I don’t see the microchip as such a hardship. I mean, my barn cats are microchipped…and absolutely my horses are. It’s for the good of all horses to have that safety net (being able to scan a horse and determine prior owners).
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Just curious how this will be verified at the shows? Will your horses microchip be scanned when you unload at the show, as the h/j and dressage shows do now ( at least in CA where I work) - or before you get your number / packet from show office.
Who will do the scanning - a vet / TD / volunteer scanning steward - VSS???
A licensed veterinarian does the scanning at dressage shows…
The cost of that additional labor required to accomplish this process will certainly be passed on to competitors, as it already has with dressage and h/j shows. It’s a whole new job category that’s been created, eventers are gonna love it!!
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You can buy a scanner for next-to-nothing. I’m assuming eventing has a gear check for dressage, get it done then. Tick! Off you go.
I really don’t get the storm in a teacup here. It’s a one-off minute cost, less than a vaccine. Anyone can buy a scanner. All our council offices have scanners for lost pets.
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It isn’t going to cause delays etc at shows.
In HJ shows, they are not scanned at every show. I imagine during a drug test or finals but I haven’t had it done.
The microchip number is just added to a horse’s recording in the database, which is information available to competition secretaries.
I know I’ve already said this up thread but I think it bears repeating: the average amateur is already on the cusp of being priced out of this sport. Having more hidden costs and external hoops to jump through just to DIP your toes into the waters of eventing will push newcomers away. They will take their shoestring money and go to other disciplines where costs are cheaper and there’s fewer hoops to jump through at entry level.
This rule is talking about requiring it for entry level. That’s different than modified where someone knows they like the sport and have already spent enough money in it.
While it doesn’t seem like a large amount, there are more people competing on a tight budget than not. Genuinely, the budgetless amateurs are rare in this sport. Adding on $40 here or $30 there may not be a big deal to you, but it is for some. The US is huge and microchips are not offered by every vet. It’s still an additional farm call (especially if people don’t realize until after spring shots). That’s assuming it is your horse. People who lease or borrow horses may not have the agency to give the horse a microchip.
This is just more of the HJ model spilling over into our sandbox.
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As an amateur who was in fact priced out of the sport, I disagree with that statement beowulf. I refuse to believe this much of a riot over a one time, important identification for horses. If you can’t afford to microchip your horse, you probably also can’t afford to get its teeth done or vaccinate it. Also, it’s a bit embarrassing that we as a country don’t have a way of identifying horses. It’s clear Europe is doing it better. All horses off the track now are microchippped, many breeders microchip, so it is already on an upswing and honestly, will and should continue regardless about people complaining about the cost. Horses are expensive.
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I’m not sure the two compare from a budgeting standpoint. I view medical and vet bills as a necessity. I view competition and associated costs as a luxury. This is basic budgeting and I think there are many people who can pay for vet bills that won’t or don’t want to pay for luxuries.
I won’t skimp on necessities. But the first thing that I cut from expenses to keep my budget healthy is luxuries. Showing is a luxury. If it costs me $600+ a weekend for an entry level event (which it does, by the way) I might think about going elsewhere. It costs $35 for three classes at the local 4H fair and half of them are more fun. For a parent on a budget, I can see the attraction for going local and I can understand why they pick other disciplines. It’s hard to justify a multi-hundred dollar show for one day.
Having a microchip isn’t indicative of good horsemanship or vet care. There are other forms of identification; if we’re really splitting hairs here I’d sooner go for brands. They are always visible and never move, unlike microchips — including my own pets, one which has a microchip that somehow moved and isn’t detectable.
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It’s way cheaper to get STARTED in H/J. You probably own all the tack and clothing needed (especially for jumpers). A show pad is cheap, if you need it. A navy coat and tan breeches will always be in style, and safe. Lots of schooling shows where you can do 4-5 jump rounds and some flats for less than $100. A weekend at a C show, if you go with a friend or have a trainer that does it “cheap”, is $600 or so for two days of 6-7 classes.
One similar level HT requires a vest, horse boots, dressage legal clothing, a different set for XC and SJ (though you may already have this), potentially shoes and studs depending on footing (unless you like slipping), and you only get to do 3 “trips”. For the same price and travel days as the H/J C show, mostly.
