This is both amazing and encouraging, thank you for your post and for sharing your experience with us. Truly incredible.
Watch out with the greener horse option, depending on her level. While she might be winning in the short stirrup division locally, thatâs a very beginner-level division and she might not yet have the experience to bring along a green horse.
While itâs lovely to think about a young rider and young horse developing together, most often a young rider will benefit from a more experienced horse. A green horse can pick up bad habits very quickly from an inexperienced and inconsistent rider, and while there are certainly success stories out there, itâs likely that more often than not, it results in the rider getting hurt, the horse developing lifelong bad habits, or the horse and rider simply not meeting the potential they otherwise might have had.
While your daughter seems to have had success at her level, I would have an honest discussion with her coach about what her current capabilities truly are when it comes to different horses.
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as others have said/suggested be sure to have your daughter involved with the expense side of the hobbyâŠit helps teach them how to manage money and plan for the future.
If you are to get heavily involved with the horses you may want to purchase a property that allows you room to keep the horses at home. That has been our saving grace since the land we bought for the horses is worth a lot of money these days. We bought by the acre but it is now valued by the square foot. (but all of that value is just setting there, pretty hard to spend an hand full of dirt at the store)
And a caution about national showing, get a firm expected cost from the trainer/barn as to All of the expected expenses⊠including those add on fees for the stalls/additional junk used to show the world how great the Barn is after all these shows are one of their major advertising events (got to have that nice roll of winning ribbons/hanging winner coolers) (I think the first cooler our horses won cost about $50,000 and our dog thought it was her dog bed)
There is a subculture of others who show/compete, get to know those people as often many items can be combined/purchased together to reduce expenses.
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Apologies for my upthread post.
But I think youâd posted DD tacked the horse she was to ride, untacked after & now youâre saying barn staff does all that?
A 10yo s/b able (& willing) to do that, even if it gets counted as lesson time.
From your earlier posts:
âThis is where we go now - she tacks, rides, and then untacks the horse for 2-hrs 2x per weekâ
&
âThe instructors and owners are responsible for most things outside of prepping the horse (brushing, picking feet, basic inspection), tacking, riding, untacking, washing/cleaning after the ride, and putting them back in their stall for the night with or without a blanketâ
Unclear: does staff do this âprepâ or DD?
ETA: Posted before I read your reply
As far as keeping a horse at home, if nobody in the family has done this, unless you can hire knowledgeable staff you are looking at a 24/7/365 commitment. Full Stop.
Forget vacations, even long weekends or late nights are off the table.
Horses need to be cared for Every.Single.Day.
Weather notwithstanding, your health no excuse.
I boarded for my 1st 12yrs of owning, but had worked at a couple barns before. Mostly to earn lessons, no money changed hands.
Now - nearly 20yrs later - I have 3 at home:
riding horse, Driving mini & decorative pony - & built my barn based on what Iâd learned & observed.
I have a reliable farmsitter & am able to get away when I like, but if that changes itâll be back to All Me All the Time.
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there are ways around that IF there are other horse owners nearby. We were able to set up a loose co-op with four other owners who also had horses at home to cover for each other. Even to this day after some 30 years we still have two of those parties we cross cover for.
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Great point! Maybe instead of a younger, greener horse itâs a less pedigreed (tons of A-show success) horse that weâre after that she can learn from and both horse and rider can benefit (without the risk of the harms you mentioned above).
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Yes, at home is definitely not an option at this point and we have a TON of learning and committing to do before it is.
And to your first question, right now she is responsible for 2x per week at her lessons:
- getting the horse out of the stall
- prepping the horse (brushing, picking feet, basic inspection)
- tacking, riding, untacking
- washing/cleaning the horse after the ride (brushing or spraying or shampooing the horse, picking feet, drying it off)
- putting them back in their stall for the night with or without a blanket depending on the season
I know there is a TON she isnât getting exposed to, but I also hope this clarification helps that she is spending 50% of her time on lesson days off the horse.
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Great next steps! One suggestion - I would focus on looking for a been there, done that horse for a half lease and wait on a greenie until she has more experience riding independently. You want to keep her confidence and let her focus on her skills. Once she has that sheâll be in a lot better position to work with a greenie if thatâs the skill set she wants to build.
