It’s no longer true that hard work…

[Cortez]

I’m afraid I am too old and curmudgeonly to think equestrian influencers (ANY influencers, actually) are anything but ridiculous and completely irrelevant.

 

[Caol Ila]

"Influencers" is a stupid word in its current social media context.

 

[Toby_Zaphod]

We have had some good horses, they knew nothing when we bought them & they were trained by us to compete in the various disciplines. We couldn't afford to buy a ready to go horse. There was no way we could have gone professional because when you're professional you sell some of your good horses so you can afford to buy a better one and so on. We were too attached to our horses to sell them. To us they were family. Now, as many owners, we have a couple of lovely aging horses, we don't compete much now but it doesn't matter, we've had a great time with them & occasionally we let them compete at a lower level & they love it.

 

[SEL]

A professional rider's main goal is to be at the top of their game. Money is helpful as are connections but time is also important. If you have money and don't need to work this gives you not just access to top horses and trainers but time to train. If you are a multi millionaire with access to top horses and trainers but are so busy working that you can only ride once or twice a week you probably won't get to the top levels.

I think being wealthy enough to have staff also helps from a time and energy perspective. The Pidgleys are unlikely to be clearing fields of poo before morning exercise

There's so much money in PC around here I have a friend who leased a "been there done that" pony at £££ so her daughter had a fighting chance of getting on PC teams. They can't really afford it but mum is living the pony life she never had through her daughter and they make sacrifices elsewhere.

I still remember taking a horse to a local yard to see the horseback vet Rob Jackson. We borrowed my YO old but fine 3.5 tonne and turned up to find all these huge, flash boxes there - offloading various 14h types for Rob to adjust before summer camps started. Not the PC ponies of my youth ?

 

[Ambers Echo]

I’m afraid I am too old and curmudgeonly to think equestrian influencers (ANY influencers, actually) are anything but ridiculous and completely irrelevant.

?

Isn’t ‘influencer’ just a modern version of the age old concept of paying or sponsoring someone to promote a product. It’s just advertising and modelling. IT girls were much the same and have been around since the 1900s.

If I was attractive or interesting enough to be paid to ride and write about it then I certainly would!

 

[scats]

I liken influencers to simply a new way for companies to advertise products via social media.
They are generally people who have managed to build a largish following due to one of several reasons; they have money and people are intrigued/curious to see how the other half live (Eg someone like Olivia Towers), they have found ‘fame’ through another means (eg Tina Wallace on all star academy) or they are decent riders who produce nice horses and have quite an engaging quality about them (I’d say Megan elphick fits this bill).
None of them would be able to do it as anything other than a hobby if companies didn’t recognise this formula and advertise through them or sponsor them. That’s all their influence is really, pushing products.

As for the money thing and being a top rider, I’d say it was 80% of it is down to money/luck/being in the right place at the right time and 20% of it is due to talent alone. That’s not saying that a person only has to have minimal talent and bags of money. They could be exceptionally talented, but without financial backing or support or meeting the right people, it’s highly unlikely to happen.
I know someone who is a distinctly average rider, has had a long break from horses, but has money. On deciding to come back into it, they have purchased an exceptionally nice horse, paid for top training and to stable on a top competition yard and are now out competing at a decent level and doing well. All within 18 months.
Money and connections really do talk.

 

[splashgirl45]

Lottie Fry was training with CH from age of 14. Her mother was a dressage rider. I doubt the lessons with CH whilst she was still at school were cheap. She came from a horsey background but sadly lost her mother at an early age.

She is not someone who came from nowhere she started riding at a young age and was well connected not like an average child riding at a RS.

I didn’t say she came from no where but wanted to include her as she won last night, would she have been as successful if she wasn’t with the van olsts? Who knows

 

[hairycob]

It's definitely not just Equestrianism. When my eldest was a teenager he took up Clay shooting and he was good at it, top 15 in a world championship after just 18 month, on an elite training programme. But, as a junior, it's a sport you need an adult to accompany you to every time. To training as well as comps. We both needed to work. There was another lad the same age on the training programme who had wealthy parents who could send him abroad to top coaches for extended periods, who had land to build practice facilities. They used to take turns in beating each other though the other lad had been shooting since he was small. Guess which one got an olympic medal?

