Am I “too old” for the ambition I have?

[TheDBYC]

@Amberley

I think OP should start at an eventing barn. They go to more schooling jumper shows and have a lot more experience riding a show jumping course and riding bigger fences than most “H/J” trainers do and you can get a lot of practice in at cheaper venues. Plus combined training is a better basis for show jumping than hunters is, with the dressage aspect there to improve flatwork. It’s way cheaper and they move people up quicker if they put in the work.

You don’t ever have to do xc to get the benefits of starting at an event barn.

I was about to suggest the same, lol.

OP, I’m 48. Started riding at age 6. Was taking dressage lessons from a eventer when my now 16yo DD decided she needed a break from hunter ponies. She began lessoning with my trainer. We bought a quirky teenaged schoolmaster, and they did their first A/AA rated 1.0m together this summer. We don’t have $100,000 horses (hell, I barely make half that annually!). We still managed to have a blast taking our sub-$20k dude to two A/AA shows this summer. Did 100% of the care ourselves and met the trainer at the warmup.

The prevailing style of hunter trainer (at least in our area, in our price bracket) very much caters to people who just want to arrive at a show and enjoy. Busy, novice amateurs who came to horses later in life and work long hours to support their riding habit, the children of non-horsey parents who work long hours to support their kid’s horse habit. Works beautifully for a lot of people. It was a confidence crusher for DD. She felt incompetent. I can say with confidence that had she stayed with hunters she would still be aimlessly wandering around the sub- 2’ and not having much success.

Neither way is wrong. Finding what suits your individual personality, available leisure time, and financial reality is what matters. You probably don’t have to stick to barns with lesson horses or buy a horse immediately, either. Half and full leases exist. Take your time. Attend a few of the shows you’d one day like to compete in. Hang out by the warm up, the in gate, and, if possible, back at the barns. Listen to the trainers and their riders in action. Go home and research anyone who you feel to be promising. If you like what you find out, go ahead and contact them and discuss what opportunities they might have for you. Good luck!

[foursocks]

In addition to the good advice already given I would just say be open to whatever opportunities you might find. An eventing barn is a great place to start. I board and train with eventers and it has changed my riding in so many good ways, I don’t think I would ever go back to a H/J program.

As for age, I’m 53, I have a fully janked-up back (scoliosis, to start), and I have two jumpers. One is young, the other is now a teenager. I do the AAs and hope to get back up to the AOs with both (older guy was injured, so it’s a long road back to AOs, new guy is new). I’m hoping to do the Med-High AOs at some point, but even getting back up to the Lows would be perfect.

I am not wealthy, I’m a professor, lol, but we have a double income and no kids, so with really good budgeting and planning I am able to play and be competitive (when I don’t ride like a dingbat) in the ammy divisions. I have two very nice horses and can show consistently throughout the year, with one or two destination shows added in. At this point I’m just doing schooling shows to get the three of us back in the ring and comfortable for very low stakes, but 1-2 rated per month during the spring-fall season was my norm before my older guy tried to destroy his leg.

Go out there and ride, see what interests you, and pursue it. The jumpers is much more accessible than the hunters, which is why I switched to it when I came back to riding as an adult, but you may find eventing is even more fun. Good luck and enjoy the journey!

[dmveventer]

I would actually disagree with this, depending on what OP’s goals are. If the primary goal is to get back in the saddle and just have fun for a while, then sure. But if OP wants to show and get on track for bigger classes then starting out in a H/J program will be better in the long run (although I agree that the first barn back may not be the same program to get to the big sticks). An eventing barn might go to schooling jumper shows and can obviously teach the same jumper lessons at home, but it’s unlikely they’ll go to the multi-day rated shows OP is interested in or have the connections to land OP a lease on a jumper schoolmaster type. Plus there are way more H/J barns out there ro choose from with lesson horses or half-leases as an entry point. It’s getting hard to find an eventing barn if you don’t have your own horse or some connections.

[NoSuchPerson]

@dmveventer

It’s getting hard to find an eventing barn if you don’t have your own horse or some connections.

It’s hard to find an eventing barn at all in many places. In my area, eventing is a non-starter. It’s simply not available. It’s a 2-hr+ drive to anyplace where you can find eventing and even there, they are wildly outnumbered by H/J barns.

