According to the FEI website, she is 20 years old this year and has multiple horses showing at the FEI level. So presumably she won that class last year at 19 over a lot of very experienced international competitors. Good for her.
Somehow I don’t think her choice of boarding school was the biggest factor in that success.
A couple things to add here, and too many points to respond to an individual post:
When riders ride at the level of Cassidy Rein, they often have their private trainer and do not ride with the school. They might have one or two horses boarded there, but their top horses certainly are not at school. They most likely do not show with the school either. The Rein Family owns Team Canada’s most valuable horses. They have influence.
Being on a selective Varsity equestrian team is nice, but it is bittersweet and exceptionally difficult without your own horses. I’m saying this as someone who truly experienced it. I was the only rider on the team without their own horse. I so desperately wanted a horse to be on the same level as everyone else on the team. I often had the horse I was riding taken out from under me. It was devastating for high school me. I never showed off campus and there were few campus horse shows. I often felt left out and alone.
Look closely at Grier (if that’s the school) specifically. Talk to the trainers and ask which of their riders have gone D1. See if they have a track record. If you’re paying this much for tuition, you really need to think about paying for college too.
I loved my high school more than many things in my life, and, looking back at that experience, I am so grateful. But, I was different, I was often sad I did not have the same things as my peers, and I often had to work harder. It sure taught me the value of a dollar and how to market myself. But it certainly didn’t set me up for a D1 school (and I obviously did not go to one).
One of my best friends actually spent a year or two at Grier as a day student and rode with them before leaving to go to public school and get her own horse.
My friend enjoyed her time at Grier but the trade-off of having her own horse and the chance to do other things was worth it to her and she ended up going to Penn State/admitted to Schreyer (the honors college). She’s not riding at the moment (by her own choosing) but she did get to move to where she always wanted to live in CO and is doing really well for herself.
It’s obviously a different situation given that my friend is originally from Centre County in PA and her local educational options outside of Grier were a lot better than it sounds like OP’s are, but she’s never indicated to me that she regrets leaving it/making the switch to public school. As she tells it, she had a lot more opportunities available to her when her parents’ money wasn’t tied up in her tuition (and that was day rate, not even boarding).
Just food for thought, fwiw.
I think the Harry Potter series has also created a new culturally available fantasy about boarding school. It’s that the school will magically recognize you as one of the chosen, come seek you out, and then lift you into your rightful place away from the Muggles. That is so attractive to most young teens.
But my reading of novels has much more featured the old 19th/early 20th British boarding school that was harsh, strict, competitive and something to be endured. I.know times have changed. But what happens if you spring for an expensive boarding school and you still feel out of place? There’s no escape, there’s no going home at 3 pm.
My kids rowed. I thought that was expensive (they had to row on a club team as they went to a public school with no crew program). Thank goodness it wasn’t THAT expensive. And it did help them get into good colleges.
I remember a conversation I had years ago with a very successful trainer in the horse show world.
He had a couple of sons who had no interest in horses, but he said that whatever sport it was they did had a remarkably familiar feel to him regarding the way it was set up, the travel costs, the price structure, etc., etc.
Local club teams, a local season of competitions involving local club teams, regional travel teams that play at a higher level, regional tournaments, national showcase tournaments, nationally ranked players, elite summer camps, visiting clinicians that local clubs can sign up with, private individual coaching to help players… etc etc etc.
That was my experience with the way one youth team sport was structured. In many ways it mirrored various aspects of equestrian sport.
And… I was shocked at the expenses involved, even back when my kid was younger and we were playing at a much lower level. There were no horses involved! The facilities involved weren’t nearly as expensive to build and maintain as many riding arenas, much less full cross country courses. But some of the fees were prohibitive.
Youth sports is a MAJOR industry these days. Across all sports.
Have you seen the prices that junior hunters go for these days? Even leasing is sooo expensive.
This one is 60k-79k to lease and hasn’t even had any top placings, or done much at all.
Of course nothing is guaranteed but if all goes well for me at JHF then leasing my mare out for a year could pay for the tuition of 2 years.
If you add everything up, all boarding and riding costs yearly for me to go to the school would be $47,500. That doesn’t include shows, but showing would be less than what it is now for me. Worst case scenario my horse can’t be re-leased, but with the two years my parents could’ve already saved up a lot or I could tryout for another scholarship. Also, if I happen to not be able to move up, once I get my horse back I could board her there. I also could lease a horse at the school. There are so many options to be able to fall back on.
I think getting a good education is important so whatever your family decides is best and is in the budget, go for it! Make sure you’re not spending your college money though, is my advice. Also make sure that going to an Arts high school doesn’t skimp you on pre-reqs for your STEM degree desires. If Texas A&M is the goal, you need to be top 10% of your class AND hit all the prerequisites.
Last thing to think about and make a plan - what happens if your mare DOESN’T lease? Or gets hurt/devalued by the first leaser for whatever reason and comes home? Or gets hurt tomorrow in your pasture? Do you have an out and a backup plan for this? Throwing all your hopes and funding into one basket, and a HORSE at that, is tempting fate. Just make sure your parents are ready and able to pay full out if your mare doesn’t end up being the source of income you hope she will be. Obviously I hope it all works out but horses have a funny way of undermining even the best laid plans 
I think that number is probably over and above the normal. I believe just a normal year on the WEF type circuits runs 100k ish so I would agree 400k is probably on the low end, but then again those riding 10 at a show don’t own all those horses so I can only really guess.
