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Didi Callahan

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Top 10 Reasons to Purchase a Young Event Horse Bred in the U.S.

The winner of the inaugural US Event Horse Futurity: Double Diamond C (Diacontinus x Lois Lane CBF), a Hanoverian gelding bred and owned by Laurie Cameron DVM, and trained and ridden by Maya Black. He finished with a score of 88.22. Photo by Allie Conrad courtesy of the US Event Horse Futurity.

Why purchase a young event horse bred in the U.S. rather than importing? Here are 10 reasons:

1. U.S. breeders have access to and use the same stallions that are available in Europe. You no longer need to leave the U.S. to find offspring sired by the top eventing sires in the world!

2. The U.S. has access to the largest Thoroughbred mare base anywhere else in the world. Why do other countries use Thoroughbred stallions instead of Thoroughbred mares? Because they don’t have the mare base that we do.

3. If you buy a foal, you can raise it and handle it from the very beginning. The final result is up to you and is a reflection of your horsemanship skills and your time investment. You and your horse will be a team.

4. The youngsters are already adapted to our climate and soil. Feet and legs develop on the ground conditions that they will live and compete on.  More often than not, what you see is what you get. There is no transition period ( which can take up to to a year) to see how the imported horse will adapt to the footing and/or shoeing style in the U.S. — or even if they will adapt successfully. 

5. A horse that has grown up in the U.S. has had time to develop immunity (maternal transfer, vaccinations, natural exposure over time) compared to the “all at once” scenario when an imported horse hits the U.S. soil.

6. You can use the veterinarian of your choice for the pre-purchase exam. There is a clear understanding of your needs and wants, as well as transparency with the findings.

7. There is no pressure to find the perfect horse or at least come home with something. It is easier to get a second opinion on a finding — or walk away.

8. Lease to purchase options are often an acceptable path if a questionable issue becomes apparent on a pre-purchase exam in the U.S. That is an unlikely scenario for an imported horse – which at the very least one would still have to pay the shipping, import fees and possibly transport back if things don’t work out.

9.  It is easier/possible to get a complete history (medical treatments, competitions, etc.) here in the U.S. than in Europe.

10. You have the opportunity to purchase a top horse (not one that has already been passed over). Now that event horse breeding is its own “entity,” the best horses are often purchased privately, and are never on the open market. They rarely leave their home country.  

And although we titled this the “top 10 reasons,” perhaps the most important is really ….

11. That purchasing or involving oneself in a U.S.-bred horse can start a person on a lifelong journey of teamwork with a breeder to produce the U.S. horses that can represent our sport at the highest levels. Not only will you support U.S. breeders and trainers, but you also will be part of a pipeline that can supply our sport with the horses of the future.

More resources: The U.S. Event Horse Futurity is an exciting program to support U.S. purpose event bred horses and the young horse trainers that have the talent to develop them. For more information about this program please see the website at www.theuseventhorsefuturity.com and be sure to follow them on Facebook and Instagram. Entries for the 2020 US Event Horse Futurity are open through Jan. 1, 2020 (download the application here) and we can’t wait to see next year’s class! For more information contact [email protected].

The 2019 US Event Horse Futurity Report

The winner of the inaugural US Event Horse Futurity: Double Diamond C (Diacontinus x Lois Lane CBF), a Hanoverian gelding bred and owned by Laurie Cameron DVM, and trained and ridden by Maya Black. He finished with a score of 88.22. Photo by Allie Conrad.

Almost a year ago an idea was put forth to put some money on the line and take a group of unstarted U.S. purpose event bred 3-year-olds to develop, qualify and compete at the 2019 Young Event Horse Championships East at Fair Hill International in October. While some argue that you never know what you have with a 3- or 4-year-old, a handful of dedicated people decided to give it a go, and document the journey.

The terms were simple. The horse had to be bred in the U.S. with documentation of age, the nominating fee was paid, and most importantly, the trainer had to agree to the condition that a training blog or vlog was required monthly. This vlog was to document the training and progress of these young horses on the journey to the Championships. Twelve entries were submitted and all were accepted.

