Do owners pay riders?

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maf430

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Hi, first post here!

(This is in the context of showjumping.) I am trying to find out whether an owner of a talented horse would pay a rider to take on their horse. By this I mean stable it, pay for food, vet bills etc (everything you spend money on with a horse). And also would anything they pay them include the actual labour of looking after it and riding it.

My thought is that they would pay them, the doubt being that a talented horse with a good rider would hopefully do well at a high level and so would win prize money and give the rider exposure. If the owner wasn't paying the rider anything then I would expect a good amount of the prize money would be kept by the rider for covering cost of the horse and personal living costs.

I ask this because I was seeing if I was to find someone with a good horse, I could take the horse on for free (giving me a better chance of finding a good horse and owner that would let me ride and compete them). I wouldn't pay for vet bills myself but even if I was running at a loss, at this early stage of my career the exposure I would get from doing well on a good horse would possible provide me with better contacts and horses and in turn, be well worth the loss.


I'd really appreciate you're help! Thanks!!
 
Owners do pay and send talented horses to riders. However the riders understandably need to be proven in their talents and all riders I know that are given rides, have their own yard and are atleast semi professional (horses atleast some of their income).

From your post, and correct me if I am wrong, you are just starting your showjumping career. Therefore owners might be reluctant to send their talented horse to a less experienced rider, and I am doubtful you would get paid for it as it’s a risk on their behalf. A talented ride that would take you up the levels is well worth the everyday costs, but remember you need to add on competing, training and maintaining transport costs to this. It’s hard to make a profit from horses!

Perhaps looking at joining a showjumping yard, which may lead to rides or atleast training on good horses? Or if you are looking to SJ alongside another career then (if you are an experienced rider) maybe purchasing a young, well bred jumping horse to bring on at the lower levels with the view to selling in a few years and buying an older schoolmaster type at a higher level?

ETA: also maybe look into prize money. The amount of prize money at most events barely covers your entry and transport costs in most disciplines, I imagine showjumping is the same
 
I worked for somebody for a while jumping there horses but had a major fall out with them and left. I'm just trying to figure out the best way for me to go... Whether it is best to find somebody to take me on to ride for them or to jump (excuse the pun!) straight into it and try and get some horses to go it alone. I didn't ride for the person long enough to produce many results at a high level so highly doubt whether anyone would be stupid enough to give me a horse to ride but my thinking was that there may be someone about who would if it was free. Obviously you still have the risk of injury to the horse but otherwise it would be pretty risk free.

I am beginning to look for jobs and horses/owners and whichever takes off first I'll likely head down the route of. And also in regars to buying a cheaper horse and producing and selling it to fund a more expensive horse I am also working on that as well although the other two options are preferred

I think I'll struggle though to get anywhere on my own at this stage as I just haven't got the experience or results to prove myself so getting a job is probably the best option.

Really appreciate your help!!
 
If you are able to improve horses you ride then there will soon be people who would like their horses to be ridden, although beware the mad and bad and what would happen to you if you came off and was hurt and couldn't work.
If you became more successful be very careful about the "contract" between you and the owner and who is going to get what out of the deal, and potentially the increase in value of the horse.
 
maf430 said:
I worked for somebody for a while jumping there horses but had a major fall out with them and left. I'm just trying to figure out the best way for me to go... Whether it is best to find somebody to take me on to ride for them or to jump (excuse the pun!) straight into it and try and get some horses to go it alone. I didn't ride for the person long enough to produce many results at a high level so highly doubt whether anyone would be stupid enough to give me a horse to ride but my thinking was that there may be someone about who would if it was free. Obviously you still have the risk of injury to the horse but otherwise it would be pretty risk free.

I am beginning to look for jobs and horses/owners and whichever takes off first I'll likely head down the route of. And also in regars to buying a cheaper horse and producing and selling it to fund a more expensive horse I am also working on that as well although the other two options are preferred

I think I'll struggle though to get anywhere on my own at this stage as I just haven't got the experience or results to prove myself so getting a job is probably the best option.

Really appreciate your help!!
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I think the consideration for owners here is that your plan isn't risk free, it is actually extremely risky to send a talented horse to an unknown person with no proven results. The only horses you are likely to get are perhaps problem horses from people that don't mind taking a punt on you because they've tried and failed other avenues, in which case it becomes risky for you.
To get rides on good horses you have to prove you are capable of doing a good job so you either need to produce your own from scratch or you need to work for someone and get some rides that way.
Good luck x
 
You aren’t going to get a mega talented horse for free (or at least one where it’s pretty obvious it’s mega talented!) - it’s too risky for an owner, they are better off paying a proven competition rider.

That said, if you conduct yourself well, it is more than possible to get a nice young hombred to produce for someone. Either on a loan basis or if you are lucky on a partially funded basis. Either way you would want to protect yourself contractually because many young riders have been stung this way while trying to make a name for themselves.
 
Something that was drilled into me at age 18 when I got my BHSAI and thought I could take on the world (as you do at that age!) and is applicable to 99% of us, bar the select few at 4 star level.... no one will ever pay you to ride the nice horses. They'll pay you to ride the ones they don't want to get on themselves -and you make a name for yourself by making those horses nice enough for the owner to want to ride again (and take away from you!). Rome wasn't built in a day and as you know horse training isn't a quick fix, so it takes a similarly LONG time to build a reputation for being able to ride any horse and make them into anyones ride. Then you find the nice horses start finding their way to you (and your talent has undoubtably grown too!).
 
You were riding for a pro but had a falling out and left? Don't underestimate how small a world top level competition is. If you have picked up a bad reputation (no matter who was actually at fault) then that will hang around and hamper you if you try to set out alone now. You might be better off disproving any poor reputation by working for another professional before trying to go it alone.
 
Yes. We sent our Shagya stallion to Sebastien Poirier in Surrey. He did a brilliant job starting him jumping at 85cm British Novice, had he been in France he would have had to start at 95cm aged 5 years and then move up to 1.05M. We found the UK system more sympathetic to young horses. I used to take a 4.00am ferry from Dieppe, watch him jumping in Surrey home on the overnight ferry.
 
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