How do you afford to Event??

[dianchi]

So i thought as its my last year with my Ginger properly competing *she says*

That I would do a bucket list item and look at entering at BE80 before baby pony is looking to do them.

Then I saw it was £85 for it! So think i will stick to the ODE on the BE courses instead

Hats off to you eventer people! I need a new job!!!!!

 

[PorkChop]

It is an expensive sport!

I suppose it's just how you choose to spend your money - some people spend it on holidays etc.

I dread to think how much I have spent on competing, by the time you add on lessons, stabling, fuel, all the gear

 

[milliepops]

it's the reason I had to give up I was permanently in debt. I sold almost everything I owned to pay for a CCI*. And then had to quit.

Dressage is much cheaper! I only compete a few times a year and concentrate on training at home.

 

[chestnut cob]

I did some BE last year and have done some unaffil over BE courses previous to that. It is SO expensive. I love it and am getting itchy feet to go again but I can't justify it. Have a wedding and a new house to pay for, plus would like to have a baby. Something's got to give!
I do love eventing but TBH even once I get a new towing car I am really tempted to stick to DR and some team chasing. Horse adores XC, he's in his element out eventing, but that's not enough reason for me to be skint all the time doing it.

If I was really really good then I might be more inclined to stick at it but TBH I'm only doing 90s so financially I think I'm going to end up just going XC schooling, maybe some TC and SJ, and mainly end up sticking to DR.

 

[kzb]

I'm not sure how I do it sometimes! It is a very expensive sport, and I'm not on a particularly high paying wage. But I sacrifice a lot to have the extra money to do it.

 

[vic07]

Unaff around here isn't much cheaper than be, ie 10-15 quid isn't worth taking the risk of lack of ground prep.

Personally 17 quid for a dressage test doesn't seem very good value! A horse does about 10 events per year. In the big scheme of cost of keeping a horse, entry fees aren't that much.... Maybe that is my way of justifying it!

 

[chestnut cob]

The thing for me was that all of the additional training I needed/ wanted to do to event was making it expensive. If I wanted to have a weekly lesson (one DR, one SJ alternate weeks) most weeks plus getting out XC schooling every now and then, as well as trying to go to local DR and SJ comps for practise, THEN add on BE membership and entry fees plus all of the diesel, it just got silly. I absolutely love it and even seeing other people's photos of eventing gives me goosebumps. Just can't justify it right now which is a shame as horse is an awesome little eventer and lives for his job.

 

[milliepops]

The thing for me was that all of the additional training I needed/ wanted to do to event was making it expensive. If I wanted to have a weekly lesson (one DR, one SJ alternate weeks) most weeks plus getting out XC schooling every now and then, as well as trying to go to local DR and SJ comps for practise, THEN add on BE membership and entry fees plus all of the diesel, it just got silly. I absolutely love it and even seeing other people's photos of eventing gives me goosebumps. Just can't justify it right now which is a shame as horse is an awesome little eventer and lives for his job.

Yep, it's not just the entries is it, it's the on-costs of keeping 3 disciplines up to scratch, plus I travelled a lot further when I was eventing. We were competing every 3 weeks or so, lessons/SJ hire etc in between and the diesel was astronomical, travelling 2 hours plus each way to an event. I have several dressage venues within less than an hours drive (and am fortunate to often come home with some winnings, which part pays the diesel!)

 

[star]

I spend a fortune compared to when I just did dressage and competed once a fortnight with lessons once a month.
Now I need lessons practically every week to keep on top of all 3 disciplines, trips to the gallops, XC schooling, bit of dressage and SJ in between events plus further to travel to events and more expensive entry fees. I haven't been on holiday for 10yrs now and rarely buy myself anything so horse can have everything he needs. But I love it! And next week we'll be at Badminton galloping round the hallowed turf which makes it all worthwhile.

 

[chestnut cob]

Yep, it's not just the entries is it, it's the on-costs of keeping 3 disciplines up to scratch, plus I travelled a lot further when I was eventing. We were competing every 3 weeks or so, lessons/SJ hire etc in between and the diesel was astronomical, travelling 2 hours plus each way to an event. I have several dressage venues within less than an hours drive (and am fortunate to often come home with some winnings, which part pays the diesel!)

Exactly. I absolutely love eventing. I've crossed the XC finish line blubbing in the past because the horse has given me such an amazing ride and it's all felt incredible, but much as I love that feeling, I have other priorities now. What's more annoying is that I bought an air jacket at the end of last season which has only had one outing! I really ought to get on and use it LOL!
I will probably end up doing a couple of events towards the end of the season then maybe some more team chasing. Just need to get some use out of that air jacket! TC all seems to be further away than eventing for me but at least it's not 3.30am starts. I have loved eventing but I also don't seem to have the time now to give up basically my entire weekend to do it.

however, that might all change once I get my transport back and am mobile again!