 

[ycbm]

Yes but you can attract rich backers with talent and hard work. The thread is about just being born rich and having everything handed to you on a plate. That is an advantage (if you back it up with hard work) but you can get there other ways too.

Isn't this about level of certainty though? If you are a talented rider with motivation, health and big financial backing you will reach high levels. If you are a talented rider with motivation, health but no financial backing you might reach high levels if you work your socks off, but only if you also have massive luck on your side.
.

 

[RachelFerd]

Now I am in a much better financial position than I used to be, I am spending much more money on my horses and my results are much better. I am also working harder at it than I ever have - BUT (and this is a big but) I only have the time to work harder at it, because I am no longer trying to work extra hours/jobs to cover costs.

 

[splashgirl45]

I think I could have been quite a bit better if I hadn’t had to work to live and could have had transport and the time and money for lots of lessons. In 50 years of horse riding I have had about 20 lessons which include when I first learnt to ride at a riding school. age 11..I have learnt loads by watching and have managed to improve in that way but was fumbling in the dark most of the time..I have still enjoyed myself and the only regrets are that I had to work in a bank to fund my hobby so had limited time with my horse

 

[splashgirl45]

I think I could have been quite a bit better if I hadn’t had to work to live and could have had transport and the time and money for lots of lessons. In 50 years of horse riding I have had about 20 lessons which include when I first learnt to ride at a riding school. age 11..I have learnt loads by watching and have managed to improve in that way but was fumbling in the dark most of the time..I have still enjoyed myself and the only regrets are that I had to work in a bank to fund my hobby

 

[dorsetladette]

I'd like to think that knowledge also helps.

A good eye for potential in a young horse, patience to bring it on properly, and carefully aiming at the right competition/judge are the skills my dad used to get the results we did when we were competing back in the day. We didn't have tons of money, so dad studied the judges preference/preferred type and then we would take certain ponies under those judges. I know this is the showing world and slightly different to dressage or eventing. But its the sphere that I know and still compete in.

He could also turn a pony out better than anyone I've ever known. He could literally polish a t##d. Our bin end ponies won at county and national level against the big boys. We were at ponies UK/hoys/royal international every year - and won a few times.

I plan to continue in dads foot steps with my current cheapy ponies. Our C is already doing well in the youngstock classes and will be shown under saddle in time too.

 

[humblepie]

I have a friend who has no money behind her and she competed for her country. She worked incredibly hard and produced two horses from a DIY yard and still at DIY when representing her country, borrowing a lorry etc. With family commitments she stepped back from competing as the strain of trying to keep it all together was too much. A very talented rider and very nice person but the pressure of keeping the show on the road was immense.

 

[milliepops]

there have been multiple threads like this, i think knowledge, talent, family support etc are all critical but you can't even drive to the yard to ride a horse if you don't have enough money for the bus or diesel or whatever. Money is essential at all levels of the sport, regardless of how talented you are. At the top it's so expensive to be laughable, you aren't transporting your horse to Denmark for the world games without many £££££s in the bank.

 

[honetpot]

I was once on a livery yard with our very ordinary PC ponies that did a bit of everything. There were a couple of people who had the smart expensive lorry, one had a brand new Oakley, and bought in made or almost made horses, and it never really bothered us as a family. I can not say they had more fun than us, what ever we did there was no one thinking we should win because we had bought something that should win, and when we did get a placing it was all our own work.
I think there is a lot of pressure in 'having the best', because if you do not do well, its seen as down to you, when anyone who has had a long experience with horses know that even at the top, some combinations do not work as well. To succeed at the top in any sport you need talent, drive and single mindedness which I have never seen in anyone I have met in ordinary riding. My friend knows well a top international eventer, and she says the hours she puts in and the amount of horses she rides a day, well the thought of it is knackering.
I am the same age as John Whitaker, and used to watch him at local lower level BSJA shows I was helping at when I was about fourteen, he was good then, competing against adults, you just knew he was something special. The only thing I think has really changed is the equivalent of a Grade C horse now is so expensive, who want to let some talented teenagers ride it, so you need contacts as well a graft.