Eventing adds another fee and another and another while it’s unrated HTs become fewer and farther between (and tbh I trust an unrated HJ more than an unrated HT, from a potential safety and footing standpoint). People will, as a rule, pick the less expensive route at first, whatever that may be.
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Sadly, it spilled over into eventing when unscrupulous hj trainers misrepresented a horse’s age and sold it to eventing land.
I make a good salary. I am still priced out of being competitive in the hj world. I sympathize with the cost creep. This isn’t about giving more money to the organization- it’s trying to keep the playing field level where they can and stop the shadiness of misrepresenting horses’ age, or changing its identity all together.
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My only nit-picking comment on this is that I don’t really think the clothing is a big hurdle (safety vest excepted). Even at recognized, jackets are no longer required below Intermediate; shirts just have to have sleeves, but can be any color; and breeches just have to be light colored (tan is a light color). You don’t need different clothes for each phase - you can wear the same in all 3.
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We already have this rule in place for recognized H/J competitions.
It’s a one time cost. It’s added to your registrations once you have it and add it. It’s not an ongoing fee yearly. Not like my dog whose chip costs me $26 a year. 
This is also already required in TB’s and already done in MANY imported WB’s, so effectively the bulk of the “normal” population of event horses likely already have chips.
Em
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Well now. I ended up not requesting chips this spring as I thought it was just at Modified and above.
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I disagree that eventing is more expensive to get into than H/J. At the lower levels you don’t need separate clothes/tack for all 3 phases. I did my first several events with the same tack in all 3 phases. I wore my tan breeches and navy coat from H/J world for dressage and stadium. Didn’t even have a stock tie. My dressage scores weren’t worse because I didn’t have a dressage saddle. I would say the only new thing I had to buy was a safety vest (and I was able to borrow one from a friend for the first couple events). I used a pair of brushing boots for XC. In my experience, if you have the gear to show at a H/J show, all you need to buy is a vest to dip your feet into eventing.
For the record, my mom paid for my first event as a college graduation gift. I did the jumpers in middle/high school so she was expecting it to cost a lot more than it did. When I told her the total she said “that’s IT?”
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I was talking from scratch. Not “I’m already able to show H/J and want to switch to Eventing”. But I do see the point about dressage attire being more casual - it wasn’t my experience but I’m willing to accept that as an outlier!
Also, notice I didn’t say anything about tack 
. Borrowing is great - but again I was referring to getting started from scratch. However I realize if you don’t own a trailer (not super common in my area if you board), you are most likely borrowing a ride from someone to the event and could potentially use their network to borrow gear. I’ll concede on that point as well.
Still, I was actually talking about this with a friend the other day. As an ammy, and her as a pony parent, H/J shows offer more “bang for your buck” at the local B/C or unrated level. You can totally biff a round and still have a few more to go and fix your mistakes, vs an event is one chance per phase. Same price here, with unrated HJs being far more available and cheaper than HTs. In fact, we can travel an hour and hit several local H/J circuits, while the HTs are much farther (and that’s including the sketchy footing ones we don’t attend).
Perhaps my area is heavily influencing my opinion that H/J is cheaper and easier to get started, but it holds true for the two other states I’ve lived in with horses 
.
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I totally get what you are saying @fivestrideline. I live in an area with a very active unrated Hunter series. There is even a lesson horse hunter series for those who do not have a horse and are riding at a lesson barn.
Typical divisions and all that stuff. Three over fences and two flat per division.
There are also rated hunter shows and unrated hunter/jumper shows that are not part of the above mentioned series.
I am not going to say any of them are cheap, but it is cheaper then the two, not as close, options to event.
Nothing horses is cheap. I just think we forget that always adding one more thing, is not as simple as adding one more thing.
Disclaimer - all of my critters are microchipped. I do think microchipping is a great thing.
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We had this same discussion in the h/j forum several years ago when microchipping started to be required. It’s a one-time cost, and not an expensive one. If that’s your hill to die on, you’re going to be lonely.
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You know H/J is a very different breed than eventing, with many more competitors and venues in H/J, and much deeper pockets on a global scale. It’s easy to be flippant and make comments like above, but they lack perspective and compassion for parts of the world that don’t have convenient, quick access to vets that have microchip tools, or extra money to spend.
