British Eventing’s Young Horse classes get under way soon with the first of the 6-year-old classes being held at Cirencester Park (29th-30th April). New to this season, the classes will enable riders and owners to showcase their 6- and 7-year-old horses in specific sections for horses in these age groups.
The Young Horse classes are a great way to expose promising event horses to the experience of a big atmosphere as well as deliver an opportunity to benchmark horses against others of the same age and offer recognition for the highest performing young horses in these classes. Thanks to the support from The Howden Way, the classes will also provide increased prize money, with the top 3 combinations in each class will receiving an additional £250, £150, £100 respectively on top of the prize money already generated and awarded by the prize money calculator.
The classes will take place throughout the spring and summer in some of BE’s most stunning venues, including the Belsay estate in Northumberland and Rockingham Castle in Northamptonshire. The 6-year-old classes will be run at novice level, while the 7-year-old classes will be run at intermediate level, the latter kicking off at Aston-le-Walls in Northamptonshire and Floors Castle in Roxburghshire over the weekend of 10-14 May.
For dates of the young horse classes this year, please click here
Alongside these classes British Eventing, the performance of young horses competing with British Eventing is acknowledged within The Howden Way Young Horse Leagues which can be found here. There are four leagues which cover the ages of 5 years, 6 years, 7 years and then the ages of 8 & 9 combined. The leagues display the average of a horse’s three best finishing scores via a Power Based Average score which highlights the ability to repeatedly finish on a low score.
The 2023 Young Horse Championships take place at Cornbury House Horse Trials in Oxfordshire between 7-10 September. The classes will also benefit those aiming their young horses at the FEI World Breeding Championships at Le Lion d’Angers, which hosts a CCI2*-L World Championship for six-year-olds and a CCI3*-L World Championship for seven-year-olds.
“Developing the equine talent that we have in this country is vital to the future of our sport,” said Justine Parker, BE head of training and development. “The new provisions that we have been able to implement thanks to the support from The Howden Way – such as the Young Horse Academy – are helping us to take big strides forward in developing our young equine talent. These new young horse ages classes will provide yet another string to the bow and will be invaluable for helping riders assess the progress of the equine proteges against their peers.”
