This prestigious award is now entering its seventh year and the aim is always to offer young people, between the age of 18 and 25, an opportunity of self-discovery and development.
Supported by the BEF Excel Talent Programme with funding from the National Lottery through Sport England, we aim to help them make the step from keen amateur dressage lover to a worthwhile young professional in a thriving equestrian industry. Last year, with this in mind, the scheme was developed further to enable applicants to offer an additional ‘strength’ in the final. This strength or ‘strand’ will contribute to the existing skills that they are required to show as competent riders of a variety of horses. The two strands will be:-
- Coaching
- Stable Management
The initial training days run in the establishments of some of our top riders/trainers will give the young people selected a wonderful day of education in the environment of an outstanding ‘name’ in dressage. The six finalists who then are chosen from these initial days will be encouraged to decide which strength or ‘strand’ they will present at the final.
The coaching strand will demonstrate a competence in your developing skills in ‘teaching’ (you may be working towards UKCC qualifications or already have them or a BHS teaching qualification).
The stable management strand will demonstrate your basic competence at assessing and managing horses in your daily care in a yard situation (you may be asked to assess the state of fitness of a horse, its state of shoeing or its action in a trot up).
The six finalists will attend a compulsory workshop day prior to the final where they will be fully briefed about the ‘strand’ approach, which is a new and exciting development. Finalists will have the chance to meet the other finalists and participate in a range of workshops designed to familiarise them with all aspects of the final. We hope that from this day finalists will go away and fine tune the delivery of their ‘strength’ so that the final is another day of value and camaraderie with like-minded young professionals.
In all, finalists will participate in three inspiring days which will be both informative and educational. The input and advice from top professionals will, we hope, be invaluable as you begin on your career journey. One of you will become Young Professional of the Year 2016/17!
To apply, click here to read the application criteria and download the application form.