I have heard a lot of good things about him!
I did hunters and eq. as a junior and came back to riding 12 years later as an adult to find that without my parents’ checkbook my hunter career was going to be very low level! I switched to jumpers and love it. It’s easier to find a great jumper more cheaply than a good hunter, and I enjoy the challenge of the jumper ring. And now, in my early 50s, I can honestly say I am a better rider than ever. Your whole life is ahead of you- if you can figure out what to do with your remaining junior years and want to keep riding you have decades of adulthood to enjoy!!
4 Likes
That’s a good point. 3’3 medals seem a lot more doable. I think my first goal would be to show at 3 foot for a few weeks then do the 3’3. After that, and once I have practiced all the little things, I can come back stronger the next season and be super good!
3 Likes
I do want to try the jumpers, it’s always been scary for me though! Do you have to go at a pace more forward than the pace used for an equitation course?
And if so
How do you get used to finding the distances when going faster?
I know that last question sounds weird but I always have a hard time finding distances when going faster because my brain doesn’t work as well haha!
I wanted to do eq kind of as a stepping stone to jumpers, but that’s a really good point! Both divisions (junior and ammie) are in one a lot of the time!
I want to try jumpers but I guess my nerves always made me not do it, but it seems better now!
To me, this is the downside of showing in the elite levels. Or any level. Getting caught up in a race that wasn’t necessarily part of the real dream.
Don’t set goals that make your success determined by ribbons and awards and championships. There are too many factors that you don’t control – that no one controls. You can’t control a judge’s preference for something a bit different about the same judging standards. Judges have different priorities, that is why we have judges. You can’t control that your horse had an off day. Something about the ring or the jumps was off … all of the excuses that disappointed competitors give when they felt they earned more than they got.
Even the kids who have won at those levels often feel “I have been lucky”, it wasn’t all merit.
You will hear this a lot from older BTDT people who have the perspective of hindsight: Enjoy the journey. Decide that a good day at a horse show is about things other than ribbons. Feel happy and excited to be there, doing your best on your horse, without worrying about other eyes. Being with other people, enjoying the atmosphere, watching rounds, etc.
And: Love your horse. Enjoy your horse for what he/she is, an animal in the circumstances that people but him/her in, living out its training or maybe not, maybe doing what horses do. He/she won’t always be their very best horse show self, and that’s not the horse’s fault - its just a horse, after all. Sadly, sometimes people get frustrated, even angry, or dismissive, with their horse. Treat your horse with all of the dignity, respect and love it deserves. And make sure everyone else does, as well. There is no point to all of the effort and money and trouble if you aren’t deeply immersed and enjoying the horse.
If you feel pushed more than your are comfortable with, talk with your trainer and your parents about what you are feeling. Maybe it will be good to stretch, to push your boundaries. Or maybe it is more than what you really want out of the experience.
The next few years – in fact, your whole life – is what you make of it. Whatever your life path or your current circumstances. You sound like you have a lot going for you as a person – not least reaching out in this forum. Make the most of it and always look for what you can enjoy about it. That’s the key to a successful horse journey, whatever arena it is in. 
9 Likes
Good girl. You are learning to think…although I would allow a few months, at least, to master the 3’ then the 3’3”. Its not just height, its width, pace, introducing combinations, in and outs and more unforgiving single max size oxers on the diagonal away from the in gate. Some things I don’t miss about 3’ Hunters and Eq. The higher you jump, the less forgiving of mistakes the courses will be.
One rung of the ladder at a time, start looking at lease 3’ starter horses and trainer who’s program will accommodate those next steps.
6 Likes
Going up levels (in anything) is like building a wall, brick by brick, one line of bricks on top of the last line of bricks.
It takes time to get each new line of bricks, each new level, really solid and firm. With the binding material set and ready to take a new line of bricks on top.
It is better to be solid at each level before moving up. Never move up because “it’s time”. Move up because “I’m ready with solid skills at this level to build on”.
Moving up to add the next layer of bricks before the last line is finished, even with holes where some bricks in the line weren’t added, weakens the wall. The wall may hold up for a few more levels of bricks. But eventually as more advances upward are added, the holes in the wall, the weak points, will cause a collapse.
That happens when a rider finds they just can’t get the level they are on now. That they are stuck. They have the right horse, saddle, facilities, instructor, etc. But they can’t get the timing consistently, can’t keep the horse on the line or moving, often don’t get to the jump quite right, and so on. The rider is missing some basics that take time to become instinctive, because they really just skipped through the process rather than becoming solid at each stage.
