The EquiRatings Guide to Horse & Rider Profiles

What the data behind every horse and rider in international competition actually measures and what it tells you that results alone cannot.

In This Guide

What an EquiRatings Profile Is
The Metrics: What Each One Measures
Reading a Profile: The Three Questions
Who Uses Profiles and How
The All-Time Rankings Database
Season and Streak Records
Young Horse Trajectory Profiles
Where to Find Profiles
Frequently Asked Questions
Further Reading: Profile Articles

Introduction

A finishing position tells you where a horse ended up. It does not tell you how strong the field was, whether the performance was consistent with everything that came before it, or whether the combination is improving or declining. A win total tells you nothing about whether those wins were achieved against the world's best or in weaker conditions.

EquiRatings horse and rider profiles provide the context that results alone cannot. Drawing on official FEI and national federation data going back to 2008 for eventing and 2010 for show jumping, every international horse and rider has a profile built from metrics that measure current competitive strength, consistency over time, and trajectory. The profiles are used by national high-performance programmes, media, horse sourcing professionals, and fans and they underpin everything from team selection analysis to the Win Chance figures in the EquiRatings Prediction Centre.

1. What an EquiRatings Profile Is

An EquiRatings profile is a data record for a horse or rider that aggregates performance across every international start since records began. It is not a results list. It is an analytical picture built from metrics that adjust for context — the quality of opposition faced, the difficulty of the course, the consistency of the performance across phases — so that what you see reflects genuine competitive level rather than raw outputs.

Profiles exist for both horses and riders, and they are distinct. A horse profile tracks the animal's career from their first international start, showing how their rating has built, where their phase strengths and weaknesses lie, and what their completion record looks like. A rider profile shows how they perform across multiple horses which is a different question, and a more complex one.

2. The Metrics: What Each One Measures

The following metrics form the core of every EquiRatings horse and rider profile. Together they answer questions that results cannot.

EquiRatings Elo: A dynamic rating that updates after every international competition. Points transfer between competitors based on who beats whom — with the amount exchanged depending on the ratings of the horses involved. Beating a higher-rated opponent earns more points than beating a lower-rated one. Over time, ratings converge toward a horse's true competitive level. Elo is the primary measure of current competitive strength and the basis for all-time rankings.

Peak Elo vs Current Elo: The highest rating a horse has ever achieved versus where they stand now. A significant gap between the two indicates a combination performing below their historical ceiling which may reflect age, injury, a change of rider, or a gradual decline in competitive sharpness. A current Elo that is close to or at the peak suggests a combination still operating at the top of their game.

Opposition Beaten Percentage (OBP): The percentage of competitors a horse or rider finishes ahead of across a season. Unlike win rate, OBP captures consistent competitive quality regardless of whether it produces victories. A horse that regularly finishes in the top quarter of strong international fields will carry a high OBP even in a season without a major win. It is particularly useful for identifying horses that perform reliably above average without yet breaking through at the top level.

Season Win Rate: The percentage of international starts that result in a win, tracked alongside total run count. Context is everything here: sustaining a 30% win rate across 70 international starts in a season is a categorically different statistical achievement to achieving the same rate across 20 starts. Both numbers need to be read together.

Completion Rate (Eventing): The percentage of international starts that result in a completed score - all three phases finished within the rules. In eventing, where cross-country non-completions carry real risk for team formats, completion rate is one of the primary data points used in championship squad selection. A horse with a high completion rate at five-star level is statistically more valuable to a team than one with a higher win rate but lower reliability.

Consecutive Clear Streak: The number of consecutive rounds at a specified level — typically CSI5* 160 — completed without jumping penalties. Tracked because it is one of the rarest achievements in the sport. Reaching double figures at this level places a combination in historically small company; EquiRatings data identifies how rare any given streak is by benchmarking it against all combinations since records began.

Phase-Specific Metrics: Granular metrics that break performance down by phase. 6RA measures average dressage scores across the last six international tests. XCJ10 tracks cross-country jumping reliability over the last ten international rounds. SJ6 Adjusted measures show jumping fault averages against the difficulty of the courses competed on, so the figure reflects genuine reliability rather than easy tracks. These are the building blocks used inside Win Chance models and individual horse analysis. For full definitions, see the EquiRatings Guide to Performance Metrics & Predictive Analytics.

3. Reading a Profile: The Three Questions

Every EquiRatings profile is built to answer three questions. They are worth understanding explicitly, because they change what you look at depending on what you need to know.

