2003 Rolex Kentucky Three-Day Event

Rolex Breeders Symposium: The Future of Event Horse Breeding

With eventers from around the world converging on the Bluegrass during the Rolex KY CCI****, a dynamic group of horse people seized the opportunity to meet and discuss the future of event horse breeding.

On Thursday night, rider Pippa Funnell, breeder Sam Barr, Dr. Pete Birdsall, DVM, and Gary Lavin met at the USPC headquarters to focus on topics related to breeding. Friday night Dr. Kent Allen, rider Torrance Watkins, David O’Connor, and Sam Barr analyzed the conformation of three top event horses: David O’Connor’s Giltedge, Karen O’Connor’s Prince Panache and John Williams’ Carrick.

Denny Emerson and Ned Bonnie organized the symposium in the interest of recognizing the breeders of quality event horses and digging deeper into the question of whether it is possible to breed the ideal event horse.

With regulated breeding programs in the Netherlands and Germany, show jumping and dressage horses have been developed specifically for their sport, but eventing lacks this orderly method of producing champions.

“We’re here to figure out how to breed horses better,” stated Emerson. “We have to conclude that most of the successful horses out there now were randomly bred and ended up in eventing. The best thing to do is get people who know what they’re doing together to brainstorm.”