I was told you’re gonna spend $400k to get your kid a D1 sports scholarship (for any sport basically (in this case we were talking hockey, not sure if that amount is good for football/baseball but seemed about right for horses to me too) or you can save that 400k and just pay for their college… It was a really sobering amount.
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This number feels really low for horses, even excluding ownership costs. #depressing
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First off - thanks for sharing your perspective on FinTech hiring. That’s good to hear. You are most definitely correct that there is way more out there than FAANG. My niece has had amazing and fascinating paid internship opportunities as a result of a joint skillset related to the biomedical industry and comp sci. Stuff I would never have thought up. My son is interested in aerospace and comp sci.
That’s a fascinating stat about $400k to make it as a Div 1 athlete. I have watched parent friends with talented kids chasing college opportunities with respect to baseball and boy’s lacrosse for several years now. In short… it’s nuts. I’ve heard hockey is worse, but I know multiple families that have probably spent over $200,000 now on travel teams, participation in elite showcase tournaments, private coaching, elite camps and clinic all at top tier schools for lacrosse… and their boys are only sophomores in high school.
For many of these parents (who are my age and in their mid 40’s to early 50’s), it seems like they started down this road because they remember back in the late 1980’s and throughout the 1990’s how they knew kids at high school who were good students, and great at a sport like men’s lacrosse, and it earned them a spot to attend an Ivy League school or some other prestigious school like UVA, Duke, or Johns’ Hopkins (all of which are lacrosse powerhouse schools). I have two family members who went to Hopkins and played lacrosse in the 90’s, and they would not have gotten in except for that sport.
Anyway… unfortunately many of these parents don’t realize how much the competitive aspect of college admissions has intensified. There has been a mad rush to find these sorts of admissions “side doors.” So there are many many more kids all trying to be that sort of “student athlete” who makes it onto a team and clinches a major opportunity.
And thus, the lucrative youth sports industry has flourished. Travel teams, showcase tournaments, specialist coaching, expensive clinics and camps with key people who know the key college coaches personally, etc etc etc.
I will share on this thread that both my family members who played for Hopkins in the 90’s say that they would never have a chance of making it on the team today. The competition is too stiff. And one of them went on to be a pro lacrosse player in the MLL for a full decade. And coaches an elite high school team and runs a travel team of his own. His son, who is an insane athlete, great student, and a high school senior, just committed to play for a specific regional university in New York as part of a D3 program. This kid had it all… great grades and good SATs, was born with a lacrosse stick in his hand, and has been playing on travel teams since age 7. Traveled all over the country. Is a highly ranked All American player. And… his dad personally knows and played with many of the current coaches of major Div 1 programs… plus he is a legacy with Johns’ Hopkins.
And … even with all of that… he couldn’t get a D1 spot.
Anyway… in some respects D1 riding reminds me a little of lacrosse. Maybe it used to be a niche athletic side door that helped certain talented kids get into great schools all while being part of a really cool team in a sport they love…. But everyone has caught on, and competition for spots is now ferocious and the parents that can afford to set their kids up with a better a chance of making that team will DEFINITELY outspend everyone else, and that will almost certainly be a difference maker.
Oh well. Not to be a Debbie Downer. That’s just the way it is. I think it makes a lot more financial and emotional sense to just enjoy sports for the sake of the sport, and save for college, and leave the chasing of college athletic team opportunities for people who have the money, or are absolute freak athletes and outliers in that respect. 
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The IHSA shows go right down to the walk trot level. And those walk trot classes still count for the team high point at each show. And once kids win a certain number of points, they are no longer eligible for the walk trot, so that means they need to find new walk trot riders, so that there are kids showing in all possible classes where they can get team points.
I know somebody who was a coach for an IHSA team who would walk up to random girls on campus towards the end of the season and ask them if they had ever wanted to ride a horse, and if they would be interested in joining the team so she could have fresh walk trot riders. Lol.
