Is horse riding still elitist?? Thoughts wanted please

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Natassia

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As part of my psychology degree I need to do a discourse analysis and have chosen an article about making horses and riding more accessible to disadvantaged children in inner-city London, especially those with behavioural issues. It talks about riding being elitist and removing those preconceptions, but would you consider riding to still be elitist? What do you think of the image of riding as being elitist?

I need to be reflexive in my analysis so have chosen something horsey as something I have experience with that will affect my judgement. I personally think, in a totally honest way that normal horsey people like the idea of equestranism being made more accessible, but at the same time they secretly like the fact that it isn't: they like to feel a bit exclusive and superior, perhaps that is part of the reason we spend so much time and money caring for our horses, aside from all the other wonderful things about having horses!

I would love to hear other people's views on this, please be as honest as possible!!

Nxx
 

Having horses as a status symbol basically?

I can think of a few people that have them for that reason
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The fact some people seem to think I'm well off for having one amuses me greatly lol
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I wish!!
 
Yes, and definatly as a child, it was always the people with money who had horses, therefore always made you think it was out of your league. I think it's got better, however, there are still people out there that seem to think that us paupers shouldn't have horses as it makes them feel less important!
 
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Having horses as a status symbol basically?

I can think of a few people that have them for that reason
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Haha so can i actually, its all about the 'image'
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especially when poncing past one's neighbours...
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I think that peoples perception of horses is still that it is a bit elitist. They seem to think that we are wealthy because we have horses. They don't seem to realise that most of us are poor because we have horses. Most non-horsey members of society only really see horsey people on tv at olympia or the big events being interviewed, many still have plummy accents and are riding really expensive horses so the perception is that only posh people have horses. They don't realise that not all horses are of that sort of calibre and have really no idea what a normal sort of riding horse would cost.
Personally, i have mine because i grew with the huge desire to have my own horse. I would have and did ride anything that was put in front of me, regardless of what it looked like.
I fully admit that if i am out riding and someone admires my horse, (who is very beautiful by the way) that I am very proud but i don't think i ever feel superior. I don't think i really care or think too much about how other people view it. I
I am not sure what the other pristine mothers at my sons school think of me turning up with hay in my hair and smelling of dung. I doubt very much if they think me posh or superior.
 
I think there is definately something in that to have a horse would make you appear to be fairly well off (even though many of us are not).

As a child I was always jealous of those who had horses and felt that their families were always earning more money, even though now I relise that is not always the truth.

Alot of the time when I tell people I have a horse they are surprised when I tell them the costs and the fact that I can afford such high prices, but what they perhaps dont realise is that I go without alot of things for that horse lol.
 
The perception of being elitist comes, in my opinion, from the media's portrayal of it. They only show the top riders, jockeys etc. In reality, like someone else has said, most of us are poor because of our love for horses, riding,or whatever we do with our horses.
I wonder how many horse, pony owners "out there" live in modest homes, have horse on DIY livery, never have holidays etc. That certainly applies to me.
 
I think it depends where you live. If you live in a big city like London then probably yes as there are not many livery yards and the nearby ones are likely to be expensive. Someone living on an inner london council estate is unlikely to have access to horses and riding lessons are expensive yet they can do other sports such as football for free in a local park.

If you live in the country no as you can probaby find basic grass livery for £15 a week at a farm.

As a sport yes I think it is elitist in that if you want to do well at compete at national level even though you might be able to keep your horse on a relatively low budget - you will need horse transport and that is expensive.
 
For the high end of the sport - yes it can be - horses of this type cost a lot of money and a lot to keep.

To be realistic, very poor people don't have them. Fact of life - my two horses cost more than many people's mortgage - in fact they are more than my mortgage. I have to work hard and have a fairly well paid job to afford them. At the end of the day, mine cost me at least £55 a week in summer and more like £80 a week each in winter (for feed/shoeing/livery/insurance etc) and I am on part DIY livery.

Just to add I am not trying to offend anyone, but give my point of view that horse owning is not cheap unless you can keep your horse rent and livery free, and therefore owning a horse can be a bit elitist, but riding is not necessarily so, as you can often get loans, shares for free in return for helping with chores.
 
Yes horse riding is elitist...thats because it is expensive.

