The Howden Way’s final Young Horse Development Day of the season was held yesterday at Aston-le-Walls in Oxfordshire following two earlier sessions, one at Richmond in North Yorkshire and one at Hascombe in West Sussex. Following these three sessions, some of the talented young horses that came forward with their riders will be selected for the Young Horse Academy 2024 which sits under British Eventing’s The Howden Way umbrella.
Six- and seven-year-old horses with double clears at novice and intermediate respectively were invited to come forward to the development days where they received a flatwork and jumping lesson from coaches recognised as leaders in the field of developing young horses. Yesterday’s tuition came from Tina Cook, Emma Winter, Nicola Wilson and Kylie Roddy.
Combinations selected for the Young Horse Academy will be offered a comprehensive training programme over the winter period. Some of the training will be specifically centred on producing the young event horse with input from leading expertise.
“It’s been fantastic to see the inaugural Young Horse Academy cohort’s progression throughout the year,” said British Eventing’s Head of Training Justine Parker. “We’re incredibly excited by the young talent which has come forward for this year’s Young Horse Development Days and are looking forward to building on the successes of this year’s academy going forward.”
Megan Brown, one of the riders on the day at Aston-le-Walls summed up the session by saying: “I learnt some really valuable feedback that I can take away and use to train my young horse through the winter in preparation for next season.”
Another rider, Danielle Frost, added: “To be taught by coaches who have competed at the very top level, and to learn from their experiences, has been amazing. To have my younger horses here and focussing on the finer details of their training is what makes the difference when we go up the levels, so it’s been brilliant.”
The horse and rider combinations selected for the Young Horse Academy 2024 will be announced in the not-too-distant future and listed on the Young Horse Academy page which can be found here.
Two current combinations on the Young Horse Academy are heading to Le Lion, France next weekend (19-22 October) to compete in the WBFSH Eventing World Breeding Championships; Jack Pickney with Sara Brown’s seven-year-old gelding Carpo Vivendi and Lucy Sugden with her own seven-year-old British-bred gelding Zorro B. To find out more about the event, click here
