Are you cutting back on competing/training due to the cost of living?

[Wishfilly]

I know this has come up a bit on the British Eventing thread, and others, but I thought it might be interesting to give it its own thread?

Are people cutting down on their competing due to the cost of living/diesel/other factors?

We have a big show locally at the start of July- it has not run for two years due to Covid, and so I expected it to be well attended this year. They've just pushed the entries deadline back another week, I assume due to lack of entries, and whilst they aren't quite begging for entries, they are certainly encouraging people to enter.

Local unaff showjumping and dressage seem well attended, as do PC hunter trials/ODE etc, but BE within the county was again struggling for entries in order to be viable.

It feels hard to tell exactly what is going on- if it's due to people favouring some events over others, or due to certain disciplines being more popular, or if it's to do with costs and people are picking and choosing a bit more.

Are others seeing similar, and what do you think it is due to?

 

[milliepops]

I'm still training regularly, I would really hate to give that up. I don't have anything ready to complete currently but with the price of diesel still going up I can't even imagine shelling out for arena hire for a while yet either.

Its still busy at my place for lessons but the clientelle aren't really the sort to stop training either. Most of my horsey friends are still competing regularly so there must still be a lot of people out and about.

 

[mini_b]

I am still training regularly as I don’t travel for that which softens the blow.
More picky about what I go to. Ie if it’s far away vs cost of entry.
Wouldn’t go to arena hire at the moment.

couple of BE I was planning on attending cancelled due to low entries, one unaff I wanted to do was over subscribed.

 

[GreyDot]

I'm still training 2x a month but am only competing for qualifiers and nothing in between. I am so shocked at the price of diesel. It seems that every day it creeps further up.

 

[paddi22]

I'm totally rethinking plans. I am factoring in doing WAAY less shows and more training at home, and really only going out to get qualifying scores and MERS etc. I have a four year old currently as well, and I cannot see how I will afford to bring him the same route of clinics, schooling different venues, training shows etc in the same way I did with horses years ago.

 

[milliepops]

I'm totally rethinking plans. I am factoring in doing WAAY less shows and more training at home, and really only going out to get qualifying scores and MERS etc. I have a four year old currently as well, and I cannot see how I will afford to bring him the same route of clinics, schooling different venues, training shows etc in the same way I did with horses years ago.

That was definitely a factor in my decision to sell my 4yo. Time, mainly, but I used to take any of my projects out and about in little bursts to teach them stuff and I just couldn't find the funds to do him justice really. Didn't want to end up with a 5 or 6yo that was well behind in life experience as that wouldn't have done him any favours ?

 

[mini_b]

. I have a four year old currently as well, and I cannot see how I will afford to bring him the same route of clinics, schooling different venues, training shows etc in the same way I did with horses years ago.

exactly this.
Very nearly bought a youngin as well. If I’m struggling to get my v experienced one out just for the fun stuff, got to think how I’d factor in the educational trips as well

definitely on the back burner for now, and there’s 2 come up in my budget that I’d quite like. Typical.

 

[Ample Prosecco]

I’m as busy training and competing as ever - all the work I do is so I can train and compete. I’d cut back on everything else before the horses. The training camp I’m running next week is full too. So some people are still active.

 

[The Xmas Furry]

I have decided that any lessons can wait a bit and I'm now going to wait till autumn.
Money saved will be used for diesel for RC camp and a long weekend trip to friends, extra over might be used for a 'boot camp' of training in late autumn.

I've not competed seriously with B to date, but gone out for education, socialising and tbh we can just play at our usual level if I want to.

 

[mini_b]

I’m as busy training and competing as ever - all the work I do is so I can train and compete. I’d cut back on everything else before the horses. The training camp I’m running next week is full too. So some people are still active.

same, just the diesel costs are knackering me a bit at the moment. Travel to shows plus I drive the gas guzzler for work as well.

 

[Wishfilly]

I'm still training 2x a month but am only competing for qualifiers and nothing in between. I am so shocked at the price of diesel. It seems that every day it creeps further up.

I feel the same- I generally only fill up every two weeks or so, and it creeps higher and higher every time- last time, what used to be a full tank only did about half!

 

[superpony]

Definitely thinking twice about plans. Would normally be out much more but trying to cut back on outings and stay closer to home to save money due to the crazy cost of diesel.

 

[RachelFerd]

Nope, but I'm fortunately insulated from cost of living increases - edited to add - because our household income stays steady with inflation. Realise that's a very lucky position to be in.

