Equestrian influencers

midnight2025

midnight2025

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Me and my friend were just having this discussion about influencers . I imagine that you could make good money for a few years but then if people stopped watching you basically have no income and all the sponsors dropped you. I no interest in becoming an influencer but it was just an interesting conversation. What you’re opinion on influencers?
 
I think we're too early in the history of social media to say whether being an 'influencer' will be a lasting career or not. Celebrities are the original influencer in a way, but it is not their career - they are actors or musicians who naturally influence others because people admire them for their talents.

I think for a 'normal person' influencer to be successful long-term, they need to have something genuinely interesting to share to keep their audience engaged, whether that is making quality videos, sharing a talent, or the more vapid reason - being physically attractive and sharing lots of pouty selfies!

Personally I think it would be a horrible career, regardless of the perks. One of the worst things about social media is how it creates a desire for validation in the form of likes, follower count and pandering comments. That would be amplified to the max if it was your job. It also seems a bit hollow, because everything is staged to an extent, so it's like you're putting on a constant mask and performance. I'd hate the lack of privacy too - some people can be really creepy and obsessive about influencers, in the same way as they can be with celebrities.

I don't think it's necessarily any less of a secure job than any other, but most people probably do it as a side hustle rather than a full-time career.
 
It’s essentially a job in marketing except you are marketing yourself which is nothing new. We are surrounded by it daily - self-help/guidence people, reality tv shows, religious leaders etc
The difference is YT offers an accessible platform for the first time that means anyone can access making their own content and putting it out there rather than having to be commissioned or selected by someone else with the power.
If you take Harlow there are 600k subs and some of their videos have 120 million views which traditional media would love. I just think if done well they will have quite a long life span. Regarding sponsors etc as usual there is always limited marketing spend so companies will evaluate how well stuff does and the discount codes are a cheap way to tell you how successful your reach is. Ultimately it’s all about flogging product.

I suspect burn out is a bigger issue as you need to keep feeding the beast with YouTube.
 
I don’t follow many equestrian influencers but I do follow a couple of personal trainers so that means I get ads for others and most of it is utter garbage.
“Do this exercise and get a snatched waste and round booty” as if one pretty useless exercise can do that. But also the completely unattainable body image for the normal person that is being advertised if you “follow me”

There is a few really good ones that give out free meal ideas, tell you realistically how hard, unhappy and constantly tiring it is to have such a low fat percentage and that being fit, strong and healthy is much more important than having wash board abs.

I’d hope that those giving good, solid advice and fun content have a decent career from it if that’s what they want but the rest I hope peeters out. There’s enough crap on the internet without adding their useless content to it.

I do wish certain obese horse riders would stop popping up on my socials
 
I follow a few. The constant advertising and disingenuous fawning over products they’ve been gifted annoys me, but it’s how they make their money so I try to ignore it.

I reckon it will fizzle out in a few years. I think the current ‘crop’ of popular ones will continue for a while but then they’ll branch into other things.
 
Mr R follows a few farm video blogs. These record the daily life of living on a farm, warts and all. Several of these are now termed farming influencers and are reaching wider audiences through other media picking up on them.
 
I think that line of work opens up other opportunities though, for example there’s a few that now do presenting style work with H&C TV
 
Being a child influencer in any way, shape or form should be banned and I salute Champion for now refusing to work with any (I think its them, from memory).

As for any other influencing, live and let live - I don't think its lasting and they should always have an eye out for a side move when they are no longer in favour, but I like watching some content - just like I'd watch a TV show or similar. I am rarely 'influenced' though, its just an idle time waster for when I'd like to wind down, or to see thing I usually wouldn't like Joe Stockdale training his string at top comps, or behind the scenes for showing etc.
 
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It girls were celebrities without doing other jobs. They were famous for being famous. I think they were the original influencers - but in the days before SM they needed to be photographed and then plastered all over the press. People have always been curious about other people’s lives. Hence the huge popularity of gossip mags and tabloids. SM has just opened that up to anyone that wants to try and sell a lifestyle.
 
I don’t follow any. Most of them can’t ride, watched about 5 minutes of H&C with them on and thought “who on earth listens to these girls/women?”. They couldn’t even answer basic questions from the trainers. It’s was utter tosh.

However, I don’t really follow many “influencers” apart from for recipe ideas.
 
