Do you have a training/competing budget?

[palo1]

I'm not expecting a huge number of answers to this but interested to know if anyone consciously has a monthly or annual budget for training and competing. In the interests of transparency, mine is microscopic!! We have many, many other commitments including teenagers, vet/healthcare and farm renovation and I work part time so I set aside a measly £100 pcm for training (I don't really compete but that could include some unaffiliated outings in theory). I prioritise training for obvious reasons. I have to be VERY self reliant and use existing knowledge and free resources wherever I can and often have to turn down 'fun' outings with friends as they don't fit the budget! Friends are lovely and totally on board with that thankfully.

So, wondering what other people fit in and whether they actually allocate a sum of money in a conscious way?

ETA: training currently is focussed on Novice dressage with a pro and some fun xc development (80cm +) when I can access that.

 

[leflynn]

Yep I have a monthly budget for horse things - training/events and try to stick to it!

 

[millitiger]

Yes
I budget £300/month for lessons and competing and that includes fuel.
In summer I tend to spend more with eventing but it balances out over winter.

My friend recently shared she spends £400/month on lessons and then competitions and fuel on top - I am jealous!
I have a rickety old farmhouse we're slowly improving - it would be 10x quicker if I didn't train and compete but I do think you have to balance enjoying life with the more sensible aspects!

 

[humblepie]

Fortunately not but I take a view on costs. I cut right down on lessons as instructor moved away - had two in total last year.

I show - entries can vary from £10 to £70 a class. The last only really being applicable to Royal Windsor but quite easy to spend £100 on two qualifier classes. I don’t compete over the winter.

 

[maya2008]

What I spend in hay/straw in the winter, goes into arena hire and competing in the summer. So about £300 a month is available for course hire/comps to us as a family. That's technically £100 per month each, but arena hire is a set cost so we save there as can all go at once!

 

[palo1]

That's so helpful thank you. I am trying to have 1 decent lesson a month in the Spring/summer, practice at home, very rarely use an arena/hire and maybe do a fun ride a month if it has sensible jumps for us to play over.

Development is quite slow but it has taken ages for me to be able to get my head above water psychologically to develop clear 'aims' after some tricky times lol. I don't do RC, or camps as they eat too much budget and are a bit of a distraction iykwim. But I don't have to budget for actual competing which would be tricky/impossible with the current pot I think. I often wonder how people manage to fit in and afford some of the levels of training and outings that I read about - that can make some things/development feel really unachievable!

 

[humblepie]

Just thinking about your comment about self-reliance, obviously depending on knowledge, levels, et cetera and being fully aware that very experienced and elite competitors have a lot of training, there are many things I know from lessons that really I just have to repeatedly tell myself and concentrate on doing when I ride. It is not a case of saying I don’t need lessons, I know I do and I like lessons very much and love learning but I am conscious of wear and tear on an older horse so do a lot of hacking and gentle lateral suppleness work with him And try to be self reliant knowing pretty much what an instructor would be telling me to do. A set of eyes on the ground is very useful to check that what you’re doing is working and unfortunately I don’t have those so we am very self-reliant.

Years ago when I was showjumping, I had very few lessons because money was very tight and I definitely preferred competing to lessons. I don’t know if having a trainer or a lot of lessons is a more modern thing or not or perhaps just does depend on finances and situation. Just some musings!

 

[Titchy Reindeer]

I don't really have a conscious budget, but pay for two group lessons a week in term time at the riding school - this comes out a around 12€ a lesson if paid in advance trimestrially (I often get a third lesson a week thrown in for free to exercise other horses that happen to have not worked that day). If I miss a lesson I can catch up in the school holidays. Then I allow myself two outings a month either competitions or one-off training with an outside instructor, which averages out at roughly 100€ a month excluding fuel for travel.

 

[palo1]

Just thinking about your comment about self-reliance, obviously depending on knowledge, levels, et cetera and being fully aware that very experienced and elite competitors have a lot of training, there are many things I know from lessons that really I just have to repeatedly tell myself and concentrate on doing when I ride. It is not a case of saying I don’t need lessons, I know I do and I like lessons very much and love learning but I am conscious of wear and tear on an older horse so do a lot of hacking and gentle lateral suppleness work with him And try to be self reliant knowing pretty much what an instructor would be telling me to do. A set of eyes on the ground is very useful to check that what you’re doing is working and unfortunately I don’t have those so we am very self-reliant.

Years ago when I was showjumping, I had very few lessons because money was very tight and I definitely preferred competing to lessons. I don’t know if having a trainer or a lot of lessons is a more modern thing or not or perhaps just does depend on finances and situation. Just some musings!