 

[Elf On A Shelf]

Showing has certainly seen a drop in numbers. People used to go to their local show regardless of who was judging so they could have the day out. Now if the judge doesn't suit you don't waste your money on an entry fee. And that's before you start going further afield.

 

[Flowerofthefen]

I havnt cut back yet but after this weekend I will definitely be cutting back and staying closer to home.

 

[Britestar]

Still happy to go local.
There is a competition I was looking forward too in August, however I now realise its going to cost me at least £200 in fuel to attend, and I'm really having 2nd thoughts about going.

I have qualified for the BRC DTM champs in October and want to go there, but that's going to cost so much in fuel ( think 600 miles each way) that I'm starting to save for that, so the other comp may have to be missed.

 

[Peglo]

Everyone says here that numbers are down for everything which is a shame for all the organisers. Wether that’s cost or if people just got out of the way of going to stuff during covid I’m not sure.

 

[TheHairyOne]

Ive seen a lot of venues around my way putting calls out for entries, especially on fb, which really never used to happen. Asking for pre-entries so running is viable etc.

For me im just not prepared to travel any great distance atm due to fuel prices, but I am very lucky with the availability locally to allow me to do this. I also landed a promotion at work so thats cushioned me a fair bit. Consider myself quite lucky.

The most interesting one was an unaffliated dressage show I went to the other week (education for a horse who's developed a horrible nap atm). Where this venua is normally done with 4 classes by lunchtime entries were closed early due to it being full. I suspect that being able to do 2 classes v's BD's one cost wise had something to do with it.

 

[Michen]

Nope just utilising the CC more.

 

[Leandy]

No

 

[Alibear]

No, I should be financially, but I'm not.
I've learned how easily horses go wrong the hard way, so I'm continuing whilst I can.
That said, I've also had a recent lesson on how good my local venue is, so all thoughts of going further afield have been scrapped, which helps too.
The western shows are showing a similar trend to everything else, some struggling to get entires and others oversubscribed. There seem to be a lot more last-minute dropouts happening too.

 

[palo1]

Yes, I have scrapped all plans of competing for the foreseeable. It's not entirely down to the COL crisis (we are moving house too) but funds that I would have used for training and competing are now either being spent on blooming diesel or being squirrelled away for other necessities. It's just all a bit uncertain atm and training and competing is going to get more expensive for me as I move further away from any trainers/venues.

I had identified a budget of around £1000 for some quite low key training and competing ambitions for this year/summer season but that only included minimal diesel costs (before they went mad!!) so now that budget would be at least 1/3 more. That depended on me doing plenty of training at home/arena hires and giving only a slim margin for getting necessary qualifying scores. I didn't really want to fork out for BD and WPCS registrations and then only enter 1 test at 4 or 5 comps to get the necessary scores as that didn't really represent good 'forward' training and experience for my horse; not enough prep but plenty of pressure!! (for both of us) My ideal plan would have been to have a couple of months early in the season doing arena hires/training clinics/lessons and perhaps the odd 'prep' test before being able to go out twice a month competing with the aim of not only qualifying for stuff but also genuinely improving!

The budget in the end would only realistically have provided a very 'lite' experience for my horse - possibly giving us qualifying scores but without depth in match practice, feedback and improvement. That really didn't tickle me so I sacked it in and decided to try to save funds (not very successfully so far )

There would have been other associated costs too though I didn't factor them into the budget as I assumed I would have enough slack to fund those costs strategically. I know £1000 is a tiny competition budget but it was what I thought I could manage.

Anyhoo, shoes are off, beggar all training (I had a fun xc clinic a couple of weeks ago - yay!) and I am enjoying the no-pressure thing, especially as we are busy with house moving stuff. I am playing with elements of training at home too but that is really limited. I am considering other, essentially free ways to satisfy riding ambitions too. But I know that when my mare is another year older and perhaps those ambitions/aspirations are even harder to meet then I will possibly wonder why I didn't try to push things a bit more...

I guess debt is worse than equestrian goals for me!!

 

[countryal]

Local riding clubs around us have seen increases in entries, as people are not wanting to travel as far. Such as the nearest BD venue is 100 mile round trip, but 20 for unaffiliated.

