Is there snobbery in the equine industry?

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MJC

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Hi
I am writing a feature on snobbery in the equestrian industry, and wondered what other people think. For example, is it true that owning a pony or a cob instead of an expensive warmblood is looked down on by some people?

Is it annoying that predominantly competition horses grace the covers of our mags?

And if you work as a groom and come from a local riding school, while your colleagues trained with a top rider, does this incite snobbery?

I'd be really interested to see if people find such things to be true.

Thanks for your help!
 
For example, is it true that owning a pony or a cob instead of an expensive warmblood is looked down on by some people?

I never thought of it like that though the snobbery factor really isn't present at our yard.

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some places there is, and it bugs me because i treat everyone the same whether you've got a warmblood or a cob!

some people are just snobs to begin with, even if they don't have horses. you'll find them everywhere xxx
 
Definitely snobbery in some yards! My yard now is really nice but Ive been at yards where people with 'posh' horses won't even speak to people cobs/not so 'posh' horses. I think the 'Im and experienced rider and you are only a measly novice' comes into it sometimes as well. Also, rich kids whose parents spoil them can be snobby and ignorant (in my experience - not saying all are the same
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) Personally, I think if you treat your horse properly and are nice to people, why should it make a difference if you have a 14.2 native hairy pony or a £20,000 superstar?
 
um. i think some yards look down on non competiton riders, like wherei used to work, they would snort down their noses at anyone who left the yard or wasnt there. also at people who were having trouble at shows.
its made me realise how bitchy and snobbish the equine industry is! but i still love it.
it shouldnt matter whan horse you have, so long as it is wll looked after and loved!
 
The only snobbery I have come across is when I mix with people who have come up through pony club etc. and been fortunate to own horses all their lives.They do look down on people like me who, although I have loved horses all my life, have only now, at the age of 57(next week, gulp) been able to enjoy every aspect of horse owning(actually having my own horse living with me etc) There does seem to be a sort of feeling that they think they are better and know more. (Prepares to be shot down in flames by very nice PC veterans)
 
Our yard has a mixed bunch now and everyone is really nice and do not look down their noses. They all except we all like different disciplines etc.

I believe there is a lot of snobbery within certain riding clubs etc.

I think if people are enjoying there horses and looking after them properly then that is all that really matters not what the horse looks like or how expensive this or that is
 
I think there is a broad divide between those who work full time with competition horses and those who are, for want of a better expression, weekend hackers. Don't know if you would call it snobbery, they are just different worlds.

Then there are the 'all the gear, no idea' troop who may well have the expensive horse but never actually leave the safety net of the indoor school..I have seen superior attitudes from that kind of person, but they are really a bit of a joke in the industry and in a minority, I think.
 
yup-several girls at my yard ride YO's competition dressage and showjumping horses, and they then feel that they can only ride the more advanced riding school horses. Another livery feels that because she events she is miles better than anyone else!
 
That's really useful - I think it is true that some people are just snobby and are like it everywhere.

The post about people who were having trouble at shows is soo true. I have had so many situaitons like that when people look down their noses. Even going back to childhood when all the other kids had speedy gymkhana ponies and I had a hairy cob that peed on the start line and ate everything in site.....
 
I dont think the equine world is any different to many walks of life TBH. We all look down on somone whether we like to admit it or not! ie Chavs (sorry Weevil
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I was just going to say that Jacqszoo. Snobbery is not just in the equine world. I have come up through pony club and have amazing parent who I am thankful for. But even when I was younger I never thought 'I'm so much better than her because she has a hairy cob' Partly because all my ponies were ancient, but because i just wanted people to have fun with there ponies.
 
Yes - I do meet the 'oh you have a native pony, I have a warmblood' brigade, mind you they usually stop laughing when you beat them!
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I dont think the equine world is any different to many walks of life TBH. We all look down on somone whether we like to admit it or not! ie Chavs (sorry Weevil
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As JACQSZOO's replie you get this 'snobbery' or mentality in any walk of life......I had my last mare on a Full Livery event yard and paid top wack livery for it and there lot's of owners were loaded, but at no time was I made to feel inadequate for the fact that I did not do dressage or event....I was a happy hacker and showed sometimes and if I hacked out with others from the yard my mare was the best behaved and cost a quarter of what they had paid for their horses!
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I am writing a feature on snobbery in the equestrian industry, and wondered what other people think. For example, is it true that owning a pony or a cob instead of an expensive warmblood is looked down on by some people?

There is snobbery in the equestrian world, of course there is. I've frequently been in the hairy horse category, I always had natives when I was in ponies but then I never even thought about it and never had any comments. I still own a native now, as well as a TB x who I think it gorgeous but I know he's not a natural stunner like a lot of other horses we meet eventing and BSJA'ing. But TBH Ive never had any snobby comments. I dont look down on adults riding natives against WB's as I know a native can kick ass!! (and having had a WB, I hate them anyway!).