Absolutely yes to those thoughts about self-reliance: for me that is an awful lot about us using the 'basics' more, focus on those things I know are absolutely essential and planning and working through stuff in a disciplined way: proper warm ups and suppling, correcting anything that I know isn't going well that should be - eg, not allowing myself sloppy halts, crooked leg yields etc. I work really hard on very simple exercises at home, trying to do those 'better 'so that lessons can concentrate on development, correction and deciding on the homework! I hate it if a lesson has to take time on stuff I know I can sort, though that happens sometimes! There are some good resources for free too. Good eyes on the ground and expertise really are vital for me too though.

I do think having loads of lessons at a lower level (where I am at!) is a more modern thing tbh. BITD I probably wouldn't have felt that a priority but I wonder, with the proliferation of different training ideas and a perhaps more privileged/affluent (and possibly less RS trained) equestrian population that is why. Certainly, lessons used to feel necessary but now people get dressed up for those and some lessons/clinics have way more 'glamour' than most competitions used to!! I do think we are less confident in our equestrian culture and perhaps less keen to go out and make mistakes etc at comps - there is so much more jeopardy in that with both selling horses and the impact of social media...

 

[palo1]

I don't really have a conscious budget, but pay for two group lessons a week in term time at the riding school - this comes out a around 12€ a lesson if paid in advance trimestrially (I often get a third lesson a week thrown in for free to exercise other horses that happen to have not worked that day). If I miss a lesson I can catch up in the school holidays. Then I allow myself two outings a month either competitions or one-off training with an outside instructor, which averages out at roughly 100€ a month excluding fuel for travel.

Wow!! £12 a lesson is amazingly cheap. I couldn't find anyone to muck out for half an hour for that here...let alone provide useful input!!

 

[nikkimariet]

Yes, I budget every month for everything I spend money on.

The short answer is because I have other financial commitments that I can’t ignore (sadly). Long answer is because I travel a fair bit it’s the fuel that’s a real killer. Half a tank is £80/85 now so I’m spending double my entry fees sometimes.

 

[Titchy Reindeer]

Wow!! £12 a lesson is amazingly cheap. I couldn't find anyone to muck out for half an hour for that here...let alone provide useful input!!

I live in rural France and even here, that is very cheap. It's not a very affluent area and the YO is aware that if he raises his prices too much, he will lose clients that will simply stop riding. I doubt his business model is very sound as he works pretty much all daylight hours to keep the place running with the help of some trainees and some of the longer term riders and owners that help out where they can. He is also a big softy at heart (though he will deny it) and has multiple charity case horses that can't bring in any money like the little guy I borrowed as a companion while Little Madam was away at stud.

 

[humblepie]

Absolutely yes to those thoughts about self-reliance: for me that is an awful lot about us using the 'basics' more, focus on those things I know are absolutely essential and planning and working through stuff in a disciplined way: proper warm ups and suppling, correcting anything that I know isn't going well that should be - eg, not allowing myself sloppy halts, crooked leg yields etc. I work really hard on very simple exercises at home, trying to do those 'better 'so that lessons can concentrate on development, correction and deciding on the homework! I hate it if a lesson has to take time on stuff I know I can sort, though that happens sometimes! There are some good resources for free too. Good eyes on the ground and expertise really are vital for me too though.

I do think having loads of lessons at a lower level (where I am at!) is a more modern thing tbh. BITD I probably wouldn't have felt that a priority but I wonder, with the proliferation of different training ideas and a perhaps more privileged/affluent (and possibly less RS trained) equestrian population that is why. Certainly, lessons used to feel necessary but now people get dressed up for those and some lessons/clinics have way more 'glamour' than most competitions used to!! I do think we are less confident in our equestrian culture and perhaps less keen to go out and make mistakes etc at comps - there is so much more jeopardy in that with both selling horses and the impact of social media...

Yes when I was young ( a long time ago) it was Pony Club (in my case til about 14) and then lessons pretty much went off the radar.

 

[Ample Prosecco]

I don't have a budget but I do have to look at the bank account and see whether I can spend or not each month. I train much smarter now and use money more carefully. Camps are free coz I run them and take Lottie if there is a spare stable. Which there sometimes are as people drop out last minute. So I get to go 2-3 times a year. They are great as I use my own RIs at camps.