If you are solid in each stage, the next level comes far more easily. If your foundation is experienced and firm, you will find it easier to excel at ever higher levels.
It’s the difference between the riders that are always struggling with something because they have pushed, or were pushed, and those that ride like masters at each progression.
6 Likes
Jumpers are about going fast and clean (not taking down rails), and generally you are going to be going faster than your typical eq. course. However, after about 1.10m, it is much more important to have your horse balanced, so the crazy speeds some of the lower level jumpers do aren’t going to work in terms of keeping the fences from falling. If the horse is balanced and going an appropriate pace for the height of the jumps you have many more distances available to you. It will also depend on your horse and how it jumps best, whether it is hot or more chill, and so on and so on.
My older jumper prefers to get closer to the base (instead of long spots), so if I have him going at a good pace and really sitting behind and light in front, he can get almost under the jump and happily pop up and over. My young horse is just learning how to jump like this instead of launching himself over the jumps and landing on his forehand like a lawn dart, but again- if I have him balanced, working over his back, on his hocks, and so on, he can jump anything and feel comfortable and confident. I rarely look for distances because if my guys are balanced and we are forward enough I will usually see something four strides out. Depending on how it looks and what the jump itself is (is it a single, is it an oxer, is it part of a line or combination), I can just ride up to it, do a small half halt if we need to wait, or put on leg if we need to move up to it.
4 Likes
This is a good point. The horse that can take a rider from 2’9" to 3’6" is $$$$$$. The 3’ models are much, much cheaper. I’d look for an older BTDT type that can maybe step up to 3’3" but not live there all season, and pray I could find it for ~25k/yr (emphasis on older, budget for maintenance). Then save the bigger chunk for a legit 3’3" horse for 2025.
That’s the upside of leasing - you can get that starter model that you really only need for a year. You learn tons, get some desperately needed show miles, and come out the other side capable of riding a much bigger pool of horses, which always helps to stretch a tight budget.
Generally speaking, the horse kids do their 3’ year on is usually not the same horse they do the 3’6" on. They’re two different animals with very different levels of scope and power.
6 Likes
No, but you need to get used to making tighter turns, jumping off a short approach, and jumping on an angle.
1 Like
I went from the 3ft eq and hunters to the 3’3" and then 3’6" jumpers for two main reasons: I always wanted to do the jumpers, and definitely could not afford a 3’3"/3’6" eq or hunter.
There doesn’t have to be anything more inherently nerve wracking about the jumpers than the equitation. You don’t need to start out aiming for the fastest time in the speed class. You’ll see a lot going for the neatest track and ride the class like a very handy equitation course. The slowest clear is still going to beat the fastest four faulter.
4 Likes
One thing being mentioned – be ready to change horses as you move up. You can love each one. But don’t ‘fall in love’ such that you don’t want to move on.
Some people find this harder than others. If a rider is truly in love with just one horse and that’s the only horse they want to keep and show, then that horse’s abilities govern where they can excel. That is fine for the people who want that above all. They show the horse where the horse is most comfortable, not according to rider dreams that don’t match horse abilities. It’s not so fine for people who find their chosen horse doesn’t have the scope or the quality of gaits or in some way isn’t right for the riding they dreamed of doing.
Being flexible to compete on different horses is another argument against buying. Buying and selling are hard to get right on the timing, because the other side of the transaction shows up only when they are ready, not when you are.
You will also get a far more solid riding background on multiple horses than you will on one. There are untold numbers of riders who champ’ed many times with one perfect horse, then found it hard to mentally and emotionally do the work to ride really well on other horses.
2 Likes
Where I used to live, in California, you could see snow capped mountains and the ocean 
7 Likes
I’m also an eventer (similarly to dmveventer, hunters and I just do not work well together except for the occasional dabble), but I’ll echo what was said previously. I didn’t have a show career as a junior because my family couldn’t afford it, and I’m another person who structured my adult life to be able to finance my horse-related goals. Riding and showing as an adult is so fun.
A lot of it does depend on what barn you’re in and what trainer you’re with, but if you’ve got the right people around you, it’s the best thing in the world. My barn is almost exclusively adult amateurs ranging from early 20s to early 60s (we have a couple of teenagers floating around but they’re special cases), we’re a mix of disciplines (though my trainer is an eventer), and everyone gets along great. Going to shows is super fun, we’re all very supportive of one another, and we celebrate the internal achievements as much as (if not more than) the show successes. I’d argue that none of us actually go to shows for the ribbons, we go because we love doing it together and cheering each other on.