How strong is this horse right now?

The current Elo answers this. It is a live, continuously updated measure of competitive strength, adjusted for the quality of opposition faced. A horse with a current Elo in the top 20 globally is performing at world-class level regardless of their recent win count. A horse whose Elo has been climbing over the past six months is in better form than their overall rating yet suggests.

How consistent have they been?

OBP, completion rate, and season win rate answer this. These metrics reveal whether strong results are isolated or sustained - whether a horse is a reliable performer across a full campaign or one whose headline results obscure a more variable underlying record. For team selectors, this is often the most important question of the three.

Where are they heading?

The gap between peak and current Elo, combined with Elo velocity (the rate and direction of recent rating changes), answers this. A young horse whose Elo is rising faster than their age cohort is on a trajectory toward the top of the sport. A horse whose current Elo is significantly below their peak, with no sign of recovery, is in decline. Age-adjusted benchmarks — what Elo is typical for a horse of this age — provide additional context for both.

4. Who Uses Profiles and How

National high-performance programmes

Team selectors use EquiRatings profiles to compare horses and riders on objective data rather than reputation or recent form alone. Completion rate is scrutinised for championship selection. OBP is used to identify horses that consistently finish at the top of the leaderboard. Elo trajectory data helps programmes identify which horses are currently improving and which may be past their peak.

Media and broadcast

Profile data provides the statistical foundation for feature articles and commentary - quantifying when a performance is genuinely historic (a peak Elo no other horse has reached, a consecutive clear streak that places a combination in the company of Olympic champions etc.), when a rider is in the form of their life, or when a young horse's trajectory signals future greatness before it has fully arrived. EquiRatings publishes profile-driven feature articles on news.equiratings.com throughout the season, covering eventing and show jumping.

Fans

Horse Elo ratings and all-time rankings are publicly visible on equiratings.com for both eventing and show jumping. Articles are written on both horses and riders when major achievements or milestones are hit which deepen fans understanding of the sport and contextualise the greatness of results. Profile data also underpins Eventing Manager 2.0, EquiRatings' fantasy eventing platform, and is used in Win Chance breakdowns in the Prediction Centre.

Horse sourcing and ownership

For buyers and owners evaluating a horse, the combination of Elo trajectory, completion rate, phase-specific metrics, and age-adjusted benchmarks provides a far more complete picture than results alone. EquiRatings horse sourcing consultancy uses profile data as its analytical foundation. See the EquiRatings Guide to Data-Driven Horse Sourcing for detail.

5. The All-Time Rankings Database

One of the most significant outputs of long-term Elo tracking is the all-time rankings - a historically grounded answer to which horses have been the best the sport has ever produced, adjusted for the quality of competition they faced. EquiRatings maintains all-time rankings for both eventing (from 2008) and show jumping (from 2010), updated continuously and publicly accessible at equiratings.com/top-horses.

The all-time rankings allow direct comparison across generations. A horse that dominated in 2012 can be placed objectively alongside one dominating in 2025, because both ratings are built on the same methodology. This is the only database of its kind in equestrian sport.

For eventing, La Biosthetique-Sam FBW holds the highest peak Elo in history at 973 - a mark no other horse has surpassed since records began. For show jumping, King Edward held the world number one position for an extended period before stepping back from competition at the highest level. Both records are documented in full on news.equiratings.com and can be seen on the all-time rankings pages for eventing and jumping.

6. Season and Streak Records

Beyond all-time ratings, EquiRatings tracks season-level records across both disciplines providing historical context for current campaigns and identifying when a rider or horse is doing something the sport has not seen before.

In eventing, season records tracked include: total international wins, win rate adjusted for run volume, total podium finishes, and completion rate at five-star level. In jumping, records tracked include: total CSI5* Grand Prix victories in a season, consecutive clear rounds at CSI5* 160 level, and five-star podium count for horses in their age cohort.

These records are published as editorial content on news.equiratings.com when broken or approached, with the full historical context - what the previous record was, who set it, and how the current performance compares. They are also referenced in event previews and Fan Guides when relevant to a competition's narrative.

7. Young Horse Trajectory Profiles

Some of the most valuable profile content EquiRatings produces concerns horses that are not yet at the top of the rankings but whose data trajectory signals they are heading there. Age-adjusted Elo benchmarks allow the data to identify future elite performers before they have fully arrived.