 

[milliepops]

I guess debt is worse than equestrian goals for me!!

yeah :/ i am still paying the price for taking the opposite approach when i was younger! it was fun at the time but trying to keep all the plates spinning and also pay that back is very much Not Fun!

it has taken me a good couple of years to stop feeling frustrated particularly because before it all slammed to a halt for covid i was out multiple times a week with 2 horses so very busy indeed. in a way it's helpful having one that is still at the "get round the arena in a civilised way" stage because even though it's making me feel jealous watching friends pushing their way to the top, my current ride just ain't the one for that!

 

[MuddyMonster]

I'm not hugely competitive so not sure my post counts ?

I'm still having my monthly lessons and plan to still do clinics and arena hire at local place but I probably won't be hiring as much transport for the rest of this summer for various outings I had half planned - I might do one or two though, we'll see how I feel!

I'm seeing lots of vacancies even for local clinics & shows though, so assuming lots of people are beginning to cut back.

I feel fortunate that I could afford to do what I planned but it seems less easy to justify to myself somehow when we are more than happy doing what we are doing.

 

[palo1]

yeah :/ i am still paying the price for taking the opposite approach when i was younger! it was fun at the time but trying to keep all the plates spinning and also pay that back is very much Not Fun!

it has taken me a good couple of years to stop feeling frustrated particularly because before it all slammed to a halt for covid i was out multiple times a week with 2 horses so very busy indeed. in a way it's helpful having one that is still at the "get round the arena in a civilised way" stage because even though it's making me feel jealous watching friends pushing their way to the top, my current ride just ain't the one for that!

Yes, I can see that and I cannot even begin to imagine how organised etc you have to be to be taking 2 out multiple times a week lol!! I have had some really sad days this season as I know how fragile horses are, how easily things get derailed etc but I have now come to terms with the idea that neither horse will have too many more miles on the clock, that there probably more horses along in the future (I consulted Mystic Meg!!) and that we have to do what we can in the here and now. I love spending time with my horses anyway so they have never just been about the competition thing. That would be enormously frustrating. I am in a fortunate place to be able to ride in amazing places so that is a mega plus and, of course family life has to have it's place in my planning too. I know how lucky I am in lots of ways and thankfully I am feeling that atm. I am sort of hoping to make progress at home as well...or something!

 

[CanteringCarrot]

I sort of have some life circumstances that are making me miss out on training and competing, but I don't feel all that bad about it, tbh. When we didn't go to a competition last weekend I wasn't all that upset about not having to spend money on diesel.

We're also moving overseas so that kinda gets in the way too.

I'm still going to go to local training opportunities. We were supposed to go to xc schooling yesterday (less than 30 min away) but horse is recovering from an abscess. I would say that he saved me money but the vet bill cancels that out ?

 

[milliepops]

Yes, I can see that and I cannot even begin to imagine how organised etc you have to be to be taking 2 out multiple times a week lol!!

erm. well. it becomes a bit of an addiction i think, i easily get addicted to being really busy and i struggle with enforced pottering. if it's not taking the horses out and about then i tend to get unreasonably caught up in other things in some kind of frantic compulsion to DO STUFF. so it's probably been a good bit of personal growth not being able to, haha.

Very much relate to the fragility of horses making all opportunities precious :/ part of the reason why i decided to go against all sane and sensible opinions and try putting K in foal wedging one door open when another one closed on us. I am still wildly jealous of friends i was training alongside with her, one now doing Premier Leagues, the other has now done 3 GPs. Sniff. still. foal cuddles.

 

[HufflyPuffly]

Another on some forced pottering about after the retirement of both horses from competition last year... I veer from wildly jealous at everyone going out and then back to thank god I don't have that extra expense at the moment!

Baby horse is in the process of being backed and has kindly decided that she is going to be the most easy to back horse ever, so no extra money needed on sending her away so far. Plus she's just going out to some in-hand showing so she can see the world, last show was £6 per class and 30 mins up the road, came home with rosettes and trophies so a nice feel good day on a limited budget!

I'm sure if I still had the other two in work I'd be shutting my eyes to the cost, and just eating beans on toast in a cold house .

 

[SEL]

My friend promised her teenage daughter at the beginning of the year that they'd focus on mounted games (its her last year) and getting her new horse out eventing. That was obviously before Ukraine and everything else and she's feeling the pain but doesn't want to let her daughter down. Like some of us on here she never got to live her own dreams as a child so is really keen that her talented daughter gets the opportunity.

I did have plans, but 4yo baby cob is doing the growing thing and his bum has shot up so we need a new saddle. I'm ok taking it easy this year but with 3 broken ones in the field I'm conscious how quickly they can go wrong and would really, really like to get out and about a bit before winter hits!