Going pro as a mediocre rider - is it worth it?

[TwiSedai]

I’m a “pro” technically, in that when I first joined up with USEF and USDF I was teaching riding lessons part time (most of my income back then) while going through my last couple of years of college, on top of riding a few horses for other people on occasion. I haven’t given legit, paid lessons in about 5 or 6 years, but it’s such a pain to get my status changed that I just compete in Open when we do go to shows. I could worry about what others might think, me very clearly not a pro rider, on a super downhill little hony mare, sometimes in a jump saddle, being thrilled if we break 60. But tbh I don’t really care. We will never be competitive, at least in Open there are fewer riders in my area so we might get a ribbon if we are lucky for our efforts I just like having those as tangible memoirs of our little accomplishments, even if it’s like 6th out of 7 or something.

Honestly, the only reason I’d want to do Amateur is because AAs have some fun awards they can get, and if I was going to try to qualify for regionals the amateur score is actually doable (we will never be qualifying for anything in Open ). Otherwise, not really much of a difference in my experience. There are high scorers in both divisions that’ll be tough to beat.

[Feathered_Feet]

@TwiSedai If you know two folks who are members, you really should try. I hired a travelling notary to come to our barn party one year and had two folks sign for me right there. Then I mailed it, and boom. Back to amateur. The challenge for me was finding two people with current memberships as I wasn’t at a competitive barn at the time. (Admittedly this was a decade+ ago, not sure how much the requirements have changed since.)

[ShenanAnna]

Another thing to consider is that as a pro, you’ll be much more client- and income-driven. If horses are your passion you’ll no longer be doing it the way you want or think is right only.

[ltmac]

A horse friend of mine went pro a few years ago because she wanted to get out of the corporate rat race. She was riding horses for friends or fellow boarders and do some training, coaching, etc. so it was a natural transition for her to make it her full time job. She also had the support of her SO and his health insurance, but definitely needed to make money.

I remember her telling me after the first year that she was happy with the switch, but that she “really [had] to hustle for money” in a way that was different to her.

[TwiSedai]

I actually have several people that would do it for me, I just hate asking then to go through the whole “writing a letter and finding a notary” thing. Maybe if we start showing more I will, right now it just doesn’t seem worth it for the couple of shows we go to occasionally.

Now, when she retires (probably sonetime in the next few years) and if I get another horse to show, I might suck it up and do it. I feel like if I can manage to get my current horse to almost mid 60s now, I could possibly actually be almost competitive with a slightly less difficult to put together horse and then it might be worth it.

[EmilyM]

@TwiSedai

, I just hate asking then to go through the whole “writing a letter and finding a notary” thing

Notarize.com is a very convenient service I started using when I had to settle my dad’s estate. It’s very easy. Just need to be able to
Do video call from your computer.