Michael Bragdell Shares Why the Sport Horse Prospect Development Forum Is Right For You

The 2025 USDF Sport Horse Prospect Development Forum is right around the corner.  If you are interested in learning about starting and working with young sport horse prospects, this is the event for you.

Michael Bragdell, who will be one of the presenters along with Lehua Custer, was recently on the Dressage Radio Show to talk about young horses and the Sport Horse Prospect Development Forum. Here are a few of the main takeaways from Episode 766, hosted Megan McIsaac and Reese Koffler-Stanfield, titled “Young Horses, Young Riders and Equestrian Travel“.

Discussing the USDF Sport Horse Prospect Development Forum June 28-29, 2025 at Hilltop Farm Colora, MD

Question:  Well, tell us about this program and because I know this has been a baby of yours and it’s really exciting.

Michael Bragdell (MB): I’m one of what you call clinicians and it’s the first year for Lehua Custer. I think that’s going to be a lot of fun. She’ll bring some new stuff to the table. Willie Arts and Scott Hassler are two other clinicians that have been doing this forum for years. We try to put it in different parts of the country.  I did it in Texas, I was out in Oregon, the New England area I think was my first one. I did that one with Willie and Scott.

I think it’s an exciting program.

What we’re trying to do with this program is to connect the transition from the horses that are doing breed shows, basically all the in-hand horses, and the first year or two of their under saddle education. It’s really geared towards three- and four-year-olds. We want that age group.

Maybe they’ve been under saddle for, four months, six months, something like that. Even a little bit more is fine. But we’re trying to stay with that.

Q.  Where can we find the schedule?

MB: There’s a tentative schedule on the Sport Horse Prospect Development Forum on the USDF website, there is a link that has the event schedule. It’s a tentative schedule, but it kind of gives you a little bit of an idea of what we’re going to do, what the order is and the topics we’re going to touch on.

Q. So talk to us about general expectations of a newly started three-year-old.

MB: Everybody has a different approach to it. Lehua does it differently than I do. But I think what’s interesting, what we all bring something to the table.

I do a lot of groundwork, and when I say groundwork, it’s not necessarily just lunging or longlining for me. I call it response training. I want the horses to react to different kinds of pressure and the pressure can be different things. It could be a plastic bag, it could be a flag, it could be an umbrella, the whip, the leg, the hand. It’s so many different things.

But I look to the horses to find the answer that I’m looking for through relaxing, through the pressure that I’m creating. It’s a little bit hard to describe through words what that means. You know, seeing it live in person is a little bit easier.

I will do a little bit of a demo with selected demo riders. We look at showcasing a little bit for the auditors. I’m trying to help everybody,  to educate the ones that are coming to audit and also help the person that came to do the demo.

Q. What are the expectations of a four-year-old?

MB: Maybe they’re not perfectly round, maybe they’re not perfectly bending, but they understand the balance and how to move in the shape that I’m looking for.

And in the beginning, for example, doing your shoulder-in and maybe I only go two steps or three steps and then I can halt them in the shape of the shoulder-in, release the pressure of the reinforcement, and reward them.

And so it’s not that I have to force the shape or hold the shape through my seat and my leg, but they are maintaining the balance on their own a little bit. I think that’s for me anyway for the young horses is very helpful.  It makes the process of educating them a lot simpler.  You know, a horse doesn’t have to sweat hard for it to be a good workout.

You can listen to the full episode of The Dressage Radio Show here:

Want to find out what co-presenter Lehua Custer had to say about participating in the USDF Sport Horse Prospect Development Forum? Check out her story on YourDressage here.

Join us June 28-29, 2025 for the upcoming USDF Sport Horse Prospect Development Forum. It will be held at Hilltop Farm in Colora, Maryland, and will feature presenters Lehua Custer and Michael Bragdell. Registration closes June 15. Learn more and register on the USDF website.

These forums are designed to provide a correct, fundamental system for starting sport horse prospects. They are intended to bridge the current educational gap related to the training of sport horse prospects as they progress from in-hand to under saddle, and eventual competition. They are also a wonderful place for owners and trainers to meet and network with each other.