Empowering Riders to Succeed

1.Athletes are required to be an Ontario resident and, if under the age of 18, registered in school full time (or full time equivalent approved by the athlete’s school);
2.Athletes must possess, or be eligible to receive, a valid Canadian passport;
3.Athletes, parents and coaches are required to sign the GRIT Participant Agreement;
4.Athletes riding a leased or sponsored horse are required to have the approval of the owner to participate in the GRIT program, including travel to qualifying competitions and training events as outlined in the program handbook;
5.Athletes are required to be between 13 and 27 years of age and have at least three 2023 competition results at the Gold level in one or more of the three Olympic disciplines as follows:
*Note – Age determined as of January 1

Dressage Athletes eligibility requirements:
Dressage athletes with horses able to perform at 2nd level up to FEI Young Riders. Dressage Riders with goals to become advanced athletes or coaches in dressage with appropriate young horses/5-7 ideally, or higher 6-10 from 3rd level up to PSG or higher. All athletes must produce three results with a minimum score of 65% in gold competitions.

Eventing Athletes eligibility requirements:
Minimum of three MER Results at Training or 1.05M division horse trials. One MER may include a maximum of 20 jumping penalties cross country. A Minimum Eligibility Requirement (MER) is achieved by completing a competition within minimum parameters of all-round performance as follows:
Dressage test: Not more than 45 penalty points ( 55%)
Cross Country test: Clear round at obstacles (activating a maximum of one frangible device will maintain MER result on cross country). Not more than 75 seconds exceeding the optimum time in the Cross Country Test for one, two, three, and four-star competitions and 100 seconds at five-star competitions.
Jumping test: Not more than 16 penalties at obstacles.

Jump Athletes eligibility requirements:
13 – 16 years
1.20M – 1.30M – three placings with 0 faults in gold competitions
17 – 20 years
1.30M – 1.40M – three placings with 0 faults in gold competitions
21 – 25 years
1.35M or higher – three placings with 0 faults in gold competitions
25 – 27 years
1.4M or higher – three placings with 0 faults in gold competitions