Feeling disheartened :(

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confirmedponyaddict

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I bought my mare as a 4 yr old nearly three years ago with a plan to event up to BE100, she's a lovely allrounder but not a worldbeater so I felt this was a realistic ambition however I seriously underestimated the costs involved. We did some 80 Training events last year and she did really well so I saved up some pennies and paid my full membership in January (£120) knowing full well that each event was at least another £70 on top plus starting fee of £10-15. What I didn't realise when I went to enter my first event of the season today was that you have to buy a SEPARATE pass for your horse which is £95 a season!! I went for the day pass option but thats still £16 per entry.
I loved the events last year and I understand the shows are really expensive to put on but after this season I am officially priced out and I'm going to join a riding club instead.
I feel really miserable about this because I love the sport and I wanted to affiliate because I like the structure of the levels and the higher standard at the shows but its not going to be.
Anyone else been through this slightly depressing experience?
 
yep, it's the reason I now do BD instead :rolleyes:

I got my oldie up to CCI* which (while it was a lifetime dream) I reckon cost me £1k all in to attend. I sold basically everything that wasn't nailed down to pay for it. And then thought... you know what, this is stupid. I was getting more and more in debt to fund it. So I gave up :(

I loved the sport... but there's no way I could afford to run a horse regularly now whereas I can keep 2 for BD. I spectate or volunteer at BE now and get my fix through other people instead.

Are you in an area where there are decent unaff options instead?
 
I suspected I wasn't alone :( And also well done you that's amazing! Yes I'm in Surrey so plenty to choose from but I really liked the structure of it and the possibility of getting points etc, I'm not very competetive but I do like to measure my own success and I like being part of an organisation because otherwise I get lazy and forget to enter things! As I said I'll have to get my fix at Ridning Club level which is still expensive but a fraction of BE.
 
Affiliated eventing is very expensive. I will do some PC eventing this year but I couldn't warrant the registration fees and entry fees.

A low level registered event in Ireland is €80 whereas the PC is about €30 - €40 and no registration fees
 
I don't think you are alone at all, a lot of people at the lower levels end up sticking with unaffiliated if they are in an appropriate area. I don't think tweseldown/ALW are running their series again this year though, which is a shame as it would give people an aim then.
 
I remember many, many years ago I was paying half a week's salary to enter an affiliated event, and I took on an evening job for extra money. So I had horse, job, part time job so I was rather busy. It was the expense that stopped me as simply every penny I had was going to horse/training/competiting and I had no savings at all.
 
It takes a lot of the fun out of it. Not so much when you have a good day but if it doesn't go to plan you're left feeling disappointed and seriously out of pocket, I'm just not looking forward to this season because I'm worried about how much money I'm spending...it shouldn't be like that.
 
Me too. I would love to be doing 80/90 into my twilight years but it works out at least £100 a day and it just isn't worth it.
 
I've not made it to an aff event, not quite given it up as I'm a Wobbleberry but not sure right now if I'll ever make it. However I hadn't really appreciate how expensive they were and don't think I'd do many a year at that price.

There are other things to aim for though which might give you what you're after - RC events, venues run their own leagues like ALW, and there are a few ODE venues although not loads - pacesham and the BE venues tend to do them too. I'm planning on doing some of these as mini goals along the way. Plus non eventing stuff like CTR and trailblazers. Lots to keep me occupied ��
 
confirmedponyaddict said:
We did some 80 Training events last year and she did really well so I saved up some pennies and paid my full membership in January (£120) knowing full well that each event was at least another £70 on top plus starting fee of £10-15. What I didn't realise when I went to enter my first event of the season today was that you have to buy a SEPARATE pass for your horse which is £95 a season!! I went for the day pass option but thats still £16 per entry.
I loved the events last year and I understand the shows are really expensive to put on but after this season I am officially priced out and I'm going to join a riding club instead.
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It is expensive, but to make it worth while, without being too expensive I try to do 1 event a month and last year sacrificed my addiction to buying the latest on trend gadget/clothes/tack/wine etc. I sold a bunch of saddle pads I dont use to cover most of Darcy's season pass for this year.
I loved my first season (2017) so much that I'm going to make it work again this year. I got a bit of a discount for renewing Darcy's pass, only (she says) cost £80 - so on the bright side, if you sign up for 2019 you'll save £15!:D
 
Like Bernster, I'm a wobbleberry and although I knew it was going to be expensive the original intention was just to aim for the one event. I've not done mine yet (health issues), but the combined costs of training/transport/kit etc have been fairly eye watering, before you even think about the event itself. It's been one of the best things I've ever done though :D

As well as riding club I'd be looking at unaffiliated events run over affiliated courses, combined training events and hunter trials etc and just do a handful of BE events on a day pass, without going for the full membership.
 
Eventing IS expensive, I switched from Eventing to Dressage about 4 years ago. Went from CCI 2** events (which cost in the AU$1000's to attend all up) to downgrading to Riding Club (HRCAV) stuff. New horse is now nearing the top end of Riding Club (which is similar to EA Medium level) however have no intention of moving into EA affiliated dressage yet! HRCAV costs me $60 to enter each event, with excellent prizes and I'm competing against other ameatures, who work full time and squeeze in riding and comps around life. Cost is also only $120 a year to be registered. EA is $400 per year for the rider, $120 for the horse, and comps are $120+... Horse also needs to be microchipped and EA registered before you can organize their competition license, which is in the vacinity of $300 to do...
Whilst eventing at Affiliated stuff is great, how many unaffiliated/Riding Club level Events are there per year? Perhaps you could map out a short 'season' where you run at certain events. In your 'off' season, you're training the dressage, showjumping at comps and schooling the XC?
 
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I have to say that I am lucky in Gloucestershire - bearing in mind that as an amateur I wouldn't do more than one BE event per month, maybe 2 at most, I can easily replicate that with unaff ODEs, usually over BE courses, during the season within reasonable travelling distance (that is 1.5 hours maximum)

I would like to do BE but it is so pricy that it isn't realistic, I will maybe do a BE or two at the end of the season if he is consistent enough to record reasonable results :)
 
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