Outside eurOPe

THE sheer size of the United States means that juniors and young riders effectively only compete against fellow riders from other areas, rather than other nations. The country is divided into 10 areas and each area forms a team to compete at the annual FEI North American Junior and Young Rider Championships (below). Former British Olympic gold medallist Leslie Law is now emerging athlete coach for the US Equestrian Federation and plays a key role in facilitating the ongoing development of talented riders from across the continent.

Australia is another vast country whose geography makes it challenging and costly to bring riders together regularly for squad training. As part of its ongoing efforts to overcome this challenge, Equestrian Australia introduced the Generation Next High Performance Squad in mid-2017, which will work in conjunction with sporting organisations from individual states to help ensure a continued healthy pipeline of young equestrian athletes. Robert Palm, Andrew Cooper and Emma Bishop are three of the riders currently on the programme and names to look out for going forward.

New Zealand has national championships at junior and young rider level, with riders traditionally transitioning into eventing from the Pony Club, but the biennial Oceania Championship against Australia is the closest they can get to competition akin to the Europeans.

Eventing New Zealand recognises that riders serious about progressing to senior squads will, realistically, need to spend time in the UK, where the numbers and level of competition are greater. Samantha Felton and Virginia Thompson have both worked their way through the youth system in New Zealand and are looking to spend time in the UK in 2018 as part of their campaigns for selection for Tokyo 2020.