Another change is that mares
previously could have a “bye year” if they were in foal, and still compete the following year. This is no longer the case. (See sidebar below for more information.) If the new system works as
planned, it will be easier for judges and organizers, and better for riders. With the changes to the format hopefully keeping things moving along more quickly, young and impatient horses won’t have to stand around wait- ing for the next phase of their competition, and the simplified scoring will help judges provide results more quickly at the end of the competition.
For more information, please visit
www.useventing.com/ competitions/YEH.
Kim Severson pilots her Irish Sport Horse gelding Exclusively Cooley to the top score in the 5-Year-Old YEH in 2017.
Rule Changes and the Holekamp/Turner Prize and Grant
The Holekamp/Turner Young Event Horse Lion d’Angers Prize and Grant award the highest scorer of the USEA Young Event Horse 5-year-old Championships, both East and West Coast Championships combined, with a cash prize that will enable them to travel to the FEI World Young Horse Championships at Le Lion d’Angers in France for the 7-year-old two-star Championships. Winners who are North American bred are awarded with $17,500 to travel to Le
Lion d’Angers. If the winner is an imported horse, the award will be $8,000. The grant is sponsored by Timothy Holekamp of New Spring Farm and Christine
Turner of Indian Creek Farm, both breeders of Trakehner sport horses. “While I was at Fair Hill this past year for the four- and five-year-old YEH Champi-
onships, I saw how much it had grown since this grant was introduced. Breeders and riders from the U.S. are seeing a way to promote themselves and I think it has made a big difference, since the grant pays more for an American-bred horse,” says sponsor Christine Turner.
“I also had questioned the rule that we have had for many years, stating a mare
could be five and compete as a four-year old (and a six-year-old could compete as five) due to the year they had taken off for foaling. This was a great way to have U.S. mares have foals at three and then develop them; however after the grant came in, it was a bit silly to think a US-bred eight-year-old could compete in France as a seven-year old! So that really needed to be changed before someone won the grant and was not eligible to travel overseas.” “I’m sure the grant will be tweaked more, as it is being watched each year by the Young Event Horse Committee, and the
Christine Turner stands with her Trakehner Tsetserleg (by Windfall *PG* bred by Tim Holekamp) last year at The Fork Horse Trials. Tsetserleg competed in upper-level eventing all year with Boyd Martin in the irons.
answers are being seen in the performances of the horses that have gone to France. A Thoroughbred matures faster than a Warmblood, usually, so sometimes I feel they are judging oranges against tangerines—which is better than before, when it was apples against oranges,” she continues. “When showing these young horses, it’s not how high they jump, but what is an efficient jump for their ages. You don’t want it so high it will break them down. While I was there [at Fair Hill] last year, I closed my eyes on cross country at a certain point as they galloped by and listened to which horse pounded the ground and which ones could cover the ground more lightly. That could be a difference of feet and legs holding up as they age. There are so many factors—but I feel the Young Event Horse competition will keep improving because the riders and breeders care about the program.
46 March/April 2018
Leslie Threlkeld for Shannon Brinkman Photo
Amber Heintzberger
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