WHAT IS BRIDGEUP: GIDDYUP?
BridgeUP GiddyUP provides youth with a unique track to personal development through the medium of horseback riding. The program teaches horsemanship and animal husbandry, and provides a rigorous skills curriculum for students which adhere to the European standards.
In addition to athletic training and skill development, students receive holistic personal and social development skills. Fitness testing and health education help improve nutrition, coordination, balance, and flexibility, while group activities and community engagement provide opportunities for students to develop critical social skills including communication, responsibility, teamwork, and problem-solving.
The HGB Foundation launched this program in 2021 in partnership with Southern Blues Equestrian Center because equestrian sport remains accessible to a small population of enthusiasts: as of 2019, 91% of membership identified as white, and the average household income was $185,000. The cost of participation remains prohibitive to those who can’t afford it; attending critical competitions can run upwards of $65,000, higher than the average yearly American income regardless of race. Between membership dues required to participate in rated horse shows; the cost of leasing, training, and transporting horses themselves; and high competition fees, recent years have seen horse sport charged with being a “pay to play” activity. This is despite the many benefits of exposing young people to the immense benefits of horseback riding as exercise and discipline, animal husbandry as a way to build empathy and responsibility, and the sense of community that forms in and around the barn. We know that horse sport benefits everybody, but unfortunately only very few can participate.
So, we have set off to address this problem as there are many reasons as to why equestrianism is particularly special and unique in nature and should be made more widely available and accessible. It is the only Olympic sport in which men and women compete on an equal ground. Horses in sport are an unmatched link to the natural world and while achieving excellence in sport is exciting and compelling, even more important are solving the issues we inevitably face in reaching those lofty goals, such as ethical training and quality of life for both the horse and human athletes involved. Equestrian sport participants and spectators alike have a lot to gain from horse sports remaining relevant today and being preserved for the future.
HOW DOES IT WORK?
BridgeUP GiddyUP is completely free of charge to those accepted, and available to students in the Whitehaven community, located in Memphis Tennessee, between the ages of 11-18. Accepted students receive, at minimum, 2 horseback riding lessons per week, transportation to the Southern Blues Equestrian Center, as well as healthy meals and complementary activities including mentorship from leaders in the broader Memphis community. BridgeUP GiddyUP seeks to guide young people into a future in which they can take the skills they learn through horse sport into any future career path, within the “horse world” and beyond it.
One aspect of the BridgeUP GiddyUP approach which makes riding more accessible to all is using merit-based testing events to augment conventional competitions as the milestones to an individual’s success. As riders progress in their education and skill development, one of the most onerous impediments to greater success for most riders is the event-based model for progression in the traditional equestrian world. This model works against students with the least resources as it requires constant travel, ever-accumulating horse show costs, and an immense time commitment.
By filling the gap in the current marketplace for equestrian competitions with merit-based certification events which utilize the highest standards of safety, horse welfare and good sportsmanship, BridgeUP GiddyUP provides an alternative path to success for under-resourced riders. These level-scaling, merit-testing events are based on classical riding standards which are not only time tested but have been evolved through the history of horsemanship to the current best practices for animal welfare and therefore long-term sustainable horse-human partnerships. Testing events are held as warranted by students’ progress and readiness to progress to the next level. At the conclusion of each program year, participants have the opportunity to showcase their equestrian skills in a major competition format, which serves to celebrate their achievements as well as present equestrian sport to a much broader audience in an accessible and exciting production.
WHAT HAVE WE ACHIEVED SO FAR?
As of 2024, over the course of its three years of operation, BridgeUP GiddyUP has already started to see the impacts of horse sport on our cohorts of student riders and, through partnership with local horse shows, have begun taking steps to impact the wider equestrian ecosystem in Memphis and beyond. Riders report feeling more confident, healthy, and decisive, as well as better able to work with their peers. Self-reporting from both riders and their parents reflect improved academic performance and increased awareness of and desire to attend a four-year college.
And, we are only at the beginning of what BridgeUP GiddyUP can do! As riders progress through middle and high school, the program will grow and progress with them, helping ensure that their futures, and the future of horse sport, are full of diversity, accessibility, possibility, and of course…magic!