I no longer have any flatwork apart from Joe Midgley once every 6 weeks or so - his lessons pack so much in there is 6 weeks of schooling in each one. I have stopped all XC schooling or fun rides rhis season as I am not eventing so I am not wasting training money just for gun. Which is hard but I am being disciplined.

So I just have SJ lessons and I travel to my RI to reduce arena hire. I very occasionally have a clinic lesson with 1-2 trusted instructors I know already, mainly so I can train at competition venues like Kelsall or Dean valley. As my RI does not teach anywhere like that. All competiiton is focused on specific goals. No Clear Rounds or unaff just for fun/experience anymore.

 

[Wishfilly]

I don't budget strictly (I probably should!) but probably pretty similar to yours- about £100 a month. I will splash out a bit more for big things maybe 2-3 times a year, e.g camps etc.

I'm lucky that we have a great instructor who will come to the yard and do shared lessons for us for a very reasonable price. There are also people on the yard who will organise visiting trainers etc to come- if they come all morning and we share lessons, then usually the prices are pretty reasonable.

I don't really compete so fortunately don't have to budget for that, but it does include going out and about to the occasional local clinic or funride- again, I'm lucky to have people to go with, so we can split petrol costs etc.

 

[LEC]

I used to and now if I have a sound horse and want to do things then I do it but I will not put myself into debt for horses....

I have 2 horses so probably spend a fortune as no arena either. I do a few mediocre group RC lessons on the younger one just to get him doing stuff as £27.

Just had a look and spent £448.50 on training and competing. This month will be higher as actually eventing again. That is excluding fuel..... which is probably another 40% to be added.

 

[SEL]

Sort of. I spent too long without a sound horse so while this one is still ok I'm trying to get out and about and enjoy him.

I don't have a school and the weather was too grim over winter to want lessons in someone's outdoor so I spent money on e-riders entries. Feedback on the test forms is v good - much better than most I've done in person (with the added advantage e-riders don't care about muddy legs). I've found them more useful than I was expecting and not expensive.

I then budget for 2-3 external things per month. That could be a clinic, lesson, arena hire or fun ride. I'm trying to work out what to do about a regular instructor so that might be on top.

 

[palo1]

Sort of. I spent too long without a sound horse so while this one is still ok I'm trying to get out and about and enjoy him.

I don't have a school and the weather was too grim over winter to want lessons in someone's outdoor so I spent money on e-riders entries. Feedback on the test forms is v good - much better than most I've done in person (with the added advantage e-riders don't care about muddy legs). I've found them more useful than I was expecting and not expensive.

I then budget for 2-3 external things per month. That could be a clinic, lesson, arena hire or fun ride. I'm trying to work out what to do about a regular instructor so that might be on top.

That is interesting about e-riders; do you hire an indoor for recording your test? What sort/level of judging goes with that?

 

[RachelFerd]

It's not representative, but my March training and competing spend probably topped £1000 if you include fuel - absolutely horrifying really. But I don't have many other outgoings other than the horses, so I appreciate I'm in a really privileged position to be able to throw money at the wall like that.

 

[palo1]

It's not representative, but my March training and competing spend probably topped £1000 if you include fuel - absolutely horrifying really. But I don't have many other outgoings other than the horses, so I appreciate I'm in a really privileged position to be able to throw money at the wall like that.

Yup, that's the cost of eventing!! It's always been too expensive to make sense but at least you are having a great time with it. Your training budget is not quite my entire monthly income lol . I run 2 horses in work with basic feed and bedding, summer medication for one, veterinary necessities and regular farriery, trail hunting sub, a 4x4 as my everyday vehicle, 2 teenage children partially supported, a knackered hill farm to restore ( not all my cost thankfully) a very pampered dog and have nice whisky and decent chocolate and Turkish delight in the house. And I have my training budget of £100. The two are not remotely comparable of course but the cost of eventing somehow makes me feel much better about my wee salary and thankfully I love my p/t job .

 

[HopOnTrot]

Kind of. I’m a company director so my monthly salary is tiny, that goes into my bank for things like pony costs, field rent, phone bill etc. I tend to stick to that a month for my horse costs. That pays for bits for me and daughter (6) to do pony club.

 

[Squeak]

I have a really strict budget spreadsheet and vary what I spend between winter and summer. As NM fuel can be a real killer so I'm careful to make sure it's taken in to account too.

I will go over my budget for a special show - as others have said, you don't always have a sound horse and sometimes you have to grab the opportunity when it comes your way.

 

[SEL]

That is interesting about e-riders; do you hire an indoor for recording your test? What sort/level of judging goes with that?

