A small rant...others' thoughts?

[adelaide36]

https://www.chronofhorse.com/article/usef-announces-launch-of-us-equestrian-open-series/

I’ve been thinking a lot about the US Open Series since it was announced last week and wanted to dip my toe into the COTH hive mind to see where others’ thoughts may be.

While I have tried hard to get excited about this, I just can’t bring myself to. It feels reflective of a sentiment I’ve heard a lot over the last year or two in that USEF/USHJA have abandoned the grassroots and middle band of equestrians to fully favor the upper-upper echelon of the sport. Despite the Town Hall meetings with USHJA where people have called for more support at the local and regional level we get a multi-million dollar series that will benefit…the top 1% of riders of the sport.

I love seeing the best of the best in our sport just like anyone else does and just like amateurs or lower-level professionals of any sport do. But this is a huge undertaking from a financial perspective with $1m in prize money - the average, every day rider is completely disconnected from this and it has zero benefit for the bottom and middle bands of the equestrian pyramid. Are we really that useless to USEF? I want to champion and support our upper level riders, see them have medal success at major global events; but I also want there to be entry points to our sport for those without Olympic-level dreams. I want well-run, positive lesson barns like the one in today’s blog from Jamie Sindell to thrive and feel like they matter to the governing body of the sport. I want riders who move through the IEA and IHSA to understand their value and the value being an equestrian athlete brings them outside of the potential for CDI/FEI competition. I want USEF to empower and inspire riders at all levels not through contracts for televised competitions but through education for all and opportunities for trainers to advance their professional development and horsemanship.

By putting time, financial resources, and attention into a massive undertaking like this US Open series, it seems like another nail in the coffin of the sport being accessible to anyone but the most privileged of us all. I pay my USEF dues to compete at recognized shows but could not feel farther from the priorities of our governing body.

I’m not really asking for any solutions or even what I could do, just sharing an observation that hopefully will resonate with others. This continual shift away from us grassroots riders won’t change my love and affection for my horse or riding in general, but it definitely saddens me for the future of the sport.

[2DogsFarm]

While I nod in agreement with every point you make, I also think any sport/discipline involving horses has been moving away from those not near the 1% for years, if not decades.
How many families can support a kid owning a horse, let alone competing?
Add kids steered toward being involved in multiple non-academic activities & there’s little time left for horses.
Lesson barns have dwindled to a handful in most places & urban/suburban sprawl makes the backyard-kept horse an outlier.
I live in an area still fairly rural, but subdivisions are replacing small farms (meaning less than hundreds of acres) & acreage is being zoned out of Ag use.
Here the emphasis is on WP & the QH rules, but the number of lowkey local shows decreases every year.
It does not look hopeful for any horse-specific sport to increase participation at any but the level of population with disposable income.

The trope To make a small fortune with horses, start with a large one has never rung truer.

[Vyce]

I agree with the points already made. I think this is sadly another example of horses being further and further out of reach in general of the shrinking middle class. I grew up working class poor and only had access to horses because my grandfather’s friend had a few in his backyard. When I took lessons I did so with a lady who taught on the side for show money and used her pony to help fund her gorgeous show horse. She charged less than the local lesson barns. I earned my lesson money as a tween mowing lawns, dog walking and babysitting. Now as an adult I partial lease with a very kind private owner. My rambling point being, as horse ownership and lesson barns shrink, so do the horsey opportunities for kids from middle class and lower. And I’m sad thinking of the future little girls and boys who may love reading horse books or watching horse movies but they may not get the chance to sit on an actual horse and cement their love for horses and horse sports. I would’ve been one of those kids if my grandpa’s friend never said “Kid likes horses? Bring her over.” many years ago. Now I feel old lol! Maybe it’s just my experience, but it seems a fair number of lower class horsekids grow up to become the stable hands, grooms, farriers, vets, etc that those with higher incomes like the 1% pay to take care of their horses?

Horses have always been expensive but it seems lately that’s even more so. Maybe someone out there much smarter than me can come up with some revolutionary genius business plan or model to help lessons etc be more accessible to more of the population. I’ve always hoped therapeutic riding would become more mainstream and help more non-horae people become aware of the many physical and mental benefits riding has. And apologies I think I’ve rambled off topic.

[poltroon]

I’m not sure if it’s a good call or not, but I believe from their point of view this is a marketing initiative, not really so much a project to support the 1%. The format was chosen to be attractive for television and in particular ESPN in the run up to a home Olympics.

Marketing is certainly appropriate for the general mix, because the mix of how kids and the general public are exposed to horses has changed so very much. Whether this is an effective way to market, I don’t know.