 

[wills_91]

I follow a couple of young riders on Instagram. It is far more enjoyable keeping tabs on the likes of Annabell Dunseath (account ran by her mum) than the likes of Pidgley dressage.

 

[Pmf27]

I'm so glad that my experience of the horse world has not been the sort of folk I see on YouTube, because I'd stick out like a sore thumb.

I rock up to the yard wearing the same jods I was almost 20 years ago (somehow they have grown with me?!?), a battered old pair of Mountain Horse boots and consider it a "huge success" if I manage to get pony off the yard without a tantrum ?

Certainly not going to be winning - or even entering - any competitions any time soon, just pleased to be spending my summer muddy and back-ached for the joy of horses!

 

[Palindrome]

I disagree, I think it's easier today than it way in the past. In the past big name riders only came from very rich families with grooms and land but nowadays you get some outsiders, a big lorry or expensive tack doesn't do everything.

i am probably biased because my own bog pony on loan to a riding school has just came 3rd at the nationals. She is an unregistered mixed breed pony (sir unknown) bought as a 2 years old for very little but the kids and I put several years of work in to make her a nice lead rein and they have added to her experience at the riding school to get that fab result.

ETA: little pic of them at the show:
https://www.facebook.com/GENERALI.OPEN.FRANCE/photos/a.160087964059310/5296084213792967/

 

[stangs]

It is far more enjoyable keeping tabs on the likes of Annabell Dunseath (account ran by her mum) than the likes of Pidgley dressage.

I don’t know. It feels like there’s a new ‘influencer’ account featuring a young kid made every day. Some rich parents, some not, but all sets of parents are exploiting their child for likes/sponsors/etc imo. Otherwise, they’d have set the account to private.

 

[sport horse]

To get to the top of any sport is talent, hard work and dedication. Very few people actually have that talent and dedication. Add to this in the horse world you also need money - either your own or a rich benefactor. The rich benefactor probably wants hard work, talent & dedication and they may not be very nice people but you would have to put up with that to achieve your end goal.
I have a considerable number of very talented young home bred horses and you might think young riders would grab at the chance to be involved. Yes, they do, but when they realise that we do not clock off at 5pm, we do not go off on holiday in the summer etc etc. it is amazing how many lose interest as they want to socialise with their mates. That is fine but please dont then go on social media and winge that it is easy for those with money - they still graft. Even a billionaire cannot ride well without hours of hard work and training to enhance their natural talent.

 

[SEL]

I disagree, I think it's easier today than it way in the past. In the past big name riders only came from very rich families with grooms and land but nowadays you get some outsiders, a big lorry or expensive tack doesn't do everything.

i am probably biased because my own bog pony on loan to a riding school has just came 3rd at the nationals. She is an unregistered mixed breed pony (sir unknown) bought as a 2 years old for very little but the kids and I put several years of work in to make her a nice lead rein and they have added to her experience at the riding school to get that fab result.

ETA: little pic of them at the show:
https://www.facebook.com/GENERALI.OPEN.FRANCE/photos/a.160087964059310/5296084213792967/

Lovely pony!

 

[wills_91]

I don’t know. It feels like there’s a new ‘influencer’ account featuring a young kid made every day. Some rich parents, some not, but all sets of parents are exploiting their child for likes/sponsors/etc imo. Otherwise, they’d have set the account to private.

Have you seen her account? She's not an influencer. An influencer and an up and coming young rider are 2 entirely different things and as this entire thread has been about, it's almost impossible to get to the top without sponsors, owners etc, it doesn't appear that she's from a particularly affluent family so of course they have to get her name out there to a certain extent. I still would rather watch a plucky wee rider putting the graft in than a young teen on an Olympic horse, finely tuned by someone else. Where's the fun in that?

