Three young British riders will contest the Cosequin CCI4*-S at the Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event (23-26 April) this year, thanks to a support package from a new “privately funded initiative” called Rising Lions.
The three pairs are Elizabeth Barratt, 20, with Barratt Eventing’s Ride For Thais Chaman Dumontceau, Isabelle Cook, 21, on her mother Tina Cook and Jim Cromiak’s Cymoon “F” Z and Finn Healy, 21, with his own Greannanstown Monbeg Joe. Elizabeth is also entered on Georgina-W, owned by Barratt Eventing, but that horse’s trip is not funded by Rising Lions.
“Rising Lions is currently backed by a small number of individuals who are keen to support the next generation of talent in this country,” a spokesperson for the programme told H&H. “If and to the extent it becomes more established, they may seek to partner with businesses and/or other like-minded individuals in order to increase the opportunities offered.
“The idea of Rising Lions came about from a discussion recognising that younger riders often only ever get the opportunity to compete overseas if they are part of a championship team.
“That itself is obviously fantastic experience, but it was felt that if there were more opportunities for up-and-coming British based riders to compete throughout Europe and beyond in high-profile events, not only would that better prepare them for championships but also help them acquire the tools needed more generally for them to keep forging their way towards a career at the top of the sport.”
Rising Lions is looking to fill a gap, rather than interfere with or compete with existing programmes and initiatives.
“It has nothing to do with championship programmes and is independent of British Eventing, with British Eventing having no role in deciding which riders are invited to travel with the Rising Lions,” the spokesperson said.
“Similarly, initiatives like The Howden Way are already doing an amazing job supporting talented young riders, and on a much greater scale than anything Rising Lions can offer. If Rising Lions can complement this existing support we hope that can only be a good thing and for the benefit of the sport as a whole,” said the spokesperson.
British Eventing CEO Rosie Williams said: “This is a fantastic initiative, and it’s great to see some of our talented young riders given the opportunity to experience not only the competition but all the elements involved in safely travelling horses — and themselves — to a different time zone and vastly different conditions.
“It’s also a pleasure to work closely with Vanessa Coleman from Defender Kentucky Three-Day Event, as well as US Equestrian and Rising Lions, to support this programme, and we look forward to welcoming some American riders to our shores soon.”
Vanessa Coleman, CEO of Equestrian Events, Inc, organisers of Kentucky, said: “We look forward to giving this team of under-25 riders from Great Britain a warm Kentucky welcome and making sure that everyone has an amazing experience!”
Rising Lions: how the riders were chosen for Kentucky
The Kentucky trip is described as “effectively a test run, but something which has been a long time in the planning”.
“A key milestone was meeting with the Kentucky team when they were over for Burghley last year, something which gave us an extremely helpful insight into the event and everything it would involve, including for both riders and horses,” said the spokesperson.
“Kentucky could not have been more helpful and it has been fantastic to see their enthusiasm for what Rising Lions are trying to do. Hopefully other events will be willing to work with us in the same way going forward.
“That meeting with Kentucky was also the starting point for discussions about which riders might be invited on this first trip. What we had not realised was that the Kentucky CCI4*-S is typically heavily oversubscribed and rather than a random ballot, entries are selected based on individual rider FEI world rankings.
“That immediately substantially narrowed the field of under-25 riders we could consider, particularly in light of the fact we needed to start planning early and no one could give us any guarantee on where the cut off might fall in 2026.
“We were also advised that Kentucky would be adding additional performance-related entry requirements for the first time in 2026.
“Amongst other things, for example, this meant from our perspective we would only be looking at horse and rider combinations who had already completed a four-star with a clear cross-country during 2025.
“Putting all that together left us with a short list of individuals who would fit all the criteria imposed on us. We sought input from a few different people within the sport and ultimately came to a decision.
“Unlike selecting a championship team, this was not a case of making a statement about who we think is most likely to win a medal at the current time, rather it was a question of which horse and rider combinations might benefit the most from this particular opportunity.
“There are lots of very deserving riders out there, but we are delighted to be working with Isabelle, Finn and Elizabeth this time round, all of whom are receiving a carefully designed and comprehensive support package for their exciting trip.”
Asked about future plans for the programme, the spokesperson said: “A lot might depend on whether we consider the Kentucky trip to be a success, something which will in large part be measured in terms of what the individual riders are able to get out of it.
“However, there have already been a lot of discussions about what events we might decide to target next, as well as offering other riders the opportunity.
“We really like team concepts and in an ideal world we can get some other nations to embrace what we are doing. If the Rising Lions could take on a team from the home nation (or even multiple nations!) at each event we go to that would be fantastic. If this ended up being the forerunner to some sort of age group Nations Cup programme that is something we would consider a huge success.”
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