Top class riders...

[stormox]

Most top class riders in all disciplines come from horsey families - true or false?

 

[Elf On A Shelf]

Racing - false.

 

[TPO]

False...off the top of my tired head Carl Hester

ETA. Apologies I read it as "all" not "most"

 

[ihatework]

I would say an element of truth. Depending on how you define most.

 

[shortstuff99]

It seems to be pretty rare to find a top level show jumper or eventer that's not from a horsey family. Dressage seems to be a bit different but still quite a lot from horsey families.

 

[paddi22]

from what I can see most a lot of show jumpers come from extremely wealthy families! its an amazing coincidence that the kids of bill gates, Onassis, Springsteen, Bloomberg and Steve Jobs are all top show jumpers. what a mad coincidence, it's almost like they all have something in common!

 

[HashRouge]

Racing - false.

Although it's still fairly common in racing isn't it? Frankie Detorri, Ruby Walsh, Lester Piggot to name some big names, and looking at the Flat jockeys Championship for 2019, two of the top 3 (Oisin Murphy, William Buick) are definitely from racing backgrounds. Don't know about Tom Marquand. Though I'd imagine that racing is definitely the one equine discipline where there are more opportunities for people from non-horsey backgrounds.

 

[Muddywellies]

I would say 'most' do come from horsey backgrounds. There are of course many very successful equestrians who don't come from horsey backgrounds.

 

[Jules111]

I suppose the reverse of this is to question "How many top riders are from non-horsey working class backgrounds". It is a difficult sport to work your way to the top without a huge chunk of cash, luck and good connections.