Eventers - how do you do it??

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kayleigh_and_rocky

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www.kayleigh-nicholls.piczo.com
Since i was yay high i've had a passion for eventing and have always wanted to compete professionaly and produce sport horses.
However now the time has come to actually start the ball rolling and i've turned to showjumping for one reason - i can afford to!
Join up is cheap, competitions cost 15quid max and prize money always outweighs the entry fee - AND you get good prize money at low levels (as i will be producing youngsters eventually then low level will be a frequent thing to me as will only have maybe 2horses at higher level) so all in all i feel i can make a profit competing and producing showjumpers even though my passion is eventing
Where as eventing although i adore it, ridiculous join up fee, even more ridiculous competition entry fees and no prize money until you get to high levels!! How on earth could i afford to do what i want to do with these huge costs in the way?
Because of this i have turned to showjumping (and i also find it is my forte so i find it easier)(just not as fun)
SO finally we're here, eventers out there who do it as a profession....how the hell can you afford to???
 
Costs of eventing are expensive but to build a xc is not cheap also separately Dressage is £15 affiliated, Sj is £15 affiliated which leaves £15-20 for xc which you pay to do a poorly produced hunter trials course. Seems not too bad value in that respect. Also the insurance is horrendous and you need more people/equipment.
Prizes are shocking and this is one thing that definately needs improving but you do not do it to make a living. Andrew Nicholson will not make any money competing he makes it from selling horses.
 
Yeh i realise that but in order to sell the horse for a decent price it has to have competition experience. I understand where the price comes from but the lack of prize money, i honestly just cant realistically afford to do it, where as showjumping i can afford q easily (hence why iv gone that route)
 
But with eventing passion rules over sense. I feel its much harder to be placed eventing anyway which is why people are so pleased with a leadrope as its a real achievement!
 
You'll get more for a horse that has gone round an intro than you will for a horse that has jumped a British Novice. So maybe if you were producing horses for a living and you did an investment appraisal comparing both BE and BSJA you would find out you were better off paying to compete in BE as a horse at a lower level with less runs BE is worth more than the equivalent in BSJA.

I would say that an Intro horse is worth the same as a SJ jumping Newcomers and is already qualified BN/Dis.
 
Blimey. I would love to fund anything with prize-money

I wish I could even pay for myself at a show. My horse won £200 once at Wales & West and that didn't even pay the bill although it did help a bit of course.
 
No im not saying im gona live on prize money - can you people not read?
Im saying it is not financially possible for me to compete at such a huge loss all the time, £50 every competition with no prize money back as opposed to £12 every competition with a little back
My main income will actually be running a competition yard, schooling and competition livery with my partner (business not sexual)(lol) and selling/dealing horses but i wont be able to work at such a huge overall loss
blimey guys im only asking for a little advice and curious to how it works wont bloody bother next time
 
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No im not saying im gona live on prize money - can you people not read?

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Don't be so rude.

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Im saying it is not financially possible for me to compete at such a huge loss all the time, £50 every competition with no prize money back as opposed to £12 every competition with a little back

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£12 per class you enter with a little bit of money back only if you place.

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blimey guys im only asking for a little advice and curious to how it works wont bloody bother next time

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Again, is there any need to be so rude?
 
Well tbh i was only so rude because you were quite so rude to me. Here i am eager to see how people make it work and all i get is answers back making out im stupid?? Well thats hardly fair this is a genuine and fair question so please treat it as such
Yes i wont always win prize money but u tell me what will make a bigger dent in the bank, 150quid joining fee and 15quid comp fees or nearly 300 quid joining fee and 50quid comp fees
god its an honest question, now i see why this forum has the reputation it does
I was merely saying i myself cannot financially make it viable to event but to showjump i can, and then asked how eventers on this forum do happen to make it work
so there was no need for YOU to be so rude
 
If you want to make money from horses sell nice safe happy hackers that are capable of jumping round a BN/intro - that's where the money is. You don't have to affliate at all that way.

Your sums are a bit out on the joining fees, as you only have to join once and then you join each individual horse - so it wouldn't be £300 per horse - I'm guessing you are going to be selling more than 1 horse a year.
 
Yep but you only join for a year, so therefore near that money for my joining fee plus then all the horses registered too in one year(or am i wrong) figures were only like rough estimates but basically BSJA worked out considerably cheaper than BE.
It wasnt really a question as much about me, even though i love eventing i know im a better showjumper and could go far in it and i find it easier and cheaper
Was just honestly interested/curious as to how people work with such huge fees weighing down their banks accounts everytime you want to do a competition
 
I don't think anyone meant to be rude, just point out to you that producing show jumping horses isn't neccesarily any easier or cheaper.
Don't forget that if you want to mazke your name as a producer of show jumping horses, potential buyers will want to see them perform in young horse classes, not British novice etc.
Horses with the scope to jump in the national young horse series are going to be expensive, so your initial outlay will be much more -- and the courses aren't for the faint-hearted.