No, worst case scenario is you can’t get your horse leased, at all, period, end stop. JHF is in the middle of the summer, and middle of the summer is not a fun time to try and get a yearly lease signed. Circuit is in full swing, year end points have been accumulated, and Finals are still months away. You have some HS juniors that know they won’t be around to finish the 2025 season and will do an August to August lease, but most mid-year leases happen because someone’s main horse went lame.
Getting your horse leased out for the numbers you are thinking is in no way guaranteed, and I might even venture it’s unlikely. I would absolutely not assume the horse you’ve seen on an internet site is going to get that “public” asking price. BigEq has been running posts on it since November.
Have you consulted with your trainer about this, as I assume they would be working as the agent? Have you had a professional evaluate your horse and said, yes, I think we could get $XX/yr, and I will be taking X% of that? Horses commanding those kinds of numbers are generally very well-represented. They are also usually in tow and at shows, so they are available for trials, and those trainer/agents are making good money billing for full-care, absent-owner costs. If your mare doesn’t lease in those 30-45 days between JHF and school, she will need to go into training at your trainers place.
I’m really not that invested in what you go on and do. I have Garth Brooks singing Unanswered Prayers in my head for the first time in 20 years, but you do you. You’ll learn something, one way or another. This just happens to be my wheelhouse, so figured I’d chime in.
And if this helps, I turned pro by picking up a job teaching up/downs and riding, well, everything, during college. I had no desire to go pro as a teen, I was in college to go do Real Job things, it just… happened. And now I can’t get rid of it lol. All that to say: It is not hard to “go pro”. Like, you’d have to actively try not to if you are an able-bodied youngster willing to get on anything. Being a successful pro? Whole 'nother basket of worms. You won’t find that out until you’ve spent 36+ wks/yr cutting your teeth on the circuit as someone’s crash test dummy. And if it ends up being something you don’t want to do (I’d say like 80% of us starry-eyed teens eventually come to this realization) you now have to figure out a way to pay for the damn things.
A VERY good point. I’d assumed OP was working with a trainer about this, but now I remember she keeps her horses at home. Definitely ask if leasing is possible, what kind of estimated asking price, and whether the timeline is going to work or you need to put her in training and show heavily to maybe lease for 2025. Very few people will pay even $10k to lease a horse out of someone’s backyard, unless they know the person or there is a trainer involved that can vouch for the horse. Putting the mare into full training at a high quality show barn between now and JHF would serve you well for ALL of your goals.
Think about this too OP - if you’ve committed to the school, what happens if your mare doesn’t lease on time? Can you delay until next year or will you lose your scholarship? Can your parents foot the bill, and are they prepared to do so?
Adding on: how are potential leasers going to come try your mare? If you’re far out of the way, getting top dollar lease price for her is unlikely. People travel out of their way for a bargain, but generally are shopping for these high dollar leases AT the show or at a barn with multiple to try.
Things to think about. Plus you need to budget for the commission for your trainer for brokering the deal - I’m assuming your parents are not qualified or prepared to do this for you. And no one with that kind of money to spend is going to deal directly with a minor - really no one should no matter the cost.
I realize this all may come off negative but I PROMISE we really do want to see you succeed! These are all details that people may miss if they haven’t been down this road before.
Also, @dags is doing what you are dreaming of doing. It would serve you well to give them the time of day.
Depends on the college. My school had a varsity IHSA team and it was the same thing with the Title IX money - the team was women’s only, because its cost offset the expensive men’s only varsity hockey team.
Maybe I’m out of date, but are you thinking of middle/high school sponsored IEA? I’ve never heard of a college club sport being called “varsity”.
Every school is different though so I’m sure it varies. Ours didn’t receive any funding from the school, we had to raise it as a club. The school provided certain resources to ALL clubs, but you could have an underwater basket weaving club for 19 year old middle children if you wanted and still get those resources.
No, I’m not. IHSA isn’t a college club sport at every school. At many, it is a varsity team that is fully funded by the school. I rode IHSA in college and was a varsity athlete. I did not pay any expenses. Lessons, competitions, travel to and from shows - it was all covered by the school.
My school was in one of the most competitive regions for IHSA, and many of the teams we competed against were very well funded varsity teams that recruited for their team.
Ah see - like I said, I guess it varies from school to school. I learned something!
We were very competitive but we had to fund ourselves. Luckily, the barn put on fun shows that we worked and the profits went to the team - most people paid very little out of pocket. We did a lot of carpooling and hotel splits to help out as well.
I’ve only skimmed this thread but I’m a little annoyed at the OP’s parents who allowed her to apply to this school - a process that had to involve them to some degree - knowing they couldn’t afford to send her.
I do get that, but OP’s parents did present her with the chance to go if she leased out her horse. Its OP not wanting to do that which generated the thread, and an alternate way to come up with that money. I’d be curious what conversations they had as a family before applying (such as whether they would need a certain level of scholarship to make it possible, whether they would need to lease/sell the horse or reduce showing to make it possible, etc).
I don’t know how it works, but I assume a person has to apply to the school before a scholarship or financial aid is awarded. Maybe the OP hoped for a full ride or more money than the $25,000 promised.
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