When the U.S. Eventing Association launched its Young Event Horse program over a decade ago, the goal was to produce upper level event horses here in the U.S. and showcase them in a series similar to Young Horse classes in Europe. This year, a group of breeders, owners and trainers have developed the U.S. Event Horse Futurity program that will follow horses from the Young Event Horse 4-Year-Old (YEH-4yo) program through their eventing careers, and provide prize money each year.
The prize money futurity will take place alongside the YEH-4yo program this year at the various qualifying events and the 2019 YEH East Coast Championship held this October at Fair Hill International. This futurity is all about access and transparency for the young event horses bred in the U.S. Prizes and prize money will be awarded at the FHI championships. Awards will be given to the top ranked futurity horses as well as fan favorites based on online votes.
The program is open to U.S.-bred horses only and for 2019, breeders and trainers have already applied and paid into the program. The trainers have agreed to post monthly training blogs so that fans can follow each horse’s progress throughout the year.
As these four-year-old entries progress through the years, the US Event Horse Futurity program will grow to offer prize money to five-year-olds and so on. The goal is to make this a national program in the upcoming years.
To read more about the program and to follow this year’s entries, go to www.theuseventhorsefuturity.com.