 

[YorksG]

I was once on a livery yard with our very ordinary PC ponies that did a bit of everything. There were a couple of people who had the smart expensive lorry, one had a brand new Oakley, and bought in made or almost made horses, and it never really bothered us as a family. I can not say they had more fun than us, what ever we did there was no one thinking we should win because we had bought something that should win, and when we did get a placing it was all our own work.
I think there is a lot of pressure in 'having the best', because if you do not do well, its seen as down to you, when anyone who has had a long experience with horses know that even at the top, some combinations do not work as well. To succeed at the top in any sport you need talent, drive and single mindedness which I have never seen in anyone I have met in ordinary riding. My friend knows well a top international eventer, and she says the hours she puts in and the amount of horses she rides a day, well the thought of it is knackering.
I am the same age as John Whitaker, and used to watch him at local lower level BSJA shows I was helping at when I was about fourteen, he was good then, competing against adults, you just knew he was something special. The only thing I think has really changed is the equivalent of a Grade C horse now is so expensive, who want to let some talented teenagers ride it, so you need contacts as well a graft.

I grew up not far from the Whitaker farm and riding school, Micheal and John had nothing handed to them on a plate! There are two other brothers who also worked on the farm. Their father, Donald ran a mixed livestock farm and tight did not begin to describe him. In common with other farming families the kids had to do farming jobs before and after schooland they didn't get bought made ponies. While I doubt that their children had to do the same, they will have been brought up to work, I'm sure!

 

[stangs]

Have you seen her account? She's not an influencer. An influencer and an up and coming young rider are 2 entirely different things and as this entire thread has been about, it's almost impossible to get to the top without sponsors, owners etc, it doesn't appear that she's from a particularly affluent family so of course they have to get her name out there to a certain extent. I still would rather watch a plucky wee rider putting the graft in than a young teen on an Olympic horse, finely tuned by someone else. Where's the fun in that?

Not my point at all. I don't care whether consuming content produced by her mother is more or less fun than consuming that which it is produced by an affluent teen. However, having a pretty successful social media account with a decent number of sponsors does make her, by the modern definition, an 'influencer'. And forget your fun as the consumer. It does not sit right with me that I, a complete stranger, can have a brief scroll and find out an 8-year-old's full name, her birthday, and where she'll be going in the near future.

 

[Orangehorse]

The lorries at BE now blow my mind and it’s been in last 5 years that there has been such a gear change. Serious lorries everywhere and even the 7.5t are not scruffy. Trailers are really in the minority. It was refreshing being at BRC horse trials champs as it was ‘normal’.

I bet most of those lorries are leased. At least you own your trailer.

 

[wills_91]

Not my point at all. I don't care whether consuming content produced by her mother is more or less fun than consuming that which it is produced by an affluent teen. However, having a pretty successful social media account with a decent number of sponsors does make her, by the modern definition, an 'influencer'. And forget your fun as the consumer. It does not sit right with me that I, a complete stranger, can have a brief scroll and find out an 8-year-old's full name, her birthday, and where she'll be going in the near future.

It's very easy to find out that information on any child competing in this day and age with or without an Instagram account.

 

[TPO]

You need more luck than anything I reckon; a very big dose of right place and right time too.

 

[Muddy unicorn]

It's very easy to find out that information on any child competing in this day and age with or without an Instagram account.

The point is that no 8 year old has the capacity to decide whether or not they want to be in the public eye. All those accounts run by parents are morally dubious imo - effectively the parents are pimping out their children for gain

 

[wills_91]

The point is that no 8 year old has the capacity to decide whether or not they want to be in the public eye. All those accounts run by parents are morally dubious imo - effectively the parents are pimping out their children for gain

In which case we shouldn't post anywhere results from junior/lower league competitions incase the child doesn't want it to be in the public eye... alot of posters on here clearly not grasping the difference between an "influencer" & sponsored rider.