No, I dont think its annoying that competition horses are on mag covers. It's nice to have a colourful action shot on the front. But I guess it depends on if you compete yourself or not.
 
We have also found there is snobbery from pony club kids and parents, also from a couple of instructors. My sister is 10 and until recently was looked down upon by some people as she only had a 20 year old shetland (I'd have liked to see some of them try and ride her as well as my sister does!). Now she has a Caspian on loan they are all "ooh we never knew she could ride so well" and "would you like to ride my pony in the jumping 'cos I'm scared of it, and now you've got a proper pony we can see you're quite a good rider". I mean for gods sake has anyone tried to ride a fit shetland, they're nuts, lol.
So yes, there is deffo snobbery in the equestrian industry.
 
I encountered some real snobbery when I used to part-loan an old cob at a livery yard. People really wouldn't even talk to me - I definitely felt it was a case of people talking behind my back as well because I am a novice and the horse could be a bit stubborn!! I found it really annoying because I was trying to learn but no one even deigned to speak to me, so I had no one to ask for advice.

Current yard however is lovely, and I don't feel there is any snobery about me being a grown up riding a hairy, slightly scruffy native pony : )
 
When you use the phrase "looking down on someone" as a metaphor, in fact it applies in a literal sense in equestrianism.

For instance, it never ceases to amaze me how kids on ponies become spoilt little divas when they are on board their mount and literally look down on their parents, who invariably get a tongue lashing for any unsolicited comment, or take the brunt of the child's frustration when the pony defies all the manic kicking and whipping lashed out on it.

You see them at competitions, dressed up to the nines, looking down imperiously from their polished horses.

So I see these kids growing up with this haughty attitude and bringing it with them into adult life.

On the other hand there are those kids who work their butts off to ride other people's horses, who are up the yard at 6am in the middle of winter without a hope of owning their own. But in time, you will see them find themselves in a position of taking on a project and turning it into something special through hard work, persistence and knowledge gained along the way.
 
There is definitely a lot of snobbery in the horse world. I was sometimes on the receiving end of it when I owned my first pony - a hairy native. But there is also a lot of inverted snobbery too and that has been neatly illustrated on this thread - no offence intended to anyone
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I do actually own a well bred, expensive Warmblood and I get fed up of being villified as a result. It's so unfair because I don't look down on anyone who owns a cob. In fact, I am downright jealous of them a lot of the time as they can just go off hacking/hunting whilst I am stuck in the school trying to get my nervy youngster to relax. So please don't assume that all Warmblood owners are stuck up cows 'cos we're not. If I had the money for an additional horse I would get myself a cob like I had for six happy years. The only reason I sold her was because she didn't have the confirmation to enable her to progress any further. I still miss her.
 
I compete BD and found a lot of snobbery. People who have the big, flashy, expensive warmblood, the big horsebox and train with a big name expect to win. They kick up a real fuss when they dont and go home sulking. They also think they own the warm up. If the horse misbehaves then daddy will buy them a new one.

It feels great when you beat them on your bargain horse
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Why is it always Warmblood owners who get the flak though? I don't think I am better than anyone because I have a Warmblood. I just bought him to do a job. My DalesX did a great job, up to a point, but she couldn't go any further so I decided to buy a horse with the conformation and, hopefully, the talent to take me further. To my mind buying a Warmblood doesn't confer any special status on the owner and I feel I should apologise on behalf of all the snobby WB owners out there for besmirching my name!!
 
There certainly was from some in my daughters pony club. When she first joined she rode borrowed, hairy ponies and found a lot of the other kids were quite condescending. Don't think it helped that I couldn't always help at rallies cos I had a cleaning job! When she moved on to our cheap but superstar pony and they found she could help them win team events it was a different story. However, when they all started to move on to horses at 13 or 14 and she didn't (because 1. she wasn't too big for the pony and 2. we couldn't afford a horse at that time) she found some of them a were a bit unpleasant. She consequently left pony club. I do agree that snobbery exists in all walks of life but perhaps because money does often help in the horse world it can be a problem.
 
We have few problems with snobbery at our PC, daughter joined a year ago and we have both been made very welcome, in fact so welcome we were asked to move to what would be considered a PC yard (my hairy shire x went too). There was more of a problem at our last yard which was really big, parents bought stunning but unsuitable horses/ponies for their spoilt kids and literally dumped them there as free child minding with said ponies/horses with no supervision. One horse was sold as an eventer (perhaps it was in the past) but it had rarely been in the school never mind competed, it was tacked up and led to the end of the road and back, the girl was so scared of it she wouldn't get on!
 