The question the data asks is simple: for a horse of this age, how does this Elo rating compare to every other horse at the same age since records began? Horses that reach a given threshold at a young age have, historically, gone on to compete at the highest level. EquiRatings publishes these trajectory analyses as editorial content, identifying the horses whose current data places them in historically significant company for their age and what that has typically meant for their subsequent careers.

This type of content is particularly relevant to the horse sourcing context, where the ability to identify pre-elite horses on an upward trajectory before the market fully values them is a central analytical challenge. See the EquiRatings Guide to Data-Driven Horse Sourcing for more.

8. Why EquiRatings Maintains This Database

EquiRatings was founded by Diarmuid Byrne and Sam Watson to bring objective performance measurement to equestrian sport. The profiles database is the foundation on which everything else is built - the Prediction Centre, the horse sourcing consultancy, the Fan Guides, and the editorial content on news.equiratings.com all draw on the same underlying data.

No other organisation in equestrian sport maintains a comparable longitudinal database. FEI results records go back further, but they are raw results without the contextualisation — field strength adjustment, phase-specific modelling, trajectory analysis — that converts results into the kind of insight professionals and fans can actually use.

The database currently covers nearly two decades of international eventing and over fifteen years of international show jumping. It is updated continuously as results come in from the global circuit. The all-time rankings, season records, and trajectory analyses it produces are the definitive reference point for understanding competitive performance across both disciplines.

9. Frequently Asked Questions

What is an EquiRatings horse profile?

A data record for a horse that aggregates their full international career into a set of contextualised metrics - Elo rating, OBP, phase-specific averages (6RA, XCJ10, SJ6 Adjusted), completion rate, and trajectory indicators. It is updated within 24 to 48 hours of every international result.

How is the Elo rating calculated for horses?

After every competition, points transfer between horses based on who beats whom. The amount exchanged depends on the ratings of both horses - beating a higher-rated opponent earns more points, losing to a lower-rated one costs more. Over time, ratings converge toward a horse's true competitive level. For a full explanation, see the EquiRatings Guide to Performance Metrics & Predictive Analytics.

What is the highest horse Elo rating ever recorded?

In eventing, La Biosthetique-Sam FBW holds the all-time peak of 973 - the highest since records began in 2008. No other horse has surpassed it. In show jumping, King Edward held the world number one position for an extended period before stepping back from the top level of competition in 2026 - his peak was 821 and still remains the highest ever reached.

Where can I see the current world rankings for horses?

Current and all-time Elo rankings for eventing and show jumping are publicly available at equiratings.com/top-horses, with separate tabs for current and all-time rankings in each discipline.

What is OBP and why does it matter?

OBP — Opposition Beaten Percentage — measures what proportion of competitors a horse finishes ahead of across a season. It captures consistent competitive quality even in seasons without major wins, and is particularly useful for identifying horses that perform reliably above average in competitive fields.

What is a good completion rate at five-star level?

For eventing horses competing regularly at CCI5*, a completion rate above 75% is considered strong. Above 85% is world-class. Completion rate is one of the primary data points scrutinised for championship team selection, where a non-completion can decide a result.

How does EquiRatings track consecutive clear streaks in show jumping?

Clear streaks at CSI5* 160 level are tracked across all combinations since records began in 2010, allowing any current streak to be benchmarked against the full historical record. Reaching double figures at this level is rare; EquiRatings publishes editorial context when a streak approaches or breaks historically significant thresholds.

Does EquiRatings cover national-level results as well as international?

The core public database covers FEI international results. National-level data is incorporated into horse sourcing consultancy work, where tracing a horse's career before they reached the international stage is part of the assessment process.

How do age-adjusted benchmarks work for young horses?

EquiRatings identifies what Elo rating is typical for a horse at each age, based on every horse tracked since records began. A young horse whose Elo is significantly above the historical average for their age cohort is on a trajectory that, historically, has indicated future elite performance. These benchmarks are published as editorial content when a horse reaches a historically significant threshold for their age.

Can I compare two horses directly using EquiRatings data?

The all-time and current rankings on equiratings.com/top-horses allow direct comparison by Elo rating. More detailed head-to-head comparison — including phase-specific metrics and trajectory data — is available within the horse sourcing consultancy service.

10. Further Reading: Profile Articles

The following articles on news.equiratings.com are examples of how EquiRatings profile data is applied to specific horses and riders. Each links out from this pillar page as a cluster article going deeper on a particular subject.

Eventing:

Jumping: