Is horse riding still elitist?? Thoughts wanted please

Having a horse when you don't have that much money is more of a lifestyle choice than a luxury I think. It's a luxury if you can still afford to go and get your hair done, and someone else looks after it for you etc etc, but I spend all of my spare cash on my horses - there is none left afterward to go out, haircuts, new clothes, nice car etc.

My younger sister on the other hand, has a flash car, nice clothes, always looks 'well groomed' - they've just bought a hot tub for the garden and had a conservatory put up! That's the way she chooses to spend her money - and she earns a lot less than me! I just choose to spend my money on my horses and forfeit the usual things that people would spend money on.

Most people don't view having a half reasonable car as a luxury, or having their hair cut, or buying the odd new outfit/night out. Us skint horse owners are just prepared to sacrfice that for our love of our neddies
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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.

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Can I say snap?
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I think it's much more accessible now than when I was a child. I used to go to a comprehensive school with 2000 kids and I was the only person who had a pony! Horse ownership has increased a lot since the 70's.

I now work in an inner city riding school for disadvantaged kids. We have hundreds who ride here who wouldn't normally get the chance due to their financial situation, location and low aspirations.
I think we are changing perceptions in our little corner of the world. Many of our young riders go onto get horses on loan or buy them when they're older because they realise it's the life they want to live and realise that it's achievable if they're prepared to put in the work and make sacrifices.

If you want to PM me about our riding school please do so.
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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!


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Completely agree with you, there. The benefit squad do seem to have many luxuries that I don't. I don't even have broadband at home at the moment (working up to it next year!) and don't remember the last time I went to a club! Had to get a mortgage with my OH - no way I could have bought in Surrey without his help!

Round here, so many people have horses and so many people have wealth, it's hard to see it as elitist. It's more the 'norm'. If I go back home to Bolton, then people there do see me as being a bit posh. Laughable, really, as I grew up on a council estate and then a housing trust estate!
 
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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?

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I feel I have to add a bit more. No, I don't feel guilty about having a horse. I never go out, I don't drink or smoke, I rarely buy clothes and I cut my own hair.

My grass livery is £15 a week which is hardly an unaffordable luxury. Some people spend more than that on cigarettes! Obviously I have hay, feed, farrier and vet's bills on top of that but that's what I choose to spend my money on.

And yes, I do feel bad that there are people who are less well off than me, that's why I choose to work with disadvantaged children and give regular donations to charity but I NEVER feel guilty about what I give my horse.
 
I agree with Sunnymane-
.....what I spend on my horses is less than some people spend socialising- I dont have holidays or posh clothes ( just bought next seasons show jacket on e-bay- got a bargain I may add)....i may have my hair cut twice a year, I dont smoke ....

people are usually surprised when I tell them that horses aare affordable- you just have to make sacrifices..Hmmm- 2week holiday or horse all year...no contest really
 
People think that my OH and me are "posh" as I ride and he sails (I sail too but not very well!
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) but little do they know that we live in a crap chavvy neighbourhood, I work two jobs (my own biz and I work at my son's school) and my OH works damn hard too. This is where our money goes. We don't smoke, do drugs, drink, go out clubbing, spend our money on fancy clothes (it's Tesco for us!) whereas my OH's family, spend £££'s on cigarettes, drink, going out to pubs and stuff. Probably more than what we spend on our stuff but they are not seen as "posh" as they do stuff that most people think as being mainstream.
 
As a child I asked my Mum what the sand tracks around Hyde Park were for and she said "That is where the posh people ride their horses." Lessons were wa-ay beyond our means.
Well, I grew up and, (until becoming a credit-crisis victim) got a well-paid job and now ride there. I've found everyone very welcoming and wouldn't say horse riding was elitist at all.

What it is though, in inner cities, is expensive. Very expensive. I pay over 60 pounds an hour for a lesson which is definitely a lot more per hour than my ballet lessons or any other activities I've ever taken part in. At around 2,000 pounds a month for livery keeping a horse there is way beyond the means of anyone on an average, or even pretty good, wage let alone the disadvantaged!
 
I think a lot of non-horsey people view people who own horses, as elitist. I'm really not too sure there are that many horsey people who see themselves as elitist though.

No I wouldn't say that horse riding is elitist, or even viewed by the majority as being elitist? It's just another pastime for people to enjoy if they so desire.
 
There is nothing elitist about hay in your socks...up you nose, mud up to the middle of your wellies, wind and lashing rain at all hours of the night and morning, picking sh*t up out of muddy fields on a daily basis, trudging barrows over wet marshy land...........................need I go on!!!
 
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What it is though, in inner cities, is expensive. Very expensive. I pay over 60 pounds an hour for a lesson which is definitely a lot more per hour than my ballet lessons or any other activities I've ever taken part in. At around 2,000 pounds a month for livery keeping a horse there is way beyond the means of anyone on an average, or even pretty good, wage let alone the disadvantaged!

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Thankfully, our inner city riding school bucks this trend. We target disadvantaged children and our lessons are from £8. We are a charity which encourages those who wouldn't normally get the chance to ride to do so. In the 16 years we have been running this has proved to be very successful and we now have many talented riders who have gone onto to own their own horses and have equestrian careers.

Wow, £2000 a month for livery - I could keep my horse for about 2 1/2 years on that!
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I have noticed that people talk and smile when I am out on my fluffy footed horse but when I am on my Arab they ignore me. Odd.

The majority of the people I work with think my horses are an excessive indulgence. When I am standing on a windy hillside in the pitch dark while everybody else is inside drinking tea, I do not share their opinion.

I do think it is viewed as a bit elitist. One thing we all forget is just how many people are terrified of horses and never come into contact with large animals.
 
Thank you all so much for the interesting and varied responses. I think I'll print this whole thread off so I don't lose it!

I agree with most of the views here and think that others see it as elitist but 'horsey' people don't as they put the work in and make the sacrifices that enable them to keep horses. It is a definite lifestyle choice that requires a lot of comittment and you only really realise that once you get your own horse. I think the distinction between 'horsey' and 'non-horsey' that is made doesn't do much to help the situation though.

Sunnymane, the article that I am reading and analysing is about a riding school similar to yours but in London, will PM you, thanks.

Thanks again for the replies Nxx
 
I believe that horseback riding still has the image of being elitist, and that image remains because of the fact that many people in horseback riding have been in it for an extremely long time, through several generations. However, I do believe that the image has lessened slightly. Those horseback riders that don't get everything handed to them should be pushing this image makeover because it is extremely unfair to those that have to work hard to be able to ride to have an elitist image.
 
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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

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I grew up without a father. My mother brought me up and bought and cared for my first pony. YES I was very lucky, but horses has never ever been an easy thing for me. My mother slogged to keep my ponies, I now slog to keep my horse. Its not elitist, its borderline poverty having a horse.
 
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