I did look at some on tiktok but they swear a lot and think that's funny. No need for it.

If the companies that throw stuff at these people actually donated their things to charity instead, who need the money, they would be much more respected.

I mean giving away around 4 equidry coats to the same person. Come on!!!!!
 
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@Kaylum good point. Why couldn’t the companies donate straight to charities and ask them to pop up a post.
I would much rather watch a video of a charity pony feeling better after using a joint supplement and in a new rug than an influencer on the internet that doesn’t actually need it. I would be much more tempted in buying from a company that donated to charity. I can’t say an influencer has ever made me want to buy what they’re promoting.
 
I like the idea of gifting to charities, but then they will have to seriously up their social media game because the advertising premise is to reach as many people as they can as often as they can. That would probably require employing another person which then probably isn’t going to be worth it- you can help starving horses with cash, not with Equidrys.
 
I follow several and enjoy them. It's nice to see people similar to my level out and about and enjoying their horses and the good ones are very good at editing, sound and making each episode have a story . I also enjoy watching them progress as they get more practised at it, both the riding and the filming. Also it's free for me to watch.
 
Alibear said:
I follow several and enjoy them. It's nice to see people similar to my level out and about and enjoying their horses and the good ones are very good at editing, sound and making each episode have a story . I also enjoy watching them progress as they get more practised at it, both the riding and the filming. Also it's free for me to watch.
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Agreed!

I particularly like EMD and ELS Eventing and Ella horses, also Karen Badrick with the Welsh ponies.

The only problem is, they get addictive and fill in the little gaps in my days off that I really should be doing housework!!!
 
TheMule said:
I like the idea of gifting to charities, but then they will have to seriously up their social media game because the advertising premise is to reach as many people as they can as often as they can. That would probably require employing another person which then probably isn’t going to be worth it- you can help starving horses with cash, not with Equidrys.
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I think if the big companies with big followings were sharing posts with the charities then that would bring the charity to the forefront and may increase donations.
I would respect companies for doing what they can. Obviously an equidry isn’t helping the ponies but I’m sure the workers would appreciate them and with equidry’s following maybe someone might see and donate or even better adopt a pony. I don’t know, I’m sure there’s many complications I don’t know of but just my thoughts.
 
I don't really follow any of them, but watch a couple of videos here and there (normally if it is of a show or place I want to go to). But I do like watching Discover the Horse and her videos of riding all the horse breeds in the world as they are informative and fun.
 
If someone is creating entertaining or informative content, then good on them. I see no difference between that and people who have twitter/Bluesky accounts, substack, or write columns for newspapers . In all area of life : food, travel, fashion, sport - there are people who are good at telling stories, creating short films, teaching or all of the above. SM means those people can just sell direct to consumers. Some accounts baffle me as to why they are popular! But some are really, really good.
 
Peglo said:
@Kaylum good point. Why couldn’t the companies donate straight to charities and ask them to pop up a post.
I would much rather watch a video of a charity pony feeling better after using a joint supplement and in a new rug than an influencer on the internet that doesn’t actually need it. I would be much more tempted in buying from a company that donated to charity. I can’t say an influencer has ever made me want to buy what they’re promoting.
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This Esme is targeted to a younger audience than me but she does a decent amount for WHW and Brooke. Well, more than many others anyway.
Horseysheepy said:
Agreed!

I particularly like EMD and ELS Eventing and Ella horses, also Karen Badrick with the Welsh ponies.

The only problem is, they get addictive and fill in the little gaps in my days off that I really should be doing housework!!!
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ELS Eventing is a stand out for me. Very different approach, really tries to be educational. She had a video up recently about how much it cost her to run two horses last season which was really informative. I hope to see more ads and sponsorships in her vids going forward if it means she actually makes some youtube pocket money to keep it going!
 
I used to totally avoid them but I do now sometimes put them on in the background when working at home as a change to the radio - they don't take a lot of brain power to follow along!

I mainly follow an endurance rider's YouTube channel as they seem really nice as well as being experienced (represented GB at championship level) and educational and they are the most relevant to me & what I do.

I've definitely never been influenced to buy something because of a so called influencer. Some brands I actually avoid because of influencers 🤣 I've come across a couple at events and stuff and they haven't seemed particularly nice but you could say that about people not on social media too - I saw one being very rude & dismissive to a car park official once & ever since have made an effort to avoid anything to do with them or their other influence's they are seemingly friends with.