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Consider yourself Lucky!
My nearest neighbors - & my hayguys - are 3rd generation showing, breeding & always have some at home.
But the 1 & only time I had Dad feed for me when I was away overnight - so he just had to toss hay in stalls & dump pre-bagged grain once - I came home to 3 sets of hoofprints leading from the drylot in front of the barn, up to the house - some 250â away - & TG! back to the barn.
My farm is at the intersection of 2 fairly busy roads & about 2mi from a very busy State Rd. 
Horses were all fine.
He never said a word to me, but the hoofprints told me exactly what happened. 
My farmsitter for the last 10yrs is part-owner of the local feedstore.
I pay him a pittance - at my insistence, he didnât want pay, but I like horses fed 2X daily (& prefer eyes on them that often) & he accepted a fee.
Before him I had a series of young girls - all trustworthy, but Life took them elsewhere.
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well you are the lucky one I came home once to find then six year old daughter watching TV with her Morgan horse standing next to her in the den⊠Her explanation it was too hot outside for her horse
then the three miniatures would push open the doors into the garage then house and run up and down the hall
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her working student helps with, and the other day the kid learned how to drive the tractor with the bush hog to mow the fields!
be very careful about things like this. Back in the way back, our stall girl, (about 18, let her little sister, about 15 or so,) help clean and somehow driving the tractor, not sure how it happened, but the 15 year old got tangled up in the manure spreader. Insurance became an issue, their family was very poor, but assumed the stable had $$$. Unfortunately, that is a big reason there arenât as many free range kids running at the barns anymore. Along with the other things that take up kids time.
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Younger/greener is usually NOT a good recipe. You want the old, welltrained, only-half-listening schoolie. If she can sharpen HIM up, then sheâs ready for something more.
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Your mom sounds awesome, I would have loved to have this kind of experience as a kid. Iâm trying to picture my non-horsey, non-outdoorsy mother learning how to braid and I just canât imagine it 
OP I also ended up in eventing and the kids at my barn get a much more comprehensive education than I ever did in the H/J world. Itâs definitely worth considering if your daughter shows any interest, the culture is much more independent and budget-concious. My barn has a robust working student program and options for younger riders to get exposed to the horsemanship side for those who cant commit to the full working student experience. That said, if my parents had suggested a discipline switch to me while I was still starry-eyed over the hunter ring it definitely wouldnât have done over well, so ultimately your daughter has to decide. But it might be worth explaining to her that she could do a whole season of eventing for the cost of one or two A shows in case sheâs open to it.
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The latter is the most likely. You are paying then you realize for not enough saddle time to allow her to advance. The fact you say are paying a commission on top of lease fees to get get 2 days a week?
Sounds like a lesson mill/dealer type set up, among other things.
You are right you donât know what you donât know so take a pause before in getting in deeper on a âlease horseâ that is being leased to multiple other parties- all paying trainer for lessons on top of other charges. Quite lucrative for trainer, often this type trainer depends on suckersâŠooops, I mean clients⊠who donât know what they donâ know blinded by wanting to please kids with big dreams.
Investigate other options and trainersâŠsometimes it is better to pay more upfront and get what you pay for. Plus being told the truth. Like she needs to ride more then twice a week if A shows are a goal and if she âfull leasesâ theres a contract and nobody else also pays for a â full leaseâ. In a half or partial lease, there are other riders but each signs a contract specifying their days AND the price is far less then
full lease.
Have you tried other barns? Tried a test lesson with other trainers? Researched trainer claims of past success developing riders who moved up?
On the NCAA scholarships, those kids are scouted just lime a football playerâŠand like those athletes, they look for kids already well established winners on the National Level in the Big Eq medals and Junior Jumpers. Know kids who did that, none are currently seriously competing in HJ most are working on advanced degrees, one switched to serious Reining after graduating.
One other thought, if she wants to ride seriously? There are other disciplines, thereâs Eventing if she wants to jump. Just be aware that jumping is going to add to the price of horses and HJ, in general, is the most expensive discipline to get involved with. Horses are more, takes more time to master and shows are much more expensive.
