World Class Sophie is a member of the World Class Start and Potential Programme and she receives Silver Level support on the Potential Programme. The key objective of the World Class Start & Potential programme is to identify talented and dedicated young riders, as well as those riders who are already progressing onto the Performance Pathways in the four equestrian Olympic and Paralympic disciplines, Dressage, Eventing, Show Jumping and Para Dressage. These riders are placed onto a development pathway that will ultimately see them proceed onto the Olympic and Paralympic Dressage Performance squads in 2008, 2012 and beyond. The age range for riders on the Start programme is between 14-20 years and for the Potential programme is approx between 20–35 years of age.

The Start and Potential programme has been designed to focus on the following elements of training and development:
 

	Competition experience including International exposure
	Training, advice and competitive support from the most highly qualified people
	Human and veterinary sport science and medicine backup
	Providing a comprehensive support network
	Introducing performance analysis to enhance technique and improve performance
	Developing Teamwork and Team spirit through innovative squad sessions

From its inception the World Class Start & Potential programme, set up by The British Equestrian Federation, was lottery funded through Sport England.  Since April 2006, the programme has been funded through UK Sport, as is the World Class Performance programme.

This new funding structure will help develop the Start & Potential programme further as it becomes more aligned with the Performance programme that benefits from UKSport’s performance focused divisions, designed to develop the athlete / rider and provide them with all the necessary elements to perform and win at the highest level.