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xspiralx
Guest
I think its such a grey area really.
What I would say is that yes money can get you to the top, but its not as simple as anyone throwing money at a problem - look at KP for example.
To explain what I mean, I'll use the example of a person I know who is on the Young Rider teams, and who IMO is far from a unique example. From day one his parents have thrown huge amounts of money towards his riding. He's never had anything but the best tuition and the best horses, push button schoolmasters. He's not really interested, doesn't have anything to do with the care of the horses and doesn't even ride apart from in lessons and competitions.
Having grown up with all of that from day one, how can you fail to be successful? If you've always had incredibly talented, honest, push button horses, and excellent tuition every day for your whole life, then its inevitable that you're going to have a certain level of skill. People who watch him compete probably envy him his talent or bravery, and yes, he is a good rider but its a product of money rather than anything else.
By contrast, you could be a very natural, talented rider, but if you've never really had any money, never been able to afford a good horse, or great tuition, or a lorry to go to competitions - you're pretty much screwed. I mean if you know you're good, then you can go the hard route as a working pupil for a bigger name, and school on your own horses trying to make a name for yourself, but its such an uphill battle. Plus I think that a lot of the time someone like that doesn't know how good they could be - people tend to measure talent and competence by a competition record, and without that, without a good horse or trainer they probably don't have the confidence in their own ability - if you haven't jumped round a Foxhunter track how do you know you could? How do you know you're anything better than average?
Anyway, that's my musing on the subject. I think natural talent is pretty much irrelevant without at least a decent whack of money behind you - enough to at least have a good horse to go out competing on so you can prove that talent. Its not impossible to get to the top without a lot of money, but realistically I think having the money to have access to quality tuition and horses is far more influential.
What I would say is that yes money can get you to the top, but its not as simple as anyone throwing money at a problem - look at KP for example.
To explain what I mean, I'll use the example of a person I know who is on the Young Rider teams, and who IMO is far from a unique example. From day one his parents have thrown huge amounts of money towards his riding. He's never had anything but the best tuition and the best horses, push button schoolmasters. He's not really interested, doesn't have anything to do with the care of the horses and doesn't even ride apart from in lessons and competitions.
Having grown up with all of that from day one, how can you fail to be successful? If you've always had incredibly talented, honest, push button horses, and excellent tuition every day for your whole life, then its inevitable that you're going to have a certain level of skill. People who watch him compete probably envy him his talent or bravery, and yes, he is a good rider but its a product of money rather than anything else.
By contrast, you could be a very natural, talented rider, but if you've never really had any money, never been able to afford a good horse, or great tuition, or a lorry to go to competitions - you're pretty much screwed. I mean if you know you're good, then you can go the hard route as a working pupil for a bigger name, and school on your own horses trying to make a name for yourself, but its such an uphill battle. Plus I think that a lot of the time someone like that doesn't know how good they could be - people tend to measure talent and competence by a competition record, and without that, without a good horse or trainer they probably don't have the confidence in their own ability - if you haven't jumped round a Foxhunter track how do you know you could? How do you know you're anything better than average?
Anyway, that's my musing on the subject. I think natural talent is pretty much irrelevant without at least a decent whack of money behind you - enough to at least have a good horse to go out competing on so you can prove that talent. Its not impossible to get to the top without a lot of money, but realistically I think having the money to have access to quality tuition and horses is far more influential.
