She really hit a lot of the same points we’ve all talked about in the Pan Am thread.
- A championship should never be someone’s first major international team competition, but the pool to choose from right now is small.
- Many young riders have to actually WANT to do it, and right now a lot of them don’t seem to want to.
- The funding and finding owners to help buy competitive horses right now is one of the hardest parts of our sport.
I did love that she said that was something she wanted to focus on when she starts to step down!
If the intent is to find wealthy owners to buy horses for top riders, the system automatically is set to continually degrade and diminish riders who want to ride at the top.
There is no real economic return to the rider. I know o several Olympic gold medalists (team and individual) who still can’t even afford a house. They rely on the continued generosity of a sponsor to fund them.
A gold medal no longer holds the allure and prestige it one did as well. The winning of such doss not actually equate to the rider “earning” said medal if the animals were specifically purchased for that purpose. It is no different than World Cup soccer teams buying players to win said cup. Who truly earned earned the cup if most other teams are excluded simply due to economics?
While I do agree with what you said somewhat about the state of the sport, this is where the state of the sport has been for a long time. Horses at high levels have always had wealthy owners, for the most part. Yes - there are a few exceptions, but even some of the “race track back in the day greats” weren’t owned by their riders and had wealth behind them putting them down the road. It cost ~$30k (in show costs alone) to campaign a young hunter at A shows this past year around the US. You really expect young riders to bring up an Olympic level prospect through the levels without the help of a wealthy owner/backer?
I do disagree with you that if you purchased a horse to ride at the Olympic level that you haven’t earned your medal. You could put me on the greatest Olympic horse of all time and I’d never be able to do what others do. How do you think a rider these days should actually “earn” their medal?
Who is learning how to start and train young horses to bring them to that level? Who is training riders from their first ride to that level? If riding at an international level does not represent bona fides for a foundation of knowledge that can be passed on, what is it good for? The loss of integrated and comprehensive knowledge of the end to end training process is the problem with “buying” a win.
So it may be, as noted, if there is a (cultural?) diluting of the value of a gold medal, what is the incentive for a wealthy owner to not only purchase such a horse/or prospect but support it a $$$ a year all for a rider? (The owner does not get the medal…) How many other Olympic sports requires such a large investment in the asset used by the athlete in the Olympic sport, that is not a corporate product that is sold commercially? (Skateboard, skis all have a nonprofessional market and I don’t think run into the millions for Olympic equipment, Bob sledding??That looks like it can run $100k and is not sold as a commercial product…).)
Horses seem to have peek value prior to an Olympics and, unless a stallion, might not increase in value after winning one as far as economic benefit for the owner.
When Laura refers to American owners buying for American young riders it is worth pointing out the success they currently enjoy sponsoring abroad. Marcus Ehning, Ben Maher, Harrie Smolders and Harry Charles are riding for New Jersey, Florida, Washington and Georgia. Even the Mercer family of “America First” sponsors an Irish rider of whom it must be added that despite his connections, he used to be a very fun guy.
It also seems relevant that campaigning a top level horse and qualifying it for international competition is largely incompatible with running a profitable business with the way our industry is currently organized. If you do not have the benefit of generational wealth or wealthy sponsors, you really need to make a living teaching and training amateur and junior riders at U.S. shows all year long, not taking one or two top horses to the most important international competitions. It’s not just the cost of a top horse that can be prohibitive, it’s also the ability to forego income.
I understand your point, but I think you need to cater to the right customer base in order to command those buy and sell commissions, which means remaining stateside and coaching those customers all year long. It’s really hard to do one without the other unless you are one of a very select number of successful horse dealers who specialize in sales–and that business also makes it hard to simultaneously campaign a top horse for the team.
