Do you think equestrianism is 'elitist'?

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MizElz

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In terms of aspects such as accessibility, media coverage, expense, outside perception.

All views, opinions and experiences would be greatly appreciated
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All my OH's mates think I'm a 'rich bird' because I have a horse. They couldn't be farther from the truth of course
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but goes to show that there is a false perception there.
 

Some people have a pre conceived idea that horses = money. People that live in the country generally accept that that isn't the case as at least half a dozen of my schoolmates (only off the top of my head here, not even thinking hard) had ponies of their own/ponies on loan.

When I was in London & people found out I had my own horse they automatically assumed I must be pretty well off. Especially men for some reason!

Even if I pointed out that although I technically had 4 'horses' at that time, one was an NF mare, two were Mini Shetland geldings & the other was a British Spotted Pony, it didn't mean I was rich! But because I had 4 they assumed I must be well off.

They were nearly right. I WOULD have been well off if I HADN'T had them! They gobbled all the money!
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I would say there is to non-horsey people. Everyone I work with thinks I must have alot of money but it's further from the truth lol. My horse eats all of my money!! Someone at work the other week asked me if I went out with the hunt, never really talk about it to friends who aren't into horses, and the whole staffroom went quiet. I don't anymore, but I use to and I'm sure people have pre-concieved ideas about that.
 
I think it gets more elitist the higher up the competition ladder you go.

It's probably reasonably fair to say that most people could afford to let their kids have one riding lesson a week at the local riding school if they really wanted to...after all we're only talking about the same costs as for say a couple of packets of fags or a round of drinks down the pub.

As you move into ownership the costs obviously escalate and they continue to do so as you start to compete and then affiliate etc...

Ask yourself this...do you know anyone 'poor' at the top end of the sport
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The perception certainly is!

There is no doubt that keeping horses is a great way to be poor!
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All my (non horsey) friends and family assume it's a sport for the rich only.

Livery is not cheap in most of the country, DIY starts at £25 round here and obviously feed, farrier, vet etc etc - before which you needed to have bought your horse.

Accessibility depends very much on where you live; as a child I used to live in Southend in Essex where there was very little choice of riding schools and having a horse on loan/of your own was financially out of the question for my family and friends.

Media coverage is limited on terrestial channels and Sky etc cost money. Competeing your own horse costs a fortune in travelling and entry.

So, broadly speaking (and I know there'll be exceptions leaping up and down explaining how they manage on a fiver a week having bought their horse for a tenner) I suspect that it is sadly out of the reach of many.

ETA: Rambo - my parents struggled to pay for lessons for my sister and I. They didn't smoke, go to the pub either, have holidays abroad etc. The money earned was spent on food, clothing and bills!
 
I think to non-horsey people we are all rich, but those who are horse owners know the truth! Horses ARE expensive but they dont realise how much we all (well most, some are rich...!) give up to keep them!

But TBH I do think it is elitist. I compete in BSJA and BE, I do novice BE and would love to try a CIC* but the entry fee alone makes me laugh! You HAVE to be pretty well-off to compete at the higher levels. Even at BSJA, at about £15 a class nowadays for normal classes it aint cheap! And you only have to look around at events and see all the Whitakker lorries etc. to know that there IS money in the sport which people therefore see as elitist.
 
Good point Rambo. We oftern settle for second best or hand me down clothes so the horses can have the best of every thing! People I work with are pretty good to be fair, oftern saying things like 'horses must cost alot of time and money'.
 
Some people at work give me the impression that having horses is a luxury and one I shouldn't have as I have children.

I can justify that compared to a very good social life the keep of the horses is similar but I don't mention the cost of competing and training as I struggle to justify that to myself. I also think that since Zara has raised the profile of the sport more people are aware of eventing and the fact that a royal is involved must mean we all have money. Its just a shame I'm missing the money and the talent
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ETA: Rambo - my parents struggled to pay for lessons for my sister and I. They didn't smoke, go to the pub either, have holidays abroad etc. The money earned was spent on food, clothing and bills!

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...and riding lessons for you and your sister by the sounds of it
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Seriously though, my point is just that at the lowest level the costs are far from elitist levels. I know we spend as much on my sons football every year as we would if he was having a lesson once a week or once a fortnight.

Unlike many other hobbies / sports though the extremes that you can go to are poles apart.

I would class equestrianism in the same bracket as motor sports or shooting tbh. The main difference being that you can't just put the horse down and stop spending on it if you have a tight month or two...they still need feeding / shoeing and veterinary care etc ;p
 

As everyone else has said, it comes down to the level at which you compete/aspire to. I'm a happy hacker who doesn't mind some odd local shows. I'm not seriously into competing at all.

Then there are those that do BE/BD etc & aim to work their way up the ranks & obviously, the higher you go, the higher the cost. Everything rises, from the cost of the horse & the talent that comes with that horse, to horsebox, insurance, clothing, tack & gear, instruction/training, livery costs (an event/dressage horse will not be living out all year round the same as a cob would) to rider clothing costs etc etc etc.

Looking at it, the horse world ranges from 4yr old children with a Shetland pony on their parents farm/smallholding/kept in a field etc to top class SJ'ers & Dressage horses that are stabled, trained, preened & schooled to that max. And then there is all that is in between!

Complex really & quite hard to judge.
 
I don't believe it is a sport open to many and I'm afraid I disagree Rambo - I don't think a lesson is the same price as a round of drinks down the pub anymore. At a riding school I used to ride at even hour long group lessons are £30. I genuinely don't think that that is accessible to the majority of parents. I still feel privaledged to have been given the opportunity by my parents to ride and things have got more expensive since then. To me that isn't accessible.

