Wednesday, 21 April 2021
British Equestrian has today launched the first edition of its Youth Development & Performance Pathway Handbook, which focuses on the Olympic and Paralympic disciplines of dressage, para dressage, eventing and showjumping.
The 120-page handbook outlines the various stages that an aspiring rider might go through as they progress through their chosen discipline, starting at entry level and progressing through the various development stages up to being an athlete at the upper levels of the World Class Programme. The narrative is broken down into three sections – the journey into the sport, the journey onto the performance pathway and the journey onto the podium – and each provides clear guidance to riders who are working towards or taking their first steps into this stage of their equestrian career. It is also highlights how sport can be a great way to acquire transferable skills, especially for those that keep riding as their leisure sport.
“While producing a performance pathway handbook was a requirement in our recent successful funding bid to UK Sport, we felt that this was an opportunity to create a document that we hope will be really useful to stakeholders at all levels of our sport, including aspiring young riders, parents, riders on the World Class Programme, coaches and the equestrian community in general,” explained Head of Performance Pathways, David Hamer.
“Not everybody who sits on a horse is doing so with dreams of an Olympic or Paralympic medal, but will have their own aspirations of what they want to get out of their time in the saddle. Our hope is this handbook will help them to better understand the options available so that they can gain maximum enjoyment and develop a sporting habit for life, while also benefitting their physical and mental wellbeing.”
The Youth Development & Performance Pathway Handbook is available to view here as a digital e-book.