While the audience followed online, there were plenty of unscripted/authentic twists (and some we could never have predicted!) and turns to keep up the interest level to develop a fan base of over 1,000 online followers. Logo items were awarded to the top commenting fans. At the end fans voted for their “fan favorite,” as well as who would be the ultimate winner.

Each trainer had their own training style, different resources and their own timeline. Fans enjoyed seeing that there is no one way to train the young event horse. Entrants also documented the “true” aspects of training and how good horsemanship is more important than competition, and that transparency was appreciated by followers.

Watch Maya Black’s final monthly vlog from the US Event Horse Futurity at Fair Hill:

 

Laurie Cameron’s Double Diamond C and his Final 2019 Vlog update from the 4yr old championships! He was a ⭐️ – winning the inaugural Event Horse futurity and finishing an overall 2nd in a huge championship class. 📸 chronicle of the horse, Shannon Brinkman photography and USeventing. It’s been such a pleasure starting him and working toward this goal over the past year. I hope everybody has enjoyed following our journey.❤️ Can’t wait to see what 2020 brings for both these 4yr olds after their well-deserved Florida holiday! Just getting settled down here and I have 2 more spots available for horses in training this winter and also available to teach lessons at the beautiful Mardanza Farm and surrounding areas, And also I have availability in my winter clinic schedule -so contact me for any of the above! Let’s get this Florida winter season started!🌴🌞🌴☀️🌴
#charlesowen #airowear #activomed #houndandhare #cwd #customsaddlery #tobiassaddlery #cottagefarminc #ecogold #revitavet #asmarequestrian #hannovarian #yeh #eventhorsefuturity

Posted by Maya Black Eventing on Friday, November 8, 2019

This year, the required score to qualify was raised to a 75%. This certainly added some difficulty to the qualifiers. Limited access to qualifiers also posed a challenge to some of the non East Coast candidates. Ultimately half the class was able to qualify and five horses competed in the  Championships (one did not make it off the waitlist). Changes are in the works to increase the number of finalists for next year, so we hope everyone who qualified will be able to compete!

It was a challenging environment at the Fair Hill YEH Championships! The 4-year-olds shared the dressage warm-up arenas with the four-star horses on a cold and very  windy day. The futurity horses were beautifully presented, and stayed calm and confident in their dressage work. They kept their cool and stayed focused when the older event horses could not resist acting up a little. It was wonderful to see the babies handle all the atmosphere like pros!

During the jumping phase, not one futurity horse dropped a rail. They all looked like legitimate contenders for the top prize and future success in eventing. A total of $5,500 in prize money was awarded to the finalists, and prize money was also awarded to the breeder of the winning horse.

With scores ranging from 85.51-88.2, it was high honors for the US Event Horse Futurity Class. All five contestants finished in the top nine of the class of 27 of the best young event horses in the U.S.!

Second place went to Hannah Moor (Mr Wizard x Rainshadow), a Holsteiner mare bred and owned by Jane Dudinsky and ridden by Doug Payne. Hannah scored an 87.43, with the second highest cross country score of all the 4-year-olds. Photo by Allie Conrad.

Third place went to the Oldenburg stallion Quiberon (Quite Easy x Avalon/A Fine Romance) owned and ridden by Doug Payne and bred by Elizabeth Callahan. “Harry” scored a 86.23. Photo by Allie Conrad.

Fourth place went to Lanthan Lights C (Lanthan x Winter Morning), a Hanoverian gelding bred and owned by Laurie Cameron and ridden by Maya Black. He scored a 86.07. Photo by Allie Conrad.

Fifth place winner was Hunting Stars (Hunter – Heavenly Star ), an ISH x Holsteiner bred, owned and ridden by Courtney Cooper.

This is an exciting program to support U.S. purpose event bred horses and the young horse trainers that have the talent to develop them. For more information about this program please see our website at www.theuseventhorsefuturity.com  and check out our Facebook and Instagram accounts.

Entries for the 2020 US Event Horse Futurity are open and we can’t wait to see next year’s class! For more information contact us at [email protected]