im wondering how you can compete at WEF when you don’t have all the money in the world. Can you just find someone to work under and prove to them that you can be a great rider? Any tips on aspiring top show jumper?
Even working for most barns will not get you a shot in the saddle at WEF, other than early morning preparation working down the hunters, for the client. H/J barns with clients either have their trainers or clients do the showing. Having said that, if you take a position as a groom this year and work very hard, with an opportunity to show your riding abilities at home once WEF is over, who knows? Maybe they will take you on as some sort of young professional. But you already need to be very good in order to get that opportunity. Your employer is not going to teach you to ride.
Or you could work for a sale barn that brings its horses to WEF to show them and get them sold. Sale barn “in house” riders are typically very accomplished and are often riders coming out of the top tier of the junior ranks who are looking for an entrée to the professional world. But if you work for a sale barn as a groom, you may get to ride the prospects that are not ready to be shown, and perhaps get the opportunity to show one that you have been working with, at the lower levels. At least, that’s how it happened for me.
If all you want is a one-time opportunity to show, there is such a thing as leasing a horse for one week at WEF. Hard to find, but working through the trainer network you could possibly find a horse that you could take as your own for one week, show it in several classes, and give it back. I don’t think it’s a wise expenditure of funds for someone with long-range goals, but if it takes care of your bucket list then that is a possibility.
Best of luck.
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My barn offers lease programs for Ocala if that is of interest.
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My big question is, why?
The OP tells us in previous posts she is 15, has been in lessons two years, is still working on an independent seat, and can’t afford any horse at all.
Most riders don’t get anywhere near the WEF, for a combination of lack of cash and/or lack of skills.
More useful for goal setting would be to research and understand the structure and levels of your local hunter jumper scene. What do you need to ribbon in cross poles, in the Two foot nine, to move up to one metre? Will you ever have the stick and the drive to jump 5 feet?
Do your best at the level you are at right now. You need to shine there before other opportunities open up.
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Earn excellent grades in school. Choose a career with high earning potential. Buy yourself a horse and become a client.
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Best answer!
When I was a teenager I had the skills and horse to be competitive at WEF, although my family didn’t have the money. It was a source of disappointment that I didn’t get that opportunity.
Now I’m an amateur rapidly approaching the older age group. I no longer care that I didn’t show at WEF. I’m having a blast showing in the low adults on my local circuit.
The point of my rambling is that in the long run, showing at big shows isn’t important. Learning to ride well and building a partnership with a horse is so much more rewarding
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Also there are many many horse professionals, teaching beginners and intermediates, showing on the local circuits, with plenty of clientele, who never got to the WEF or HITS or whatever the equivalent high end high cost competition is in their discipline.
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True, but still funny!!
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Based on your previous post https://www.chronofhorse.com/forum/forum/discussion-forums/hunter-jumper/9963084-cost-of-owning-a-horse maybe you can get to WEF to watch sometime (and escape the cold) on a small budget. But since it seems you’ve never shown, or leased or owned a horse, WEF is not the place to start. You’ll waste a lot of money that it sounds like you don’t have, and probably end up frustrated because you’re not prepared to compete at that level, with those horses/riders/trainers.
Start smaller, build confidence, do what you can afford, grow. Do an in barn, partial lease if that’s affordable and ask your trainer to help you choose some local fun shows that she can coach you at. Prove to your family and if they can maybe they will invest in your showing. Also look for local IEA or 4H programs that can allow you to practice and compete without owning or leasing your own horse.
Good luck!
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To be quite honest, no. Most barns at WEF have high-caliber young pros and seasoned pros riding and showing, and excellent working students (think the likes of Cooper Dean, Jacob Pope, etc) that do get any additional rides. To “find someone to work under” will take years of experience, practice, top-notch horsemanship in the barn and on the ground, and ability on the horse to get noticed and be taken on in one of these programs. Now, it is certainly a more likely case that you can find a groom position, but be expected to work the entire circuit (12-16 weeks) and have a resume and references - this is a full time job requiring skills and expertise. As previous posters mentioned, you may be able to hop on a few as a groom to school, but highly unlikely to show.
