What is the High Performance Rating?
What is the High Performance Rating, how can I read it, and how is it calculated?
In eventing, a win is not always equal. Dominating a small field on a straightforward track differs vastly from edging out Olympic medalists on a technical five-star course. Traditional scoring tells you who finished first - the High Performance Rating (HPR) tells you how impressive that victory actually was.
The HPR strips away the noise of varying competition formats and field strengths to reveal which performances truly elevated the sport. It's the difference between knowing who won and understanding what winning actually required.
How is the HPR calculated?
Traditional scoring only reveals who finished ahead that day. The HPR analyzes the difficulty of achieving that result by weighing multiple variables:
- Field strength accounts for the quality of competitors. Defeating Michael Jung adds substantially more value than beating riders lower in the world rankings.
- Course difficulty measures whether the cross-country time was achievable or punishing, and whether the show jumping caused widespread trouble or rode smoothly for most.
- Winning margin rewards dominance. A 10-penalty victory carries more weight than edging ahead by 0.1.
- Conditions adjust for factors that artificially inflate or deflate scores, such as particularly strict or lenient dressage judging panels.
The result: a horse finishing fifth in a fiercely competitive Olympic field might earn a higher HPR than one winning a weaker event against lower-rated opponents. The metric captures performance quality, not just placement.
How do you read the score?
The HPR operates on an index system where higher numbers indicate superior performances. The scale provides clear benchmarks:
- 113 remains the highest eventing HPR ever recorded, achieved by Lordships Graffalo at the 2023 European Championships.
- 108+ represents historic, world-beating performances—the kind that dominate major five-stars like Kentucky or Badminton.
- 100+ marks elite territory. A score at this level typically wins a major five-star in most competitive years.
- 90-99 indicates world-class performances, usually resulting in four-star victories or five-star podium finishes.
- 86+ serves as the benchmark for federations for identifying Pre-Elite horses, marking the threshold for international competitiveness.
HPR Within the EquiRatings Ecosystem
The HPR represents one component of EquiRatings' analytical framework. Understanding how it differs from related metrics clarifies its specific purpose:
- HPR (High Performance Rating) measures the quality of one specific performance - essentially, "how good was that particular ride?"
- Elo Rating tracks long-term consistency and ranking, similar to chess ratings, providing an overall assessment of a horse's competitive level across time.
- ERQI (EquiRatings Quality Index) focuses on risk management, calculating the probability of a horse completing cross-country safely based on historical data.
Each metric serves a distinct purpose. The HPR isolates individual brilliance, Elo reveals sustained excellence, and ERQI assesses safety profiles.
The Top Performances of 2025
Let's take a look at 2025's top performances.
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