For many families living in the inner cities, riding lessons are an expense that is WAAAAYYY beyond reasonable. And I don't mean going without holidays etc, I am talking about families where having food on the table and paying the bills is problematic (no cars, no holidays ever). And there are children who are being born into this kind of poverty generation after generation. Who will never own their own homes, who do not have the expectations of higher education and think that a job earning minimum wage is inevitable.
 
Yes, for example I was in the sociology room at college today. In that room people were told to draw pictures of someone from the upper classes and describe them. Every picture apart from 1 or 2 had a picture of a horse or described horse riding
 

*Brainwave*
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I think although a lot of us are skint from the amount horses cost, the point is: that we had the money in the first place to buy and keep them. So although yes some us are skint from having horses..we're not really..we just look and smell it.
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Take the horses away and we'd all have a higher amount of disposable income and whether that goes on horses, our hair or holidays we have the money there.
 
I think certain areas of the horse world are elitist. Eventing always seems elitist to me probably because of all the double barrel names and the fact that the royal family compete. I also think that to compete in this field you have to have serious money and that often means coming from an affluent background. However, look at Mary King so its by no means the rule. One has to say that Polo appears elitist hence the reaction to Katie Price this year. I do think that there are many people in the horse world who would like to think its elitist and try to portray that image. For many its a way of life and they just enjoy and love the horse despite the cost!
 
I think the trouble is that people have two images of horse riders

1. the snobby, double barrelled, marbles in the mouth (typically eventer/dressage? SJers generally not so much?) that looks down their noses, is called Tarquin, skis in Cloisters and has a impressive family tree (albiet a bit inbred
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2. Pikeys, own whippets, tie horses up next to the road, pave driveways and steal things

There is not much of a middle ground there. Yes, I am not poor, but then I would be richer without my horse. But then I am hard working, and don't see why I shouldn't spend my money on something I want to. My OH's bike cost £2k and although it doesn't need feeding, it requires constant upgrades and new gadgets so I'm told
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The only reason riding is an elitist sport is that it costs money to keep horses. It isn't possible to keep horses for no money - someone has to pay for them, which is why riding isn't an accessible sport for inner-city/deprived children. Even riding school horses need to be paid for.

Pretty much like skiing is an elitist sport because you need equipment (which costs money) and you need snow (which we don't get enough of in England) and you need decent slopes - therefore you have to travel. Unless someone else pays there is no way truly poor people can take up skiing as a sport.
 
Well- as I say to my kids...it actually costs a lot of money to smell this bad and look this scruffy....

I think sometimes its the traditional appearance that makes people think horses are elitist....most of the people on our yard are normal, hardworking people- we are skint because we have horses, but we work hard to get the money in the first place...we are not landed gentry! And to be fair, I could spend more money on going out drinking/meals/smoking/bingo- you name it- than I do on my horses. I have clothes for work and clothes for horse-life- not much in-between really....

On any given day at the yard we are smelly and scruffy - however on show day there we are with clean beasties, shows attire- jacket/tie- the whole effect indeed does look very posh.....non-horse owning spectators could be forgiven for thinking we are all posh snobs - the reality is wev'e just scrubbed up well !!
 
I do think people’s perceptions are wrong in the majority of cases. The people at the yard I am at are far from wealthy but we all work hard to enable us to have horses.

I rent my home, I drive a car that cost me £500, I have a job that doesn’t pay that much above minimum wage but I can still afford to keep and insure a horse. Probably because I have no life and don’t smoke or drink, but keeping a horse on a small income is possible.

However, when people find out I have a horse they inevitably ask if I have won the lottery, lol!
 

What about people who can afford horses whilst on benefits?

I find that a bit mad, I knew one woman with 5 kids who kept two ponies at one point at a 100pm yard so we're not talking small money or grass livery.

Although it is really a separate issue/a reflection on the Government and the growing benefits culture in this country not to mention false claims and fraud etc. My oh's brother has more money than me and oh put together now his girlfriend had a baby, neither work.

Ac now I've thought about it more ignore me, it's doesn't feel that mad now.
 
To an extent it is and always will be.
If you want to do,say dog agility,the family pet wil be able to do well and all you need to get to a show is the family car.
To compete horse,you need a car capable of towing or a horsebox,lessons,correct riding gear and show gear,the horse itself....
And now a lot of stables dont seem to allow kids to help for rides as they did 15/20 years ago because of H&S laws so very poor children with a passion for horses cant even get a leg on the ladder that way.
 
