I’m h/j ( for the record). In my area, there is a slew of A show h/j barns, a few mid-level ( but high quality) C Circuit barns. The ones that can afford it, are at the A barns, and because of the cost of this sport, the C barns aren’t cheap either. Plenty of lawyers & Drs kids at the C barn. Both tiers of these h/j barns are quality, in riding, horsemanship, horse care, and cleanliness.
There is 1 upper level event barn. The cost is about the same as the A -h/j barns.
I have noticed that often, kids that are totally horse crazy, but with lesser money to spend in this sport… these are the kids that end up in these backyard, event barns without real, quality training. In my area, anyway, the few lower level barns are subpar, but the trainers think they are all that & a bag of chips.
They tell these kids how great they are, yet leave huge holes in their training. They often buy super cheap, super green horses & these kids “ train” them. These barns lack horsemanship, cleanliness, and quality training. These barns are within the budgets of those that are priced out of other barns.
These type barns are drawn to eventing because it’s cheaper then the h/j shows. The horses don’t have to be as fancy. They can show up at events with horses not “properly “ turned out & all is good. They can ride by the seat of there pants & win. Can’t do that as much in the h/j world.
I totally get that not everyone can afford the fancy, made horse, the nicer barn, the quality lessons. However, these lower level barns are ignorant to safety of horse & rider. The kids ride by the seat of their pants & the horses try to save themselves. It’s scary. & then you Factor in social media & these kids think they are going to be the next big thing. They don’t realize the skills they are lacking.
We need to educate parents on what to look for in a trainer. We need to educate that money spent on quality lessons is worth the safety of horse & rider.
These lower level barns need some help & guidance. These kids need these barns, but they need some sort of regulation. Maybe the usef needs to award “ local “ type barns & trainers with incentives to win horsemanship training & clinics.
There needs to be some sort of system to rate trainers & a system that riders need to be be tested prior to moving up
levels.
One lower level event barn in my area, would bring horses in an unsafe to small rusted out trailer to events. The roof had huge rusted out holes in it. The horses would show up under weight & covered in rain rot. They were often lame. They had Ill fitting tack & hooves not properly Cared for. This barn was a mess. The kids were sweet & loved the horses & the sport, but their riding was scary, scary, scary. The scary thing was, they all had no clue that what they were doing was wrong. It was what they could afford & they had no education otherwise.
This is what I see as part of the problem of eventing. The lack of education at the lower levels bleeds into the system.
The h/j -C. barns in this area… are giving the lower level h/j kids a good solid foundation to move up. These kids sometimes move from C to A & it’s an easy transition without a lot of holes in training for the kids to move up.
The sport also needs to be less expensive, but that’s another topic.
