well as for the world breeding championships.”
Recruitment to the Equine Bridge takes place via the British Breeding Baileys Horse Feeds Futurity programme. From the pool of past Futurity entries, those who achieved a score of 8.5 or above as 3-year-olds and who are aged between 4 and 6 this year are already qualified to go forward for the Bridge programme. Additional qualifying opportunities have also been implemented for this summer.
British Breeding Director Dr Eva-Maria Broomer explains; “To provide a smooth transition for young horses and ponies into the Equine Bridge programme, we have taken significant steps to enhance the qualifying process via the Futurity Evaluations. This year, for the first time, we are running separate Futurity assessment days for 3 to 5-year-olds, which will enable us to optimise the evaluations for this age group. In addition to the 3-year-old horses and ponies, we are inviting older candidates of 4 and 5 years old to come forward, thus providing the opportunity for them to qualify for the Equine Bridge”.
These evaluations are open to any horse that meets the criteria for being British bred. For 2019, there are four Equine Bridge qualifying opportunities across the country: 29th July at Richmond EC in Yorkshire, 28th August at Catherston Stud in Hampshire, 1st September at Drumcarrow in Scotland, and 21 September at Solihull in the Midlands.
Three-year-old entrants are to be presented in hand and loose and will benefit from a new arena layout designed to eliminate tension and give youngstock a good experience. Five-year-old entrants will be presented under saddle to show some basic work appropriate for their age, as well as without tack for their conformation assessment. Four-year-old entrants will have a choice of being presented loose and in hand or under saddle.
Those interested in taking advantage of this excellent opportunity for British bred horses can enter one of the qualifiers via the online entry system at
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