My trainer is bringing along a 4yo right now and she and I often joke about how she’s going to be Starter eventing professional champion of the world, and I’m going to be Starter eventing adult amateur champion of the world as I bring my horse back after a suspensory injury. You get to appreciate the process so much more when you don’t have the looming threat of a birthday to end your journey. I’ve owned my horse for almost five years now and bringing him on from a 2yo fresh off the track to now being almost 8 and actually acting like a grownup horse is genuinely the most rewarding thing I’ve ever done with horses. It’s good to have your goals now and I wish you the best of luck with them, but don’t look at turning 18 as the end, because you really are just getting started.
9 Likes
There are a lot of social and family and educational pressures on some teens these days to hit every milestone and get every credential and medal and brownie point in high school. Much of this is related to the extremely competitive competition to get into college.
But once you are in college, none of these high school.achievemehts carry much weight and you have a new set of goals, more academic and career focused, and more self directed.
Some sports you really do age out of fast. Like gymnastics. Some sports only make sense if you take your high school success and propel it into an adult pro career. Like football.
But many sports can be carried on lifelong, competitive or not, by non pro adults. Tennis, golf, hockey, softball, are all game sports that have leagues and programs for good non pro adults. Then there are all the other movement sports that you can do for sheer joy like skiing, snowboarding, sailing, running, swimming, that many very competent adults do for fun and exercise without ever needing to race or compete.
Of these lifetime sheer joy individual sports, in my humble opinion, the absolutely best best best is horseback riding. It can be a true lifetime sport because you can buy younger horses and don’t just have to rely on your own knees as you age (like tennis and hockey and running). But it’s also such a huge field with so many options, and so much about care and management and training, that you never know it all, so it never gets boring (well, people can hit periods where they stop wanting to ride, but it’s usually due to other life commitments or health).
It’s so hard to visualize what you will be doing as an adult when you are 16. You might have an idea of what you want to take in college and the general field you could work in. But within every field there are all kinds of niches, and in ten years you could be working in a niche that doesn’t even exist today. For me, starting college in the 1980s, I could not have predicted the personal computer boom or the internet. For that matter 5 years ago I could not have predicted how COVID-19 would accelerate the work from home trend and how much that’s changed peoples options for lifestyle. Etc.
When I was a teen I had my own little horse in a self board backyard down the street and did all my own work. We went in local playday gymkhanas put on by the local Horsemens Association but were not very competitive. I did a lot of trail riding alone in the mountains. I ran out of riding time in college and retired her to pasture.
As an adult I returned to riding and found another good self board option close to my condo.
So I’ve never been on the lease and show circuit. But as an adult I’ve observed boarders at my friends’ barn and also juniors, at my own barn and at other barns.
Anyhow the absolutely wonderful thing about being an adult is having autonomy. It also comes with responsibility. But in hindsight, I would always pick adult autonomy + responsibility over being a child and teen, where you have lots of pressure and responsibility but ultimately you have to answer to parents and teachers how you spend your time.
It totally makes sense to have a junior in a full training type program at a show barn like you’ve been exposed to if you want to compete. Because the polar opposite, being a feral 1970s teen riding a former wildie bought off the local dude string, in a place with no lessons, is not going to get you into the equitation ring. Though I learned an enormous amount and solidified good management practices.
But placed where you are, it’s just the very tip.of the iceberg. You can lease or buy & board and get a lot of support to compete for a few years. That is a wonderful opportunity. How it looks different as an adult is that you will likely buy your own horse, and even if you board, you will be much more Involved in care and management decisions including choosing the barn in the first place. You will have the freedom to move house and even jobs to put you closer to your horse. Depending where life takes you, that could be your own acreage with horses at home.
Most activities set up for teens these days are measured by competition or external levels or grades or marks.
It “means more” to pass Conservatory levels in piano than to be an inventive and creative improvisatory player. It “means more” to compete in those dance competitions that are more like gymnastics than real dance. It “means more” to get AP credits than to read widely and think about the world. Things that have no accreditation system, like running a YouTube account or programming computer games or making your own music or writing your own stories, or rogue sports like skateboarding or surfing or mountain biking or snowboarding, anything that you do because you love it, but there’s no team or grades or accreditation attached? Those are all just wasting your time.
But those are also the creative autonomous skills that will serve you better as an adult. The teen who is gifted at improvising music is more likely to actually turn that into a career or a lifetime hobby than the teen who is playing in the middle of a marching band and is really good at getting to practice every day.
Anyhow one place where this plays out in horses is teens getting fixated on just competing at a certain level or getting into equitation qualifiers. That’s the goal and takes precedence over all the other aspects of horsemanship including training, care, trail riding, management etc.
The positive side is that you can build some string skills to take into adulthood.
