Hartpury Equine | Burghley Young Event Horse

Burghley Young Event Horse

Each year, the Burghley Young Event Horse qualifiers provide a showcase of young equine talent at Hartpury.

Celebrating young equine talent

Each year, the Burghley Young Event Horse qualifying competition marks the start of the eventing action at Hartpury. Open to four and five-year-olds, the Series aims to encourage breeders and trainers to produce and present the type of horse which will be considered the very best starting point from which to train a world-class eventer.

Experienced judges are recruited from across the country in pursuit of an athletic, loose moving horse with a promising attitude and jumping technique. Successful horses going on to contest the final at Burghley in the autumn. The winner has achieved the highest overall marks from the following four sections.

Dressage

Each horse starts by performing a simple dressage test to show their paces and demonstrate obedience, suppleness and three correct, elastic and regular gaits. Unlike regular dressage competitions, marks are NOT awarded for individual movements. Instead, an overall mark is given out of 30.

Jumping

The jumping phase follows immediately after the dressage. Four-year-old horses jump a course of up to 90cm while five-year-olds jump a course of up to 1.05m. The judges are looking for a bold athletic horse that shows a good basic technique.

This competition is all about potential so a horse won’t necessarily be penalised for knocking down one fence for example. A fall of horse or rider or three cumulative refusals will result in elimination. An overall mark is awarded out of 40.

Gallop

Immediately after the jumping the 5 year old horses will be required to gallop. The 4 year old horses will only be required to show a lengthened canter indicating they could learn to gallop with further maturity and development.

Up to 10 marks can be awarded for this section.

Conformation and quality

Horses are assessed in hand during this phase. Their overall build, type and stature should enable them to withstand the demands of the sport, and lay the fundamentals for soundness, speed and stamina. The Conformation will be marked out of 12 with Quality being marked out of 8 so an overall mark is awarded out of 20.

Schedule

2023 schedule is now available.

Entries and results

Entries Open 1st July 2023