Please consider the whole Western side of things, no jumping BUT a very good Youth program in the AQHA that can lead to scholarships. Still expensive but not as pricey to get started in. Look around, there are many, better, options then where you are nowâŠ
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As far as a discipline.
The three Olympic riding disciplines are Dressage, Show Jumping, and Eventing, where you compete in three disciplines of Dressage, Show Jumping, and Cross Country Jumping outdoors. There is no Olympic discipline of Hunters.
Pony Club focused on Eventing which gives the participants a foundation in both dressage and jumping ( and the skills to fox hunt if they want!).
Most juniors prefer jumping to dressage because itâs fast, fun, and not so precise. Many adult riders switch over to dressage because itâs safer, slower and requires more focus and concentration.
For most of us as adults, the sweet spot is being an adult amateur with a good enough income to own a horse or two on our own terms, and on our own acreage if we are in an area thatâs possible. That means post secondary education and a career.
The horse pro world is brutal physically and financially. Horse pro means you earn your money with horses, it doesnât refer to your level of riding. It can be anything from working as a groom, owning and managing a barn, horse trainer or coach, at any level. You could be starting colts on a ranch, or teaching basic beginners, or focus on returning adult riders. Many horse pros no longer show, or just very small time, and may not be particularly accomplished at the show level of their discipline. Basically being a horse pro is being self employed or small business, or working for another small business as an employee. The wages tend to reflect the fact the horse business is in the agriculture sector.
Bring a horse pro is not like being a pro football player selected for a team and paid a good salary.
That said, obviously people do come out at the top echelon of horse pro world, but itâs still a small business/ self employed model even if you are running a highly competitive barn.
Horses is one of the sports where the Olympic athletes are invariably pros, not amateurs. The people riding in the Olympics are also coaching other riders and training their horses. They worked up to this through being working students and grooms and also throwing a lot of money into the pot to get to the stage where people will pay them to coach and train. But itâs also not a youth sport. Many Olympic riders are in the 30 to 50 age bracket and some are over 60. By and large they excelled at the Junior level, but then took some time to regroup at the much more challenging international adult FEI level.
Very often the late teen/ early 20s are a turning point. Do I go to college and effectively step out of the serious horse world indefinitely? Or do I skip college and go out as a working student or groom to a top barn at pitiful wages and try to get on the path to riding at the top? This last is only feasible if you finished your junior career at the top of the pack, and are able to bring all those skills. Sometimes on COTH we hear from college age people who didnât have a chance to ride consistently as teens, basically advanced beginners, wondering about the ânext stepâ to become a trainer. Who will take them on as an apprentice? The answer is sorry, thatâs not going to happen.
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remind your daughter that eventers go to the Olympics too! (as of this writing!)
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Here is a very good article which just arrived from COTH.
https://www.chronofhorse.com/article/the-barn-rats-need-trainers-willing-to-fight-for-them/
And should you find a $20,000 A-show jumper, donât post about it here. I will do my best to buy it out from under you!
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And Reining.
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There have been some really insightful comments here, so I donât feel the need to add much.
I do want to say that the best thing my trainer as a junior ever did was sit me down with my parents and â kindly and tactfully â tell us that with our budget and my limited skill, I was only going to make it so far â and that that was ok! I wasnât going to get to Maclay Finals, but there were plenty of other more reasonable goals for me to reach.
For me, that meant leasing the $20K year schoolmaster (as opposed to purchasing) and learning the ropes at 2â6", eventually making it up to the 3â and competing at some competitive local finals. I was roughly at your daughterâs skill level (though a few years older) when I started at the above barn. With a few years of exceptional instruction, near-daily riding, and a vested (though not nearly 6-figure) financial commitment from my family, I reached my reasonable goals.
ETA: I forgot to mention that now that Iâm an adult and paying my own way, Iâve found so many other ways to connect with horses. Iâm forever on a limited budget, but Iâve had some more exciting and fulfilling equestrian moments in my late 20s and early 30s than I ever did when I was âdoing it bigâ as a junior. Not to say your daughter shouldnât experience the show scene â because it is really fun! But as many people have mentioned, horses are fortunately a lifelong hobby.
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Reining isnât an Olympic discipline (it used to be an FEI discipline but I believe it was removed).
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