Sponsorship

[Epequestrian]

Hi! I’m looking for a bit of advice...
I’ve recently been accepted into Hartpury college for the equitation course which I’m really looking forward to! The only downside is that I can’t afford to bring my own horse. I’ve spoken to a couple of liveries there already, and one of them said that she had a sponsorship with a company who covered her livery costs.
this has given me a bit of hope as I can’t imagine leaving home without my horse! Obviously I wouldn’t expect the sponsor to cover the whole livery cost (£2,800) but does anyone think it would be possible for me to find a business who would be willing to do this?
any advice would be hugely appreciated!

 

[blitznbobs]

At this time you’ll probably struggle tbh - most horse related businesses I would imagine are struggling and it would be unlikely that any other sort of business would sponser you... my gut feeling is that the business sponsoring the livery has may well belong to a relative. Many well known professional riders struggle with acquiring sponsorships

 

[Epequestrian]

At this time you’ll probably struggle tbh - most horse related businesses I would imagine are struggling and it would be unlikely that any other sort of business would sponser you... my gut feeling is that the business sponsoring the livery has may well belong to a relative. Many well known professional riders struggle with acquiring sponsorships

Thank you for the reply! The business doesn’t have any connections to the livery, which is what made me think if it would be possible for me! I completely agree with you about businesses struggling at the moment, but I’m Planning this for next year as livery applications opened a while ago and no spaces left for this September! And I think it could possibly depend on the business as I have a very well known business currently sponsoring me, although they haven’t been running long enough to have the money to spend!

 

[J&S]

You just have to write loads of letters requesting sponsorship and see what turns up! Enclose a CV and photos of you and your horse.

 

[Epequestrian]

You just have to write loads of letters requesting sponsorship and see what turns up! Enclose a CV and photos of you and your horse.

Thank you!

 

[Sail_away]

What do you do with your horse? If you don’t compete or have a big social media account then there’s not much a sponsor would get out of you. And most sponsors will offer products instead of money.
It’s not impossible, but you need to be attractive to potential sponsors. If you think you have a chance then have a go at emailing potential sponsors. I’d go with brands you have bought from before as it shows you’re invested in their brand/product.

 

[Shay]

If you have family member who has a small buisness they can receive a tax offset for "sponsoring" you - to be honest that is far and away the most common form of sponsorship at that level.

If you are highly active on social media you may find firms willing to give you products in exchange for promoting them online - but that is not going to equate to your livery costs and you need to be careful that the college allows for this type of brand advertising on college premises.

I genuinely would not bother with the letters / CV approach. You are just going to waste the postage. At college you will simply not have the exposure any company would want. Sponsorship is advertising. How are you going to advertise any brand whilst at a college - which in all probability bans product advertising on site anyway.

I'm sorry to burst your bubble - but you are really wasting your time.

Oh.. and watch out for the likes of Animalife who only require you to sign up to be a "sponsored" rider - but then you have to pay for branded materials to advertise them....

 

[Epequestrian]

What do you do with your horse? If you don’t compete or have a big social media account then there’s not much a sponsor would get out of you. And most sponsors will offer products instead of money.
It’s not impossible, but you need to be attractive to potential sponsors. If you think you have a chance then have a go at emailing potential sponsors. I’d go with brands you have bought from before as it shows you’re invested in their brand/product.

Thank you! I mainly show jump with the odd bit of dressage, but if I was to go to hartpury with him I would hopefully compete bsja as they often hold them there, And I have just under 6k followers, but it’s quickly growing!

 

[Epequestrian]

If you have family member who has a small buisness they can receive a tax offset for "sponsoring" you - to be honest that is far and away the most common form of sponsorship at that level.

If you are highly active on social media you may find firms willing to give you products in exchange for promoting them online - but that is not going to equate to your livery costs and you need to be careful that the college allows for this type of brand advertising on college premises.

I genuinely would not bother with the letters / CV approach. You are just going to waste the postage. At college you will simply not have the exposure any company would want. Sponsorship is advertising. How are you going to advertise any brand whilst at a college - which in all probability bans product advertising on site anyway.

I'm sorry to burst your bubble - but you are really wasting your time.

Oh.. and watch out for the likes of Animalife who only require you to sign up to be a "sponsored" rider - but then you have to pay for branded materials to advertise them....

Thanks for the reply, I have an Instagram account which is quickly growing (if it carry’s on growing at this pace I will easily have over 20k by next September) where I would do most of the promoting, as well as out at shows and stuff like that!

 

[JennBags]

If you have family member who has a small buisness they can receive a tax offset for "sponsoring" you - to be honest that is far and away the most common form of sponsorship at that level.
....

Sorry but no they can't! Unless it's an arm's length sponsorship deal and the business can prove they are getting a benefit from the sponsorship, this is not allowed.

 

[Bonnie Allie]

As with all business relationships you must be able to clearly articulate and quantify exactly what the sponsor will get from this relationship/deal.

if you genuinely want to go down this path, then you need to be clear about the benefit (hard $$$ not fluff) they will be getting. Ie: for every pound the invest in you, you will return x amount in sales to them, over what time period. What happens if you miss your commitment? Do you pay the money back?

“I have some followers on my socials“ wont cut it I’m afraid.

Economically it’s going to be tough post-Covid so companies will need to be very innovative in order to reach their customer base and squeeze every penny from the consumer. Global supply chains are disrupted creating locally made product opportunities. What is your innovative idea that is going to make the difference to your sponsor?

 

[RHM]

I’ve been to quite a few clinics there and driven past loads of yards nearby. I would personally just keep your horse as close as possible and hack over for competitions.