As mfglickman stated, it is far more reasonable to find a local program that may have show horses available to show or lease and start there. Even leasing an animal just for ONE weekend at WEF could be the cost of the entire year lease for something more suited for a local show program! Best of luck to you.
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The career path in showing horses is perhaps a little more opaque to new riders than other sports.
OP your question is like someone saying: I did basketball in PE class at school last winter. I didn’t make the school team. I am still learning how to dribble the ball. How would I get recruited by a major league pro team?
Or, I’ve dropped out of high school but really want to be a doctor. I wasn’t very good in science. Is there a way to become a doctor without a college degree and medical school?
In other words there is no route to the top of a sport or profession that doesn’t involve some combination of massive effort, talent, cash, and outside support and mentors.
If you were a local junior star getting ribbons in the 3 foot 3 hunter jumpers, and a fast hard worker and learner, you might get to be a working student at a quality barn. That might lead somewhere if the coach and you developed a strong bond.
In order to get there you need to be ranked and competent, that is winning ribbons, in your local 2 foot 6 circuit, before anyone is going to think it’s a good idea to put you over the 3 foot mark. Whole different set of horses_ different show circuit even. Most juniors around here at least top out at competing 2 foot 9.
To shine at 2 foot 9 you need a secure seat and hands. You need to put the miles in where you are right now. You need to be totally competent at cross rails first!
Can you get more saddle time by doing a work exchange on barn chores? Right now saddle time used wisely is what you need. Ride without stirrups. post and two point without stirrups. Count strides between groundpoles. Get the horse to turn off your seat with no rein aids. Learn lateral work. Learn how to shorten and lengthen strides at the canter. Do seat lessons on the longe line including over crosspoles if you can set them up on low risers not full size standards. Do a gymnastic line with Superman arms or no stirrups or both. Etc. Probably some of these exercises are beyond your current riding level but they are skills a jumper needs especially on the big jumps.
All that said, the WEF is a deliberately glitzed up and costly extravaganza. Horse professionals can make money there right down to grooms and braiders. But the costs are passed on to clients. As a pro you will make more money where the clients are spending money, even if you are just being tipped big for a nice braiding job.
But ammies don’t get to these events without dropping a whack of cash for years and having not just a horse, but probably a $100,000 horse. In full board and training. In a $10,000 saddle. Etc.
Even the folks who say they are showing on a budget quote sums of money that make my head spin.
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If you are an exceptional young rider and that is noticed by George Morris during a clinic of his in which you are riding, he may find a trainer to take you on to ride during WEF. It happened to one of our barn girls (she didn’t end up going for WEF but instead went and rode for a BNT for a couple of weeks after WEF), but that’s about a what, 1 in 10,000 shot???
Have your dreams but know they will take a ton of time and hard work to get there. Look up what people like Zazou Hoffman did. You’ll need to be an exceptional rider with extreme tenacity and the ability to work harder than anyone there who can afford to be there.
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Exactly. But to get to a GM clinic already requires talent, a high skill level, and use of a good horse, either a lease or your own. Plus cash for the clinic. Your barn girl is likely to have lots of other opportunities come her way as well, because she is already well above average.
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WEF is not only hard competition, but it is very very expensive. I was a groom for a top trainer and it was just as fun to go school the horses there as it is to show. Try getting a grooming job that also allows riding and you will get a free ride down there and still get to experience WEF. It is so fun trust me. Obviously you must expect to work until you collapse and then some, but the opportunity is well worth it if you find a good gig.
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$160 plane ticket + $200 rental car (gotta get down there from Orlando due to regional airport problems) + $30/night AirBnB (a pull out couch in someone’s storage shed, score!) = 5 days in Wellington
Of course, I feel no need to show down there because I can make a fool out of myself, at home, for free.
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Hey there is a thread in hunter jumper now about leasing a horse at WEF. It looks like you can lease a horse that’s already down there for a week to school and show for between $1000 and $2000. Your accommodation would be on top of that also I think your entry fees.
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