There's some I don't 'get' but if it's working for them, good for them.

Shut Up and Ride Podcast had some interesting points about them as a whole.
 
Another ELS Eventing fan here. She's way above me in terms of level of riding but I try to follow her example in terms of mindset - it's always about learning and having a plan, and she is always positive about her horses even if things haven't gone to plan. The new series with her young horse has been an enjoyable watch, and I cried happy tears watching the vlog from when did the 2*S with her £1 TB as it's just been such a lovely journey to watch.

I also quite like Riding with Rhi as this seems fairly relatable and educational for a lot of 'average' owners who are working in a non-horsey job and keeping their horse on livery. I enjoyed her recent mini-series of her riding holiday to Dartmoor - a ride like that would scare the crap out of me (maybe not one day) so I enjoyed it from the safety of my own home 😂 Similarly I enjoy Footluce Eventing/Justine Ward for the bloodhound hunting content.

There are some others I cannot stand, and a couple I will only watch if they have an instructor worth watching.

Absolutely not on board with child influencers. I will not knowingly support brands or events who use them. The meet and greet thing is horrifying.
 
SaddlePsych'D said:
Another ELS Eventing fan here. She's way above me in terms of level of riding but I try to follow her example in terms of mindset - it's always about learning and having a plan, and she is always positive about her horses even if things haven't gone to plan. The new series with her young horse has been an enjoyable watch, and I cried happy tears watching the vlog from when did the 2*S with her £1 TB as it's just been such a lovely journey to watch.

I also quite like Riding with Rhi as this seems fairly relatable and educational for a lot of 'average' owners who are working in a non-horsey job and keeping their horse on livery. I enjoyed her recent mini-series of her riding holiday to Dartmoor - a ride like that would scare the crap out of me (maybe not one day) so I enjoyed it from the safety of my own home 😂 Similarly I enjoy Footluce Eventing/Justine Ward for the bloodhound hunting content.

There are some others I cannot stand, and a couple I will only watch if they have an instructor worth watching.

Absolutely not on board with child influencers. I will not knowingly support brands or events who use them. The meet and greet thing is horrifying.
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Yes Rhi is another one that is slightly outside the norm in terms of plastering sponsored content all over the place vs just enjoying her lovely horse. She does have some sponsors but always think it's interesting that she is more reserved with it than most, when her FT job is in marketing!

Agree 100% with the child influencers, gives me the absolute ick. Meet and greets with adult influencers is bad enough!
 
I enjoy Elisa Wallace, she’s the only one I watch - she’s doing a series at the moment on taming a mustang as she works with them regularly and is an advocate for the breed.

There are some who seem to almost exploit their child or even their child’s health conditions etc for likes and sponsorship which feels wrong - I’m not sure I’d like photos of me in hospital or have all my health conditions documented in great detail all over the internet and I don’t feel a child can fully consent to that or understand its implications long term but that’s just me 🤷🏼‍♀️
 
Maddie Moo said:
I enjoy Elisa Wallace, she’s the only one I watch - she’s doing a series at the moment on taming a mustang as she works with them regularly and is an advocate for the breed.

There are some who seem to almost exploit their child or even their child’s health conditions etc for likes and sponsorship which feels wrong - I’m not sure I’d like photos of me in hospital or have all my health conditions documented in great detail all over the internet and I don’t feel a child can fully consent to that or understand its implications long term but that’s just me 🤷🏼‍♀️
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Very thankfully, it's not just you and hopefully people will continue to speak out about it.
 
Influencers are like any other entertainment form - provided their advertising content is clearly labelled as such, and they're doing or saying isn't harmful to the horse or the audience, I don't really care what they do. Sometimes I'll watch a video or read a post and enjoy it, but mostly it's not really my thing. It's not really so different from watching tv, with advert breaks and paid product placement, provided they follow the rules. There are a lot of them that I don't think deserve a platform in the equestrian community though.

Obviously that doesn't apply to the pimping out of minors on social media for entertainment and personal gain, which is really poor form.
 
ELS Eventing works in marketing so that’s too any why she stands out. Personally my favourites are lifeontheleftrein and I do like watching Harlow’s videos. She is a good little rider.
 
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