Yes lots of snobbery particulary in full livery yards. I do feel I get looked down on because my pony is a 'problem pony' (if you call bucking me off because his saddle is pinching him 'problem') and he is now tarred with that brush no matter how well he behaves. people wont hack out with us, and whenever Im asked how he's going, no matter what I say its greeted with raised eyebrows and a kind of 'well, we all know your idea of 'going well''
The majority of people at my yard have fantastically expensive horses, that are beautifully schooled, though on the ground a lot of them are a different story. I work there part time and so get the joy of handling 17hh worth of excitable id/tb to and from the fields.
I also follow the natural horsemanship route - treeless saddle, no bit, soon-to-be-barefoot, 24/7 turnout - and I am looked down on because of that too.
Sorry I'll shut up now
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There are many of us with "posh" warmbloods or whatever you care to call them BUT do not categorize PLEASE..!!!! I talk to EVERYONE at BD events .. I also have a huge HGV horsebox, but it is not mine, I borrow it!!
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I may go home frustrated or sulk for a while
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but that is because i am annoyed with myself and my riding... not my horse or whether I have won or not!!!
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I think you will find that sometimes it is rather the opposite at shows, and people with less expensive horse get on "their high horses" when they win over the "warmbloods"!!!!
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I have brought many breeds of horses before, but as I am getting on a bit now I thought I would treat myself to a Warmblood, I love em... dont make me a snob though chuck! Maybe we should also look at Reverse snobbery!!!!!
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Reverse snobbery is the phenomenon of looking unfavourably on perceived social elites, effectively the opposite snobbery.

In the post-Second World War period, the phenomenon of the working or middle class aping the rich, or of deeming them to be 'their betters', classical social emulation (see also snob), began to give way to the voicing of resentment against social distinctions, particularly in, though not confined to, post-war Britain.

This led to the adoption of the reversal of deferential attitudes toward what had previously been admired and copied as 'socially superior' (see upper class). This renewed phenomenon was observed before under different guises: for example, in the English Civil War (see also Levellers), French Revolution (see the literary character, Madame Defarge) and the Russian Revolution (see also class warfare).

Monty Python's comedy sketches occasionally parodied this phenomenon, such as a coal miner son trying to reconcile with his author father who has disowned him.
 
There is masses of snobbery Im afriad. Its something that comes with the territory whenever you do anything that involves buying something you will get snobbery because money divides the classes like nothing else.
Nasty Money-types will always look down on people who buy hairy happy hackers. Just like if you do ballet and dont have the latest shoes etc you will get looked down on.
Its a fact of life I think in everything. Doesnt bother me but I know some people are put off by it which is a shame...
 
Thank you FREESTYLER. That proves there are at least two of us "posh" WB owners who aren't raging snobs. If we were we wouldn't have taken the time to post because we'd have been too busy looking down our noses at the non-WB owners LOL.
 
There is snobbery in all walks of life, I think you could probaly use the word ignorance instead of snobbery. My daughters PC is very posh. I dont think there are many mums who work full time so it often makes it tricky getting to rallies and helping (which is the best way of getting to know people). On the other hand some of the ladies who I though would have been far to important to speak to me have turned out to be very nice - I guess thats a bit of snobbery on my part.

Sometimes I dont think people realise they are being rude - for example a boy said to my daughter 'your pony is so naughty, can't you get rid of it and buy something that can jump', I expect he just thought he was making an observation rather than insulting the love of my daughters life.

We have just saved up to buy our first horse - She was cheap and a bit of a remedial case - I just hope so much that she will come right and beat the ready mades.

BTW at our RC dressage last year 1st 2nd and 3rd in the restricted prelim were all ponies, either coloured or native - pony power.
 
Dont get me started....YES, YES YES - There is loads...
I used to attend a pony club when I was little and was looked down on because I lived out of the local village. I went along to a couple of events but in the end we gave up as the people were awful...this was the late 80's!!
I have moved from yards cause I can not stand being around people that look down at you, comment on your horse, even smerk as you ride past them...recently went to a tack shop where a guy was riding around a paddock with no hat on, his horse was suited and booted in all the up to date gear and his porshce was parked in the drive. He rode past me and I had to stop to let him past....he didnt even acknowledge me as I got into my banged up peugeot...
A girl at my work never used to speak to me about horses as she knew I had only ponies at the time and said to someone in the office she would not speak to me as she didnt think I would know anything about competing...!!
Unfortunately there is too much and it puts people off...you have to have a hard skin at times....
 
I think you are very right in what you say magicmillbrook. Unfortunately money can not always buy everything and swapping horses may help for a short time but can not always be the best outcome.
We used to get the same at our PC, and yes my pony too was the love of my life so to have other kids laugh and be rude did crush my confidence at times.
I believe now, like you that ignorance is unfortauntely the way of it and to just stand proud of what you have and dont let anything get you down...it works for me now and I wish I had been more like it when I was younger...my pony never refused a jump and although not as pretty and expensive as the other ponies she always made me proud and that was the most important thing really.
 
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