Nope - I do mine in my field! Measured out 20*40 with the markers and my OH is the cameraman. Had to choose days for filming around the weather over winter and did have a couple of soggy tests but it's all for experience.

All judges are BD judges at various levels. I have had one of them judge me in real life too. Pretty big classes for most of the lower levels (prelim / intro etc) and you can choose a BD test or an e-riders one

 

[iknowmyvalue]

Yes and no, I’ve worked out my approx monthly spend as part of my budget plan. Like some people here, I’m lucky that I don’t really have any other outgoings except horses (the dog and cat, but they’re relatively cheap compared to horses!). I didn’t used to be so strict, but I’m looking at buying a house this year so things are getting stricter.

My training budget is £150 a month and that will cover 3 lessons and a bit extra for bonus costs (eg. if I’m going to XC hire rather than the normal arena with instructor it will be extra, or if I go to a day camp rather than normal lessons). If I don’t use the extra, it can be saved up and used for an extra lesson if needed. I’ve worked out that competition costs average out around £100-150 during the winter, and £250-300 during event season. Then fuel on top, though I’m lucky my little lorry is relatively fuel efficient (not a lot worse than the tow car I got rid of to buy it!) We just won’t talk about the fact that livery + competition/training costs are more than my rent

I’m also lucky in that my parents are better off than me and very supportive, so if I really want to do something but it is a stretch, I can ask for money rather than gifts for birthdays etc. (for example, they’re going 50:50 with me on the cost of going to grassroots champs at Bramham as part of my birthday present)

 

[4Hoofed]

Yes and no… more sort of a will this end my relationship if I fork out that amount of money?!

After the Sorrento blew up last spring sort of scuppered my independent transport plans.. so now I’m trying to build a nest egg to down pay on new car and big trailer. Horse is fecking huge so makes life a little tougher. This year I’ve decided to pretty much take my new colt to a few local shows, and the big lad to a show in Suffolk the entry fee is very reasonable but as I don’t have my own transport I’m blowing a big wedge to go support a breed class. so I think for the rest of the year I’m going to stay locally and work on our personal growth/try attend more clinics etc.

 

[rara007]

I made my annual plan then arranged my overtime around it to afford it. I’m quite optimistic in my planning though so always run light…

 

[Jango]

I really should... but I don't. I've got a sound horse and we are having so much going out and about. I do something most weekends eg a lesson, arena hire, box hack. So I probably spend around £150 I reckon. I've got camp this month too, so I guess more like £500 this month but I only do camp once a year. I'm quite lucky that I have a decent salary, I purposely bought a cheap house and I don't buy much stuff. But I spend loads on eating out, holidays and horses. I wouldn't go into debt for any of that stuff though.

 

[Ample Prosecco]

It's not representative, but my March training and competing spend probably topped £1000 if you include fuel - absolutely horrifying really. But I don't have many other outgoings other than the horses, so I appreciate I'm in a really privileged position to be able to throw money at the wall like that.

I am sure you make sacrifices elsewhere and work hard to afford it. I would spend more if I could but actually having been forced to cut back I think my riding is benefitting. I am much more particular about who I use, and what I want out of sessions. Everything is more focused. No more random clinics with 'names' just because I see them on FB. I very nearly went to the 'dead pony in arena' name as the kids on my yard were going. Very glad I swerved that one.

 

[Flame_]

I very nearly went to the 'dead pony in arena' name as the kids on my yard were going. Very glad I swerved that one.

Lol, what's that all about?
I only have limited, almost all tarmac, hacking so if I want to do much more than walk, riding means paying. I've found close outdoor hire for £20 and some pleasure rides are still £13 for members but normally more round about the £20 mark. I spend the money and effort on going to an indoor in February and March once a week then move to the outdoor, and farm or pleasure rides two or three Sundays a month from April to September. Then I try to do 3 EGB graded rides which are over £50 now for a single day ride with no extras like camping. Horse takes a break from the end of September to the end of January while I work my backside off and try to save up a bit. I keep all my Christmas tip money in a box and that pays for the arena hire for a good chunk of the season.

 

[BronsonNutter]

I don't budget it or keep track - but I'm quite limited in what I can do in terms of time (I work every so many weekends, and my slightly unpredictable hours mean I don't book lessons for after work either) so if there's something on that I want to do, and SuperPony's owners haven't got plans with him, then I'll just go for it, as it's not like I can do it every week.

I've spent so long not being able to go to all the things I'd like to have gone to due to broken ponies, broken myself, broken transport etc, that I'm going to use the horse-owner maths of on average, over the last 10 years, it's not that much