The negative side is if you end up in a program that’s so narrowly focused that you lose sight of the larger picture of horses and become focused just on ribbons.
Competition in horses is very flukey. Especially performance sports. I’ve sat down and pored over the online results lists for h/j classes where acquaintances were competing. You can win one class and be out of the ribbons the next. It depends on whether you have any rail or time faults and whether the other competitors in your class do as well.
The only way you will survive this is if you love your horse and all horses unconditionally. Win or lose. it’s a bit like having a child. Parents love their children unconditionally. Yes they push them to succeed and use encouragement or pressure that they think is appropriate to get that success because they think it’s good for you. But they don’t actually stop loving you and get disgusted with being a parent because you lose a basketball game or aren’t talented at flute. You need to love your horse even when you have a rail or a refusal, which is usually rider error anyhow.
Also, I think you are right not to want to take on a green horse as your first horse. But keep in mind that as soon as you are an intermediate level rider, most riding instruction and coaching is going to be about you schooling or training the horse. That’s less evident on short term leases or if you’re lucked into a true school master. But especially when you have your own horse, everything you do with him on the ground, in hand, in the saddle, is training (or untraining) him. Even how you feed grain has a training component (stand nice and don’t mug me!). And there is so much to learn in that area.
My advice in your particular situation is to get as much quality saddle time on good horses as you can in this situation. Pick up as much stable management, care, and first aid tips as you can. Help around the barn if you can fit that in and not lose riding time. Think about learning everything you can to own your own horse in an independent setting in the future. Even braiding and polo wraps!
The more you know the better you can pick a boarding barn.
Obviously yes, test yourself and see how you can consolidate your skills and compete at what’s available to you in your area and price range. But you have to make sure you keep your joy. Cheer on your friends. Don’t get sour and competitive. Don’t get into the “poor me” mindset of envying and resenting those with more talent, experience or resources to compete. I don’t think you will but you will absolutely be around other juniors who act like this.
I feel.like young men especially in team.sports are better able to handle the inevitable wins and losses.
Do what you can to be as well rounded in horse care and management and riding as you can. Keep.the love of horses, and don’t let yourself get pulled into a horse world that is too transactional or short term goal focused. Don’t end up so burned out you never want to ride again, and don’t get physically hurt either.
The junior Equitation medals are a blip like any other high stakes graded organized competition for teens. Obviously many adult pro riders use them as a skills foundation for their adult careers, and many ammies go forward into adult horse owning. But in and of themselves they don’t mean anything. Get a medal, quit riding, go to college, get a good job, have two kids … and at 30 the fact you were a runner up in an expensive sport at 18 is about meaningless.
So go for it, but go for the journey, go for what you can learn, about riding and horse care and navigating a show. But don’t get fixated on ribbons to the extent you lose track of the horses.
Getting high end showing experience now as part of a program will also let you decide as an adult if that’s the part of horses that you want to continue with. And if it is, you will be better able to navigate it as an adult. But leave yourself open to the possibility your riding journey may take you in a different direction.
The A hunter show circuit is a very tiny slice of horse life, and a very expensive one. You might end up not loving to jump as an adult. You might love dressage. You might love endurance. You might love back country trail riding. You might love cutting cows. You might love training young horses but not love competing.
11 Likes
This is a great comment! Don’t let the pressure ruin love of the animals and of the sport.
3 Likes
Agreed. I have not read most, or barely any of this thread. BUT when I did read Trainer #1 wanted her to buy a green Appy…well, there ya have it folks! troll. imho. A kid, for sure.
2 Likes
Perhaps you should consider reading threads in their entirety before commenting. Or you and your buddy over there can sit shoulder to shoulder and giggle meanly to yourselves instead of consistently trying to derail a thread. 
Y’all obsessing over the OP/her location/your opinions on her communication skills are looking like the cast of Mean Girls, except middle aged, and it isn’t a good look.
30 Likes
Even if the OP were a child trolling, which I sincerely doubt, what exactly are you ladies accomplishing?
Bullying a child?
Establishing that your communication skills are SuPeRiOr? That’s the bare minimum for an adult compared to a child, don’t you think? Hardly something to pat yourselves on the back for.
The COTH forums are not anywhere near as relevant as y’all seem to think when it comes to “if a kid is going to troll, where would they do it?” And time and time again, some minor comes on here with a genuine question and gets treated poorly by a small, but very vocal handful of posters. It’s gross, and you should be ashamed of yourselves. And I will call it out every time.
It costs absolutely NOTHING to be kind, or to not comment if you think it’s not worth your time. Think about that.
42 Likes
