Under-21 training systems
Britain’s under-21 eventing teams frequently bring home medals from their respective championships, with an established training programme. But how do youth systems differ in other countries? Sue Polley finds out
We find out how youth systems in eventing differ across the world
ONE of the competitive goals of any national equestrian body is maintaining a sustained talent pool of horses and riders capable of competing for senior medals at championship level. This, however, is often easier said than done.
Great Britain, Germany and France are the dominant forces in the European eventing scene at present, with Ireland, Sweden and Italy all knocking on the door. One thing they have in common, to a greater or lesser degree, is a recognition of the value of a structured and educational youth eventing programme as a feeder from which riders can progress to their respective senior squads.
Recognising this, the FEI holds European Eventing Championships for ponies, juniors and young riders on an annual basis, which act as the competitive pinnacle for these countries’ youth squads. A combination of geographical restrictions and the popularity of the sport outside Europe means it only runs senior championships in Asia and junior and young rider championships in North America
(see box, p50).
Great Britain, via British Eventing
(BE), has a very clear programme of youth talent identification. Under-21s make up approximately 20% of BE’s membership and its pony, junior and young riders programmes are designed to provide riders with competitive experiences within their age group and develop greater knowledge of the sport to further their riding careers. A broader training and competition programme for riders of all abilities aged 12 to 21 has also more recently been developed.
The programme has evolved over the years and has certainly proved successful with Team GB winning more than 50 European individual and team medals at junior level
since 1981 and nearly 70 in young riders. Several of these riders, including Pippa Funnell, Tina Cook, Kitty King, Piggy French, William Fox-Pitt, Izzy Taylor, Holly Woodhead, Laura Collett and Gemma Tattersall have gone on to represent Britain at senior championship level. Other more recent graduates of the youth programme, such as Will Furlong, David Doel, Tom McEwen, Emily Parker, Willa Newton, Tom Jackson and Emily Llewellyn, have also successfully made the transition into the senior fold, some competing in Nations Cup teams, and are now running their own businesses and producing some talented younger horses.
HOWEVER, this is not the only route to senior success and the system is not without its limitations. The increased longevity of senior riders’ careers is a potential barrier to some younger riders being able to secure a spot in senior squads, as is the reality of “real life” taking over. Riders take up the sport at different times, some lose interest, some can’t afford to compete professionally once they leave home and others’ priorities change as they get older, meaning that elite or developing squad managers can’t solely rely on youth systems as a source of future talent.
Interestingly, according to Chris Bartle, current British World Class performance coach and former national coach to the German eventing team, “there are more similarities than differences between the British and German youth systems, although eventing is still very much a Cinderella sport in Germany so there is a smaller talent-pool base”.
There is an argument for saying this is an advantage in terms of quality, with the likes of Michael Jung, Sandra Auffarth and Julia Krajewski all having come through the German system over the past couple of decades and German junior and young rider teams both being prolific European medallists at their championships in recent years.
Chris believes the current British system is good in many ways as it includes a lot of training and mentoring, but he does have some concerns that, across all equestrian sports, riders are specialising in their chosen discipline too early.
“We want riders to be all-round equestrians, not specialists, and I think the current system misses out some rungs of this ladder,” he said. “The German system is more
‘Eventing is very much a Cinderella sport in Germany so there is a smaller
talent-pool base’
CHRIS BARTLE
‘I think youngsters in the UK are sometimes
too quick and desperate to secure team places without the right foundations’
CONSTANCE COPESTAKE
centred around riding clubs and schools than the UK, but there are regional trainers in each federal state and inter-state competitions. However, the main difference between the two countries is that in Germany all riders have to pass a test of general horsemanship before they can start competing at grassroots level.”
THE French system is slightly different and is, in the opinion of former British pony and junior rider Constance Copestake, more progressive. Constance has dual British and French nationality and now rides under the French flag.
“When riders want to enter any competition in France they have to go via the French federation and basically ask their permission,” she explains. “If they don’t think you are ready to ride at a certain level then you can’t enter. Personally I think this a good system as it means you can’t rush either your own or your horses’ progress. I think youngsters in the UK are sometimes too quick and desperate to progress and secure team places without getting the right foundations.”
The junior circuit in France is also run at intermediate height but novice speed across country, meaning that when riders move up to young rider or two-star level, they are already established at that height and just need to work on speed.
There is also an established under-26 programme to help aid the transition to seniors, akin to the occasional under-25 classes in the UK, with both countries having the under-25 CCI3* at Bramham as a goal.
Astier Nicolas is probably the most high-profile rider to have come through the French youth system in recent years, but younger names to look out for are Alexis
Goury, Aurelien Leroy, Marie Charlotte Fuss and Marie Caroline Barbier, who are now all making their mark at three-star level.
Both Constance and Swede Ludwig Swennerstål, a former European junior medallist and now established four-star rider, are strong advocates of the value of basing themselves with professional riders in the early stages of their careers. Constance previously spent time at Tom Carlile’s yard in France, while Ludwig learned his trade when based with Chris Bartle and Mark Todd in the UK.
“Doing this really helps you to grow up and become independent,” said Ludwig. “It is something that is actively encouraged by the Swedish federation for riders going through the junior and young rider programmes as you learn from the best and it makes you think about your riding and how you can improve. Even though there is a formal youth training programme in Sweden, it’s a small country and eventing is not that popular, so I think moving abroad is key if you want to be successful at senior level as you then have access to more horses and mentors.”
Sofia Sjoborg and Amanda Brieditis are among those following this advice, having been based with Jonathan Chapman and Tim and Jonelle Price respectively.
Gloucestershire-based Italian Olympian
and former junior European champion Vittoria Panizzon concurs.
“The system in Italy is very much based around equestrian centres, which is where everyone tends to keep horses,” she explains. “We have national eventing championships at pony, junior and young rider level and there are a lot of good instructors at equestrian centres, but the main problem is maintaining a big enough talent pool of riders as eventing is seen as a bit of a ‘hassle’ by many instructors and it’s more viable for them to encourage talented riders to focus just on pure dressage or showjumping.
“There is also a lack of competitions at twostar level and above in Italy, so young riders wanting to make the transition to seniors realistically need to move to Germany, France or the UK if they want to do it seriously.”
IRISH eventing has seen a resurgence in recent years, much of which appears to be due to the influence Sally Corscadden has had in introducing a change of mentality within what was an established pony, junior and young rider programme. The Irish young rider team won several medals at European Championships between 2011 and 2015 during her tenure as team manager, a position she has since left to undertake the role of senior high performance director.
Riders such as Michelle Kenny, Brian Morrison and Cathal Daniels have all come through this youth programme and are now part of the group of Irish riders with Tokyo 2020 firmly in their sights.
“My goal was to raise standards and expectations so that when we went to championships we were there to contend seriously for medals,” she said. “Through consistent training and more contact time, we’ve seen improvements in dressage performance, which traditionally has been our weakest link.”
In reality, however, this focus and level of success could, in fact, be a double-edged sword in terms of hindering riders’ longer-term development.
“In some ways the Europeans can take over short term,” adds Sally. “Sometimes the emphasis for riders transitioning from ponies to juniors is on buying a horse that could get them on a junior team, versus looking for a horse that could take them through to four-star level.”
She also introduced an under-25 development programme in 2013 in an effort to maintain contact with riders who had come through this system and were moving to seniors. It comprises a series of workshops on all aspects of riding, marketing and running an equestrian business, and offers practical help and mentoring on the realities of succeeding as an elite rider.