BridgeUP GiddyUP
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. Group activities and community engagement provide opportunities for students to develop critical social skills including communication, responsibility, teamwork, and problem-solving.
THE PROBLEM & PARADIGM
Why horseback riding?
Launched in 2021, BridgeUP GiddyUP was created to help bridge horsemanship and economic gaps within the equestrian community. The sport of horseback riding has historically been overwhelmingly high-income — the average yearly household income for members of the United States Equestrian Federation is $185,000. The cost of purchasing and maintaining a horse, much less competing, is prohibitive to most families.
BridgeUP GiddyUP is therefore 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.
THE APPROACH
Galloping Ahead
One of the most biggest 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. BridgeUP GiddyUP provides an alternative path to success for under-resourced riders through rigorous, merit-based testing events to augment conventional competitions as the milestones to an individual’s success.
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.
But GiddyUP is about more than just learning how to ride. Working with horses teaches students work ethic, confidence, teamwork, responsibility, health science, and so many other lessons that are vital to the development of the whole rider. And of course – it’s fun!
GiddyUP Success 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 middles 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 magic!