Yes, of course it is elitist, even if it doesn't want to be. If you are genuinely struggling to pay a mortgage (or rent) and feed your kids you are going to look on anyone who has xK to buy the horse in the first place and then yK PER YEAR to feed and pamper it as living in a different world.

Horses are pure luxury. All the argument about scrimping to afford them might be true but for many people they would still be seen totally unaffordable and an irrelevant luxury.

Does noone else ever feel just a little guilty as they wrap their horse in another nice warm rug, put it in a lovely warm stable, give it a feed and piles of hay, that there are people who live on the streets with less than our horses get?
 
I think that the media have a lot to answer for in the way that horse owners and riders are portrayed ..... I've never read anything about passionate football fans, for instance, who may spend a lot of money on season tickets, travelling to matches, fanzine stuff ..... being "elitist". If you look at many other popular leisure activities, they can be very expensive, but somehow don't attract the same reverse snobbery as riding .... Golf, mountain biking, snowboarding ..... Why are these all OK but somehow people with horses are perceived as stuck-up snobs?
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It never ceased to amaze me the number of V signs we got when I used to tow my daughter's horse in a trailer - and I don't think that all of them were because people were frustrated at not being able to pass!
Hope that you will be able to throw some light on these attitudes in your research - good luck!
 
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Does noone else ever feel just a little guilty as they wrap their horse in another nice warm rug, put it in a lovely warm stable, give it a feed and piles of hay, that there are people who live on the streets with less than our horses get?

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No because that's not my fault is it? That's life unfortunately. If we thought that way about everything - the house we live in etc and not just horses we'd all be very depressed. You're obviously a good person
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but apart from feeling guilty there's not much you can do about a problem that will probably always exist.
 
Have to say I do think of other things like golf, sailing and skiing (never even thought about snowboarding) as being very elitist too - probably more elitist than riding. But they are mostly out-of-sight (nobody plays golf on the road in everybodys way), not something people do every day so much and at least if you run out of money they don't still need to be fed
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What I spend a month on my horses is actually less than what a lot of people spend on drinking/smoking. It really gets to me when you hear sob stories of people who can't afford to live but you see them with a fag or pint in their hand & despite their lack of money still manage to smoke 50 a day & go out drinking a couple of pints a night - easily more than more my horses cost me a day!

I live at home with my parents to enable me to keep my horses & I'm 30, an age when most people have left home a long time ago. I couldn't afford a mortgage just off my income even if I didn't have horses & it is my choice to not rent a grotty flat but to have a better quality of life living with my parents & being able to afford my horses. To be able to keep my neddies costs me a lot of personal sacrifices but the people who consider me elitist because I own more than one horse don't see these sacrifices.
 
The issue is the difference between the reality and perception. The truth is I earn probably about the average salary for the country but every spare penny (and moment) I have goes on my horse. When I tell people who say "you must be loaded" that my horse costs me about £150 a month on average and that I have friends who spend more than that on one night out (and often they do that three or four times a month) they're shocked that it doesn't cost thousands. But while the perception is there that it does it will always stop people from lower income backgrounds from giving it a go. I appreciate that for some people £150 a month is a lot, but for most people in work it's affordable if they choose to forego other things (like me). It's no more than most other hobbies if you take them seriously.

I don't feel superior at all by being a horse owner - some of the people I know through riding are really common (no offence intended!) I might feel superior to them, but that's just because I have manners and know how to behave in public!!!
 
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I don't feel superior at all by being a horse owner - some of the people I know through riding are really common (no offence intended!) I might feel superior to them, but that's just because I have manners and know how to behave in public!!!

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Ditto that! If Joe public knew some of the horse people that I know or have seen they'd think very differently! In fact, I would imagine some of the very fashion conscious joe public would not even give most of is the time of day in our normal horsey garb.

People are generally backing away covering their noses when I go into the garage in my week-old mucking out clothes and wellies!
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I don't feel superior at all by being a horse owner - some of the people I know through riding are really common (no offence intended!) I might feel superior to them, but that's just because I have manners and know how to behave in public!!!

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ditto
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