As for elitism, yes I think it is percieved as elitist and I think the costs of affiliating these days are extortionate and do make it unaccessible to many, as said before particularly at the higher levels. Media coverage is aimed at those who understand equestrianism and I think this adds to the elitist outside perception.
 
Yes, I do think that people have a preconcieved notion about equestrianism being an elistist pastime.

I for one, am sick of being called names just because of the sport/hobby that I do! I wear my jods everyday as I go straight to the stable after I birng my son to school. I actually had to change the route I walk just to avoid being hit (one kid struck me at the back of my head while I was walking my son to school), called names, coughed in my face because of my riding clothes (i.e. faded jods, mud half chaps, muddy paddock boots). The other day two chavs walked by the yard gate in the middle of the afternoon holding their beer cans while I was going out on a hack and they said "look at the rich b*tch riding all of her horses all day".

1) I only have one pony on loan.
2) The three others are WAY too small for me to ride! (although one of the natives is strong enough for me to ride him bareback through the fields, LOL!).
3) I work darn hard at my business and for my friend at her yard (who owns my loan ponio) so that I can afford to ride, buy tack and pay for ponios' food, shoes, wormers, etc.
4) Maybe if they got off their butts and stopped leeching of society, drinking beer in the middle of the afternoon, they could afford to ride too!

I don't drink, smoke, take drugs, go out partying. When I think about how much my inlaws or my sister in law spend on cigarettes, going out to pubs at the weekend, or drinking, I reckon they must spend much more than what I spend on riding. A 20kg bag of econo pasture mix costs £6.10 at the farm shop and that will last me nearly two weeks while a pack of cigarettes costs about the same and lasts about a day for my inlaws.

You tell me who has the more money to burn!
 
I am a lawyer and own a horse - sounds a bit hoorah henry doesn't it! Is not. I am skint but my mare lives in luxury! Its smelly work and hard work BUT I LOVE IT ALL THE SAME!
 
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I don't believe it is a sport open to many and I'm afraid I disagree Rambo - I don't think a lesson is the same price as a round of drinks down the pub anymore. At a riding school I used to ride at even hour long group lessons are £30. I genuinely don't think that that is accessible to the majority of parents. I still feel privaledged to have been given the opportunity by my parents to ride and things have got more expensive since then. To me that isn't accessible.

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Don't know where you live but all the local RS's around here charge around £15 for a half hour lesson. At age 6 or 7 that's all most kids have or need :-)

BTW...When did you last buy a round of drinks....4 pints of lager or bitter is around £14 :-O
 
OK, £15 for half an hour - but by the time kids are on and ready thats down to 20 minutes, and many riding schools start kids off at half hour lessons and move them upto hour long lessons. My old riding school didn't do half hour lessons for the reason I just mentioned. If you add in the safety gear and clothes needed that kids will grow out of quickly, I think it all adds up to more than what a lot of parents can afford.

I bought a round of 4 drinks earlier today and paid £10, so maybe on that front you drink in expensive establishments
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I do think it is elitist, yes. If it wasn't, every horse mad little girl would have her pony, or would have access to one at her local riding school. My dad was a manual labourer, my mother was raising two kids, and every penny went on bills, food and the mortgage. Christmas/birthday presents more often than not had to be functional, like clothes (and certainly not brand-named ones either!), I walked two miles through a very scary counsel estate to get to school because bus fares were too much, and we got our first car when I was thirteen. Riding lessons at £10-£15 per week (then) were astronomically out of our league. To even get close to a horse I would walk or cycle miles to a riding school and spend all day mucking out for a lesson, but when I suggested that a whole day's work for a one hour lesson wasn't really fair, I was told not to come back till I had jodhs, boots, a hat and could pay. After that I got a paper-round and I'd save up three weeks' wage for a one hour lesson (at a different school, mind!) and it took me forever to finally get my own riding kit. I would be devastated every time I saw people riding, wearing lovely expensive riding kits and laughing and chatting, talking about Pony Club rallies and riding camps, about shows they were going to or rosettes they'd won, and I simply couldn't understand why my life wasn't the same and why I couldn't have any of these things. I absolutely accept that horse owning/loaning/lessons may take a hefty bite out of our finances, but the fact is, those people who get to spend their money in that way had that money to spend in the first place, and the foundations of elitism are built upon having more of something (money, knowledge, whatever) than someone else.
 
I think it is often percieved as elite, by non-riders - something rich white people do! I am neither rich, nor white. I like to take a little something for myself out of my modest salary, for which I work extremely hard! My children both rode when they were small, and we couldn't afford for us all to ride. So I'm a late starter too, and I have generally felt very 'at home'.
 
I don't think equestrianism is elitist at all. Back home where I come from in Lincolnshire I went to a small riding school that charged only £6 per hour which eventually became free for my sister and I as we would help out on a Saturday for a free ride. Once we had our own ponies the costs were split between my Aunt (we happily shared the ponies with my cousins) my Mum and my Grandad who having trained and broken horses up to his retirement just loved to see us all riding. We ended up selling my pony when I was 17 as I shot up 3 inches and filled out and looked too big on her and I just never found another horse I gelled with so just exercised horses for other people. Once I graduate and have been in a full time job a year or so I definitely want a horse of my own again even if it does gobble all my money!! For now I will be enjoying my weekly lessons and hack!!
 
Certainly it is seen as elitist, specially by my socialits BIL. At the time we had this conversation he was spending more on nappies for his baby than I was on looking after my ponies (all on DIY). So does that make having children elitist - he had four of them?
 
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I think it is often percieved as elite, by non-riders - something rich white people do! I am neither rich, nor white. I like to take a little something for myself out of my modest salary, for which I work extremely hard! My children both rode when they were small, and we couldn't afford for us all to ride. So I'm a late starter too, and I have generally felt very 'at home'.

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And now you have a horse to ride!!!!
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