It’s also not as simple as “just one singular one time cost”. It’s a bunch of small micro-costs that add up; fees/dues are already expensive and are yearly/reoccurring, then there’s fees/dues to local orgs, fees for the show, showing costs, gas, hotel costs, etc. This isn’t the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back, but it’s piling. The P-T-B wave around how much they want to make eventing accessible to all, but then year after year repackage more cost[s] that they put on their membership base to shoulder.
Are people buying imported WBs the “bulk” of eventing population these days? In my neck of the woods those are the rarity. Newcomers to the sport are often riding stock breeds, which don’t require microchipping.
Again, YMMV, but I don’t see how requiring microchips for entry level is beneficial for the growth of the sport. I totally understand it for Modified and above. My circle isn’t really Modified and above - it’s parents and their kids who are interested in trying the sport but balk when they hear a one-day, entry level event is several hundred dollars.
Do you remember what BN’s mission is?
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Speaking as someone who is currently priced out of any horse sport on a personal level…
Re: the debate of what’s more financially accessible, there are still (in my area) a few lesson-type hunter-jumper barns with not-great instruction where people can get a foothold in the sport, starting with walk-trot lessons, then moving to crossrails (even before cantering), on schoolies who can do up to two feet. Then they usually move on to leasing, often only for less than a year, and then there’s pressure to own. They often start showing locally when they can just walk and trot in mini-stirrup divisions and Beginner Rider divisions (for the old folk). Even then, we’re talking upper-middle-class parents.
Most parents start to realize the instruction isn’t great, and if they have the funds, they want their kids to go to more impressive shows, so the move on to show barns and owning a horse. If they’re less well-heeled, they’ll do jumpers, if not, hunters or equitation. It’s still pricey, though.
Some leave the OG lesson barn to show barns or private barns because (I hate to say it) the level of care for their own personal horse isn’t something they’re comfortable with, versus lesson horses. Like one friend who left a lesson barn with her horse said, “I’d rather pay the hay guy than the vet.”
Most dressage barns in my area don’t have lesson programs per se–they might have schoolmasters, but at best they’re available once a week, and lessons are pricier. I do know teens who turned to dressage after the decided they didn’t like jumping high or found it more affordable not to have to pay through the nose for a horse that could. Eventing is certainly big, but it can be a hike to go cross-country schooling, so it’s more difficult to get the foundations of the sport. Again, there really aren’t “lesson horses” at eventing barns that I know of, though. Maybe a few lessons on the instructor’s personal step-down horses.
All of this is to say that while I think eventing and dressage competition is more affordable for people who are serious riders and competitors, on an entry level, h/j is how most people get their foot in the door in my area. I can’t speak for the Western world. Some people never broaden their horizons enough to get a sense of what’s out there beyond h/j, even if it might suit them better (and their budgets).
My editorializing–I think it’s a shame in some ways that’s the case, because my very favorite instructors actually started off in dressage as kids, including the eventers. It really gave them very sticky seats and a great feel for a horse, IMHO. But I think the highest cost barrier for new eventers is the instruction and access to cross-country schooling, especially nowadays. Perhaps in the past, when people hacked out more on their own, that wasn’t as big of a deal.
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Coming back to point out that ANY sport with basic upkeep monthly expenses will cost more than sports without.
Horses are living and breathing animals and require care. A racquet or clubs of any type do not.
BUT… some sports do easily exceed the costs of horse sports. This is kind of like how you would best view a job in an “At will” employment state. You may love/need the job, but no one is making you or forcing you to do it. You, ultimately, choose to do it and take on the costs associated with the things therein that you want or choose to do.
My horses cost me plenty just living. Adding on showing is expensive so that’s why I made and shared cost analysis spreadsheets for all disciplines a couple years ago. Here’s the link to the Eventing one. You can view it with this link. Then download it locally and use it. Let me know if it needs any updates and I can add them.
If you can learn to budget and count ALL the pennies and then prioritize the things you want in a fiscally responsible way, you can get closer to doing more. Admittedly some areas of the USA are far more challenged that others, but where there’s a will, there’s a way.
Em
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It didn’t “spill over to eventing”.
The rule change proposal is for ALL horses at ALL USEF Licensed or Endorsed shows, regardless of discipline.
Also, the primary rationale NOW is for biosecurity and theft, not misrepresentation of age or experience.
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