I used to live in a pretty horsey area and even there it was one eventing barn to 5-6 H/J barns.

[Peggy]

If you don’t start this year, next year you’ll be 36 (still not old) and asking yourself the same questions.

See if you can figure out a way to start that works for you—good program, convenient enough that it’s not an ordeal, pleasant people…

I’ve had fits and starts over the years for a variety of reasons. Felt like I’d crawl my way up to 3’ only to get beaten back down. Got the horse sound and in a good program and for the last two years have been doing some of the bigger shows in California in the meter adult jumpers. And I’m way older than the OP.

How old is Peggy?

67!

[Limerick]

How would the political atmosphere affect your joining a barn and leasing/buying a jumper?

[EmilyM]

You can qualify for Devon doing the 1.10 high adults and HITS (I’m assuming you mean Marshall and Sterling Finals) at a variety of heights even lower than that. You have to be fast and good at it since it’s a competitive division. So it depends on how good you are, and what kind of horse flesh you can buy/lease and maintain. Your age is not at all a limitation. I’m 46 and brought a young horse up through the 1.10s as of this year (he’s 9 now). My mother bred that horse, and I’ve trained him, so he wasn’t “expensive” except all the care and lessons over the years. 1.10m in jumpers is almost entry level for the serious competitors, so I imagine leasing or buying one to do that is possible below six figures. Getting a former high level jumper who needs a step down job and some TLC/maintenance would be your fastest path to rising through the levels.

In Nashville check out Annie Miller. She is in Franklin I believe. Mostly jumpers.

[BLBGP]

Trainers are refusing to take your money?

[Scribbler]

@Limerick

How would the political atmosphere affect your joining a barn and leasing/buying a jumper?

Well without more details we don’t know if the poster means party politics of some nature, or if they mean “interpersonal politics” like trainers who hate each other and black list each other’s clients.

I must say that part of why I drifted away from horses in young adulthood was that the Western backyard segment I was in was full up with red neck older “bad” wannabe cowboys and I wasn’t comfortable or safe there.

[widge]

I don’t think she meant partisan, I think she meant internal barn politics.

[IPEsq]

What is your current level jumping (if you had any reasonably broke and affordable horse)? It may very well be that the program you need right now is not the program that you will need when you are ready to try to qualify for your goals. What is your budget for a lease? That may also dictate your starting point and program. Sure, you can do low heights at A shows these days, but maybe you don’t need to show there now but have a trainer more suited to your development and smaller shows. If that program also doesn’t do big shows, then you may eventually need to move on, but at that point, perhaps you can get into a new program easier.

I will say though that the whole networking thing is just as hard in HJ land if not harder than a lot of professional settings! If you don’t have a solid recommendation word of mouth going on for the area where you live now, it can be hard to make connections even if you do show up and say I have $X to spend, please take it. It’s odd, but not the first time I’ve seen that happen.

[TheDBYC]

@dmveventer

I would actually disagree with this, depending on what OP’s goals are. If the primary goal is to get back in the saddle and just have fun for a while, then sure. But if OP wants to show and get on track for bigger classes then starting out in a H/J program will be better in the long run (although I agree that the first barn back may not be the same program to get to the big sticks). An eventing barn might go to schooling jumper shows and can obviously teach the same jumper lessons at home, but it’s unlikely they’ll go to the multi-day rated shows OP is interested in or have the connections to land OP a lease on a jumper schoolmaster type. Plus there are way more H/J barns out there ro choose from with lesson horses or half-leases as an entry point. It’s getting hard to find an eventing barn if you don’t have your own horse or some connections.

Ironically, we’ve had the exact opposite experience I haven’t owned a horse for myself in over 10 years. Did evening chores for a while at a pure dressage barn in exchange for lessons using whatever horse the resident trainer had available. Found our current trainer (an eventer) through a local FB board. They matched me, and in turn DD16, with great leases that came in as boarders. They helped find DD’s horse and got the two of them sorted out & going as a cohesive pair. When DD16 decided she wanted to try her hand at moving up the Jumper ranks, the trainer set them up with their own show jumping trainer, who is so much trainer that DD worried at first that they wouldn’t want to work with her. Very few barns have lesson horses anymore. Hunter barns in our area are especially rough in that regard unless you have more or less unlimited financial resources to put towards it. Hunter ponies was even worse. I can’t fathom how kids with your average non-horsey parents are able to get into it at all anymore. There’s Jumpers, yes, But the truly dual-purpose H/J trainers that I grew up with seem to have all but disappeared in recent years.

