No one knows how far a horse will go in its competitive career until it actually gets there – and has the ribbons to prove it.

Still, there are early clues as to a young horse’s dressage potential. To help identify them, Horse Sport called on Dutch dressage phenomenon Anky van Grunsven. Van Grunsven found her famous partner, Bonfire, when he was two-and-a-half years old. Together, they went on to win the European Championships, brought home gold and silver medals from the 1994 and 1998 World Equestrian Games, and captured the individual gold medal at the Sydney Olympics in 2000. More recently, she has been campaigning jumper-prospect-turned-dressage-star Salinero – individual gold-medal winner in the 2004 and 2008 Olympics, and part of the bronze-medal team effort at the 2012 London Olympics, who originally came to her barn as a six-year-old.

“When I look at horses, I’m always thinking FEI,” says van Grunsven. “Do they have what it takes to make it to that level?”

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