Looking at last season I don't know how I afforded all of the lessons, the extra arena hire (sometimes plus training there), the extra competitions, the time to keep horse fit, as you say getting to the gallops...

 

[siennamum]

I think there is something special about affiliated eventing. I would personally ensure a degree of capability at unaff which is pretty much on a par locally in terms of facilities & standards - just half the price. I wouldn't pay to affiliate until I were competent enough to be half decent. It does surprise me when people persist at BE and are consistently terrible, getting eliminated - but it's their money I suppose.

I am also horrified at the cost of dressage - unaff locally is £12 for a class & £2 for first aid, as a minimum it seems. Realistically to compete at all you need to assume it's £30 - £50 for a day out.

Surprisingly I just paid £10 to enter a county show, and with x2 passes included in my pack - that's a cheap day out.

 

[dianchi]

I think there is something special about affiliated eventing. I would personally ensure a degree of capability at unaff which is pretty much on a par locally in terms of facilities & standards - just half the price. I wouldn't pay to affiliate until I were competent enough to be half decent. It does surprise me when people persist at BE and are consistently terrible, getting eliminated - but it's their money I suppose.

I am also horrified at the cost of dressage - unaff locally is £12 for a class & £2 for first aid, as a minimum it seems. Realistically to compete at all you need to assume it's £30 - £50 for a day out.

Surprisingly I just paid £10 to enter a county show, and with x2 passes included in my pack - that's a cheap day out.

Ive just entered herts with my baby pony and yep much cheaper day out!

Its a real shame, and i already dont have all the "nice" things so i can just about do what i do with the horses. But def will need to change my job to compete any more!

 

[nic85]

My Husband has a rally car, an entry fee for a gravel Rally is around £300 Plus, new 'shoes' for his car is about £100 a tyre and they use anything from 3,6,12 sets of tyres in one single rally, plus fuel, plus replacement parts as you will break something....BE is extremely cheap in comparison Im only just starting competing my horse, she will be 6 this year and we are cracking on with schooling/Showjumping and hopefully get out to a XC course fairly soon I aim to BE next year only at 80 to start and they will be pretty local events, thankfully im in Lincolnshire so some nice venues

 

[VRIN]

Its what I do for fun. A BE event is a whole days entertainment - its not just about the 3 phases. Many are at places you wouldn't normally be allowed to go to and enjoy.

I don't eat out (or in) expensively, buy expensive clothes or expensive nights out ...

If I compare a weekend eventing with a weekend away I think I get the better deal!!

 

[siennamiller]

I have just had to temporarily suspend my eventing plans, partly because the ground has got hard so quickly, but also because finding the full amount has got too hard. I can go showjumping on a weekend morning for approx £15, which is much more manageable than £60-75, and much as I love eventing, I have to be realistic (sadly!)

 

[Nicnac]

It's particularly expensive when you've paid out full year membership for horse and rider and then bleddy horse knocks himself hard in the field and pops a splint just before first event

 

[CrazyMare]

I have a good job then work a second job on top to bring in an extra £200pm.

I'm also very fortunate to livery on a yard with an amazing arena and off road hacking including several 2/3/5km tracks suitable for cantering, so I don't have to hire gallops.

My jump trainer has competed at 2 Olympic games and is 10 mins away which saves on travel.

Dad likes to come eventing and will tend to put the diesel in the 4x4!!

I work hard, I don't pay for any livery services to cut do on costs. I order shavings in bulk and save £2 per bale on the local shop. I collect tokens off my feed and save them up for free feed.

I also have an incredibly understanding husband!!!

 

[CIJ]

With very supportive family and trainers!

I keep my horses at my parents who pay for bedding and feed and up until last year paid all the fuel costs to compete. (I now pay that). My jumping trainer is 10 mins away who has showjumps/banks/ditches and doesn't charge me as much as he should to have lessons with him and if he's not there he doesn't charge me to use them. I also have a beach 10 mins away which I'll do my fitness work on.

My wage isn't huge but my husband earns nearly double what I do, so although none of his money is spent on my horses, he pays for holidays. We don't have kids but neither of us have wanted them anyway, so most of my money is spent on the horses. I do what I can afford at that time so although I'd love to be out eventing every weekend it will be more like every 3 weeks. Sadly there's hardly any unaffiliated ODE anywhere near us, I think there's 2 this year, so if you want to event you really need to do BE.

 

[FfionWinnie]

£85 for the whole thing doesn't sound that dear. You would be £10 a class unaff SJ at our local place plus £2 medical cover.

 

[EventingMum]

We paid for my son's eventing when he was doing it and I shudder to think how much we spent, at one point we were running two horses. Being in Scotland we also had long journeys to events especially once we had a horse at Intermediate. A CCI would leave no change out of £500 by the time entry, stabling, lorry hook up and fuel were paid. Training and equipment also added up but it was something we enjoyed as a family, son is an only child so there were no siblings to consider and we didn't have holidays etc.