A show lease is a lease for a horse for the week at a show, just for the show. Can be a way to get access to an experienced show horse without the high annual fee.
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I live in the middle of LA on a mountain with no flat land. Take a look at google maps with satellite view turned on - the topography might surprise you.
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I’m familiar with the topography. Did she say she lived in LA? If so, I missed that. I thought she was just using Los Angeles as an example of a place where there are stables in the city. I didn’t know there were riding stables in the city center of LA, but I was told that here, so I learned something. I maintain that this is very unusual in the USA. The actual point, though, was that she said there are no riding stables on the outskirts of the city, they are all in the city. I assumed the Los Angeles area would have way more options for riding (considering the weather) than where I live, but I guess not.
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Los Angeles is all city - you can drive for 2 hours and still not go from one side to the other. So yes, all the barns are in heavily populated areas - it’s just too far for most people in urban areas to drive otherwise.
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the book $80 champion /Snowman - he was an Amish plow horse. Talent comes in all breeds, shapes and sizes. Teddy O’Connor won Gold at the Pan Am Games in eventing with Karen O’Connor. He was 14.3. A former trainer took her husband’s polo pony to a jumper show series and was year end champion. That horse was a QH they picked up at an auction. So my advice is look for the horse that has the brain, the talent that can take you around a course to help you achieve your goals and don’t get hung up on a particular breed. I say this with my own personal bias for my love of Irish horses. You should check those out
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The horses mentioned above were complete outliers, which is why they were, and still are, newsworthy. Few plow horses or 14.3hh QHs will become successful show jumping or event horses other than at lower levels.
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Exactly. Also people like Karen O’Connor and Harry de Leyer are outliers themselves. Not everyone can do what they did with even the most purpose bred animal!
It bothers me a bit (generally, not aimed at anyone) when people suggest drafts and cobs and reining bred QHs and all that as good alternatives to a nice WB when Thoroughbreds are right there. Most warmbloods are mostly TB for a reason!
(ETA I know OP specifically stated she doesn’t want a TB, though I think her reasons are shaky. A WB with a poor foundation is just as likely to be a tough ride as a TB with a poor foundation. That’s just horses.)
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You missed my point which to show the OP that there are talented horses that are outside the norm I chose 2 well known examples to prove a point. Those 2 had the talent which top riders
nurtured. I imported an Irish horse to be my AA hunter - while he wasn’t a great mover - it turned out he shined in dressage - and a machine XC. And he did side saddle too.
It’s really about being open minded, recognizing potential and talent and the brain - and being able to nurture that talent to be successful
At whatever you choose to do whether it’s the upper levels or being year end champion at a local schooling circuit.
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I didn’t miss your point. I just think you didn’t make it very well.
You may not know that Harry de Leyer did not “recognize potential and talent” in Snowman. In fact, he gave him away to a neighbor and it wasn’t until the horse kept jumping out of the pastures to come back to de Leyer’s farm that Harry realized the horse was a good jumper. The horse showed Harry de Leyer what he could do; Harry de Leyer never saw the talent or potential until the horse unwittingly demonstrated it.
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In general, I’d agree with this. Though I think your examples weren’t exactly making your point.
However, OP is 16 and trying to make big moves before she ages out. Now is not the time to nurture the potential a horse might or might not have. She flat out doesn’t have time.
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Snowman also was at his peak when the sport was very, very different. And eventing is much more forgiving of non-traditional mounts–and even then, it was a different sport versus Teddy’s heyday.
I love cobby types as a short person who wants a safe horse to hack around, but I am not a competitive rider.
Agree 100% with TBs being the better choice as a sports horse, and even then someone who is young should have someone who is experienced with OTTBs to evaluate a prospect for the rider’s specific discipline.
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Also don’t think anyone would be surprised to hear of an Irish-bred being successful in the sport horse rings. Unless it was a straight up draught, I suppose.
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Good grief. I’m sorry my examples don’t meet with your approval. Peace out
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No offense meant, and like I said I’d usually agree wholeheartedly!
I was just pointing out that OP is not Harry de Leyer or an O’Connor. She’s a Junior who has been leasing lesson horses and doing IEA, and has dreams of the 3’3"-3’6" in less than 2 years. Something green or chancey on suitability makes sense for someone who has the time and skill to find that diamond in the rough and polish it up.
That’s not OP.
Yep. ISHs are highly popular in eventing and plenty do H/J
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Grow a thicker skin, dear, and recognize that you might be wrong now and then.
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Sorry to pile on, but it isn’t personal, it’s just making an opposite point.
A learning teenager who is at the 3’3" level, but possibly hasn’t been for long and not consistently, who only does one ride per day, 4 days a week or less, should not be trying to school up an outlier to win in the jumpers over the next two years. For a whole bundle of reasons.
OP, do not look for an outlier. Those are happenstances that a professional dealing with many horses every year comes across once or twice in a lifetime.
Learners who are juniors and amateurs can waste many years looking for, much less schooling and developing, outlier horses into champions. If the outlier ever gets that far, and most attempts do not.
Learners don’t have the riding skills to develop a horse that far. Especially one starting from a different conformation and/or background.
The fact that a tiny handful of such people have managed to do a Chasing The Clouds does not make it a realistic goal. Much time can be wasted, and opportunities squandered, fooling around with an ‘outlier’. If a junior or amateur thinks they have one of those, work with a top pro to sell it for a nice price to someone who has the skills to finish the horse.
OP doesn’t have the time. What is needed here is a going horse that can take her into the show ring now. 
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Good point. Another good point is that the many examples of outliers getting from humble or bad circumstances to the elite levels of the sport are decades old, sometimes 50+ years. Many of the things that allowed that to happen no longer exist. No abundance of cheap horses, $50 places to board close enough to bike or even walk to, $25-50 farrier visits (trim and 4 shoes)etc. horses themselves were rarely over 1k and that would be for a good horse. Even adjusting for inflation, prices have skyrocketed.
We don’t really even know how many days a week OP can ride. It would help if she shared…no judgement will be made, just better informed recommendations on how to proceed.
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- I thought you flounced out days ago. Welcome back I guess?
- Who cares if you think it is ‘very unusual’ - other posters have offered other urban examples.
- Glad you are learning something.
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Yes I did! Sorry I forgot to update. My parents and I decided on a high quality lease at the show barn. We are figuring out the times for extra lessons and lease rides and we have also talked to the show trainers about my goals for riding. We plan to meet once more before looking for horses, just so we waste as little time possible while looking. I’m very excited!
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