I applaud your desire to succeed and wish you luck, but I'm not sure it will be any easier -- or cheaper -- than eventing.
 
I am struggling a little bit to understand your maths with regard the membership of the different affiliations. As I understood it the membership for rider at BE is £105 and BSJA £110? If you qualify for the half price BSJA offer that is only valid for the 1st year or 1/2nd year? Dont know what it costs to register the horses though.

Good luck with which ever route you take, you are sensible to ask the questions and look at the sums, at the end of the day you will be running a business and the whole idea of that is to actually make money!
 
Yeah it worked out cheaper to register myself and horse BSJA than BE (but that WAS with the half price membership) but the main cost that swayed me was the competitions, because i really just cannot afford to fork out 50quid every weekend.
And thanks, suddenly forced to look at the sums and its freaked me out rather a lot!!
 
A friend of mine events and she scrapes through riding other peoples horses and working in various shops.

She doesn't go out socialising much, she doesn't have nice clothes, infact she lives and breathes Eventing and horses. (Yes, it gets dull listening to her sometimes but she is going for her dream, so you can only admire her for that).

It is putting your priorities in order. I can't afford to Event but that is because I don't want it enough.
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I would love to event professionally, but I have four horses to keep, as well as BE affiliation fees, competition entries and travelling costs to pay. The only way I can afford to do this is to work full time Mon-Fri and compete at the weekends. Only holiday time off work I take is for training sessions and longer haul comps/3DEs.

Fortunately I keep my horses at home so can do all the hard work myself without having to shell out livery fees.

Yes, I may have slight tunnel vision when it comes to how I live my life (think of my poor husband!), but like many other people who event I live to event and couldn't imagine life without it.

If you want something badly enough, you'll manage to do it. I couldn't afford to event without a decent full time job.
 
Start off small- compete your horse on your own money and gain a small amount of recognition. Rides will come your way if you're patient.
It does take a lot of time and a lot of your personal money but imo its 100% worth it. It's like an addiciton really!!
 
I wouldn't call myself a professional, but i do manage alright..
First of, don't ever own more than one poss. two horses!!! use them to make a name for yourself, then hopefull you'll start getting some rides coming your way!! I've now managed to get 4 different sets of owners, and each of those owners are trying to talk there friends into letting me ride their horses, it's called 'networking'
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Then on top of that, i ride in a racing yard in the mornings, as i think it's good for me to ride all the time, ie not be sat in an office 9 - 5, the racing yard wage then pays for the cost of my horse/s (which are kept at home) and obviously the other horses are payed for by owners!!
I don't do this to make a living out of it! i don't think there is anyway you can make a living out of it.. but i've found a way of doing it, full stop! and that's good enough for me!!.. as someone has said above of a friend of theirs.. i have no social life, i never buy new clothes etc... you can't do it all!
 
Thanks guys that really helps, just its the first time i've had to look at the figures and iw as like woooooah
Ive chosen showjumping not just coz of money but also i dont reckon i'd be brave enough to event (i will jump anything, its not fear of the jumps, thing is im always paranoid about horse hurting himself 'omg what if he lands awkwardly/twists his leg' etc etc) but thanks and missdemeena riding out on a race yard was something i was considering doing aswell hmm
Thanks guys for those replies, were really helpful
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xxx
 
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Yes i wont always win prize money but u tell me what will make a bigger dent in the bank, 150quid joining fee and 15quid comp fees or nearly 300 quid joining fee and 50quid comp fees

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You're forgetting fuel too. Not sure where you're based but I spent £100.00 on fuel plus toll bridge just to do an in-hand class, without stabling and entries. Are you situated close to a big showjumping venue?

P.S I don't think Super_Kat was being rude....
 
Ah see i'm very lucky as im situated very close to about 3main showjumping centres and 5different BSJA centres, where as eventing theres very little i know of near me without having to travel considerably longer
Well i apologise if she didnt mean to be rude but the way i read it i saw it as a bit of an undermining and rude statement to someone just asking for a little guidance.
 
i am excedley lucky to have such generus parents who understand what i love and arent pushy parents if i dnt want to move up they dnt mind they just wait until im ready and the horse is ready....

Eventing is so expensive and it hard funraising it but at the moment i have a horse in from an eventing person who is very naughty and i nearly fixed to produce to sell...

i have choco boy and layla who will event next season but we will adverside him next yr at stud...

i have a few horses coming in for schooling its mighty hard wrk but u feel a lot better about it in the end

the real question why does it have to be expensive.....

lol
 
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