New venues for BEF Futurity events

Fifteen British Equestrian Federation (BEF) Futurity Evaluation events will be held in the UK this year.

The BEF, with Baileys Horse Feeds, will run 15 events across England and Scotland from 12 July to 25 August.

They hope to evaluate more than 900 horses, and spot British-bred young horses and ponies, destined for careers in dressage, eventing, show-jumping or endurance.

It costs £55 to have a horse evaluated. Entries open online on 1 June, with some venues, according to the BEF, filling up in 48 hours.

Horses and ponies will be split by discipline and age group. Each will be evaluated in hand and loose in an indoor school and assessed by a vet. The young horses then go home with a BEF Premium grade and a detailed score sheet.

All results will be published on the Futurity website, and performance records put on the National Equine Database.

Breeder Dominick Atkinson, from Seren Arabian Stud, at Over Staveley, Kendal, said: “We will be bringing as many youngstock as we can in 2011.

“We entered for the first time last year and were pleasantly surprised that it was not a beauty parade, nor did it matter that we weren’t known names. The Futurity assessment got down to the detail of whether our horses had potential or not.”

The BEF’s Jan Rogers added: “The Futurity assessment is showing itself to be a system that British breeders value, because it enables them to demonstrate, long before a horse is able to compete, that it has performance potential.

“It serves as a valuable marketing tool for British breeders and we are delighted that so many people want to be part of it”.

For more information visit: www.bef.co.uk

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