You make a fair point, though. So much of this is geographical and even dumb luck. I hope the OP finds her ideal situation, whatever that might be!

[vxf111]

Only a 35 year old would ask if 35 is old

As others have mentioned many times, of all the potential limiting factors age is way way way down (or not even on) the list.

[ThreeWishes]

@vxf111

Only a 35 year old would ask if 35 is old

Hahahahahahaha! I thought the same thing. But don’t you remember when you thought mid 30’s was old? In hindsight that’s when you’re probably more financially able, emotionally / interpersonally stable, and self realized enough to imagine your goals and desires. Good luck OP. 35 is not old.

[Scribbler]

@ThreeWishes

@vxf111

Only a 35 year old would ask if 35 is old

Hahahahahahaha! I thought the same thing. But don’t you remember when you thought mid 30’s was old? In hindsight that’s when you’re probably more financially able, emotionally / interpersonally stable, and self realized enough to imagine your goals and desires. Good luck OP. 35 is not old.

We get 16 year old beginners asking if they are too old to learn to ride. While they are likely too old to be on a track for junior equitation finals, they certainly aren’t too old globally! A lot depends on your time frame and resources!

[ThreeWishes]

True!!! Ahh to have the strength and vigor of a 16 year old with the wisdom and experience of a 54 year old.

[EmilyM]

As they say : youth is wasted on the young.

[onlyTBmares]

I am 37 and I my very first A show this summer (actually AA!) in the 1.0m and 1.10m jumpers. I didn’t take home ribbons but you would never have guessed it by seeing my face! I rode in huge classes and had some pretty nice rounds. I have only 4H show experience and a couple schooling jumper shows from my teen years before this summer. It just took having enough money to buy something that had some experience and finding the right program that does some bigger shows but doesn’t require it. I also met a man at said show that was 10+ years older than me in my classes and had only been riding for a couple of years. He appeared to have no financial constraints which makes moving up much easier. I don’t have children which made it much easier for me. I’m not making it into the 1.40m ring or anything but I have every intention of moving up and having an excellent time while I try for many many more years. My 30s are an excellent time to be ambitious, I finally have a little money, I’m still brave enough and I have more of a functioning brain than I did as a teen!

[TwiSedai]

Walnut Trace might do lessons. There are several good XC places in the area, there are definitely eventing barns around. Also, I was at Brownland this past weekend! Was going to suggest that as a good place to check out. (I’m in North AL so not too far)

[greysfordays]

I’m a 42 year old mom and moved from the hunters to the jumpers when I was 35 too! I also “wanted to go to the top” bc I had been so competitive in the AO hunters. I moved to an ultra ambitious barn where we had lots of independently wealthy amateur clients with a string of high AO/GP jumpers. One thing this barn did so well was find genuinely fantastic horses that gave their riders a lot of confidence and they progressed quickly. So I learned there than it can be really life changing to be on the right horse. But it was ungodly expensive.

In that time, I’ve owned several horses, made it to the 1.25 and was in the warm up for my first 1.30m when my horse felt sore and we’ve struggled to get back to that level.

My goal changed from get to the high AOs to being able to ride well enough to be able to buy a quality careful 6 year old and not wreck it. Well unfortunately that young horse is probably out for a couple years with an injury! Because horses = heartbreak.

But over time I’ve realized that I’m actually more interested in being a more well-rounded horse woman. So geeking out on saddle fit, learning about proper groundwork, being there for every vet visit and learning from my farrier.

The horse world is much bigger than getting to ring one in the high AOs at HITS. I’m considering going into eventing because I love how DIY and welcoming the community is. I also think having a broader knowledge base is making me more able to deal with the challenges that owning sport horses inevitably brings.

What seems to help most is having a rough idea of your goals, but keeping your perspective pretty focused on the near-term bc having solidly defined long-term plans with horses is a great way to drive yourself crazy!