Discovering Team EFG Monaco, specialising in endurance riding

An endurance riding team led by the Monegasque Equestrian Federation, Team EFG has continued to progress since its creation in 2010. We met its team manager, Henry-David Guedj.

It is in the heights of Roquebrune-Cap-Martin, on a plot of nearly two hectares in the heart of the wilderness, that the horses of Team EFG reside.

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We are fortunate to be able to work our horses on an ideal terrain, with inclines

“We are lucky enough to be right next to the trails reserved for firemen, which are not accessible to cars”, reveals Henry-David Guedj. “This allows us to give our horses the opportunity to work on their foundations, on an ideal terrain, with inclines”.

A team of promising young talents

This allows the horses to work on their galloping endurance, but also their tendons, as the team manager explains. “We can do long sessions of four hours, in order to strengthen their back. And compared to our friends who are based in Alsace, we can expect good weather all year round”, smiles the man who competes for the Principality.

Since 2010 and the creation of the team by Henry-David Guedj, Team EFG has continued to grow thanks to the results of Henry-David Guedj, an international rider and member of the French team, but also and above all through four promising young riders.

Laura Gramaglia, Darya Bourlakova, Hanna Guedj and Chloé Guedj are therefore contributing to the Principality’s influence in the endurance riding world. “Hanna is only 16 years old but she will be competing in her first international event in Fontainebleau on 15 October, over one hundred kilometres, after having earned podiums in all the races she has done so far”, reveals the uncle of the two little Guedjs. We also have Darya, twelve years old, who represents the future, with two first races this summer which she finished with a victory and a podium”.

France has the best horse breeding in the world
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Laura Gramaglia, whom we had the chance to meet at the last Jumping International Monte-Carlo, also embodies the bright future of Team EFG. “The goal is clearly to send Laura to the European Championships next year”. Hanna Guedj, meanwhile, is expected to compete with the French team at the World Championships in 2023.

Five horses including three broodmares

A constant progression for this young team, which has trained its own horses. “We started by buying young, unbroken five-year-old Arabian thoroughbreds”, confides Henry-David Guedj. “They were not trained, so we had to teach them the basics, by making them ride kilometres progressively”.

With five horses in total, including three broodmares that have recently given birth to two young foals, Team EFG is full. “You must know that in France, we have the best horse farms in the world. Observers come from all over the world to see them. At the World Championships in the Netherlands, eight of the top ten were of French origin”.

Know-how that benefits Team EFG, whose growth is definitely not about to stop.