Local Horse Gains Elite Premium At The Bef Futurity

Sue Barr, a local horse breeder from Timsbury, Bath gained an elite premium with her foal at the Baileys Horse Feeds/ British Breeding/British Equestrian Federation (BEF) Futurity held at Catherston Stud, Hampshire.

The filly foal, Oceans Boudicca, owned and bred by Sue attained an elite premium of 9.15 in the eventing section, which is the highest premium awarded to a potential eventer throughout the entire 2014 Futurity. An elite premium indicates that the horse has the potential and outlook to perform at international level.

The BEF Futurity Evaluation series aims to identify British bred young potential sport horses and ponies destined for careers in dressage, eventing, showjumping or endurance.  It may even find the stars of the future who will go on to compete at World Championships or become Olympic Champions. 

Sue said, “We are absolutely delighted with Boudicca. She arrived into this world like a made horse with wonderful conformation, balance and poise.  She will always have a home with me and as she is a filly I am keen on keeping her bloodlines. I am very lucky to have her”.

Sue bred Oceans Boudicca from her mare, Heligan. She continued, “Heligan is a fabulous mare. I had her on loan from her then owner, Chrissie Hogg from Cornwall five years ago. She bred me a lovely foal, Chilli Ocean that is now a four year old. Heligan last year bred the highest ever scoring Futurity foal, Pentire Chilli Edge, who is a full brother to Chilli Ocean”.  Sue has put Heligan in foal to Future Gravitas for 2015 and Heligan leads the Futurity all time dam rankings scoreboard. Oceans Boudiccs is by the stallion, Royaldik.

Oceans Boudicca probably going to attend the 2014 BEF Futurity Eventing Final in October and then Sue plans to take her in hand showing at county shows and then back to the Futurity as a three year old for hopeful equine bridge selection. All being well Oceans Boudicca should then go on to have a career competing in eventing.

The Futurity is a continually evolving process, 2013 saw the introduction of the Futurity equine bridge which is now being run as an extension of the Futurity evaluations.  The Futurity equine bridge provides top Futurity graduates with the direction and support they will need as 4 year olds so that they begin their early years under saddle in a way that allows for sustained physical and mental development. In order to be eligible for the Futurity Equine Bridge all horses must obtain a Futurity score of 8.5 or above in their three year old year.

Head of Equine Development at the BEF, Jan Rogers said, “The Futurity is now in its ninth year and over this time we have seen it develop to provide real support to British breeders to help achieve their aims.  Through their carefully planned breeding decisions, year on year we are seeing an improvement in the horses presented at the Futurity for evaluation”. 

With entries limited to 60 at each evaluation venue, places are keenly sought after. Entries are categorised by discipline with age groups for foals, yearlings, two and three year olds and each horse is evaluated in hand and loose in a safe indoor environment as well as undergoing a vet’s assessment. 

The BEF Futurity Evaluations are held at 11 different venues over 14 days throughout the UK and young horses go home with a BEF Premium (grade), a stylish rosette and a detailed, informative score sheet. An attractive certificate to keep and frame follows on after the event. All results are then published on British Breeding website. www.britishbreeding.org.