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I agree 100%
So that means the end of your jumping progress as a junior because you won’t be able to jump above 3 feet on the school horses
I would suggest having another talk with the horse program to go over details of how you get access to higher jumping horses through the program and how much that costs. You may need to bring your own horse or lease a high value horse. Also how much is showing? It’s likely less because you will travel as a group and may be closer to venues. But the show fees will be the same. You need to find out how much to budget on top of the basic tuition in order to show higher than the norm.
Otherwise it’s just going to be ride sharing in the IKEA that tops out at 2 foot 9.
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Well, hopefully she gets great academics at this place, and that puts her on firm footing to meet other life goals.
And hopefully she makes great new friends.
I’m glad she is talking to her parents. That’s key.
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I’m so glad to hear you got her going better! That’s awesome!
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There’s a big difference between being the richest family in the barn and having the bulk of the school be just like that family. You’ll be at school with kids that go skiing in Europe for Christmas and St. Barts for spring break. That will get on a plane on Thursday afternoon and fly to wherever their personal trainer has the horses this week.
You’ve been told you’ll be on the Varsity riding team and you’re imagining that will give you the “in” you’ll need. Without knowing what school we are talking about, it’s hard to say if the bulk of the student body would consider it a big deal that you are immediately on the Varsity team or if that would be a “we have a varsity riding team???” from most people.
Are you paying all of your horse expenses yourself? Training, showing, travel? As I tried to give a very clear outline about the time and wage it would take to attain your $20k goal - same thing for horse shows. Lets say you are spending $2k for a week at a show. Have you really thought about how many hours your parents (assuming they are paying for the shows) have to work just so that you can go to that show?
I may be mistaken, but to my understanding qualifying for pony/junior hunter finals are a much easier task than big eq. Don’t you just need a reserve or championship in the division at a single A show to qualify for pony/junior hunter finals? That is not the same thing as gathering points to qualify. In my local area we have a local dressage pro who chooses the tests in the levels she’s showing at that will have either no other competitors or one other - show management gave the same weight to a first place regardless of the number of entries - then she’d “congratulate” herself on her farm site. Those of us who know her know that she really wasn’t better than the other pros - she was just choosing classes based on the goal of gather championships. A championship can be garnered pretty easily with a decent horse by carefully selecting the shows you go to.
You’re realistically talking about $100k a year to go to school there. The $75k for tuition/room&board. Another $1500 a month for your horse including things like board, supplements, body care work, farrier (assuming no injuries/illnesses for additional vet bills). That’s another $14000 for 9 months. Transport costs there and back for your horse at probably $1k per trip. You’ll easily spend $1k for any show you attend that is not part of the varsity competition, and probably more if you are not getting a break on the costs by spreading it over multiple riders. Call it 1 show a month - there is another $9k.
Your horse is currently at home - so you’re not just moving the board from one barn to another, you’re upping your horsekeeping expenses each month.
I’m begging you - please be incredibly brutally honest with yourself about the money that your parents will have to spend for you to have this experience. Think about what you could do with even a quarter of that money each year to boost your equine experience. I realize as a kid it can be hard to understand what that amount of money really represents. Experience that will get you much closer to your end goal of being a pro.
With the caveat that I have zero knowledge of your parent’s financial situation and whether the money would be a real hardship for them or not, or if the “you’ve got to cough up $50k on your own” is just their way of not being the bad guys who flatly say “no”. If your parents are truly well off enough that it would not be seriously risking their financial future, then they know how impossible it would be for a 15yo (I’m making an age assumption) to make $50k in 5 months, especially while also still going to school for a couple of months.
The one question I asked that you have not answered that I can recall is what does being a pro mean to you? Only showing 1.6 meter jumpers? Showing hunters? Training AAs? Juniors? Breeding? Buying and selling horses? What your end career goal is makes a big difference in what paths we’d suggest for you to realistically attain that goal. An acquaintance had all the advantages when it came to having a successful career in horses. Horse industry parents. Access to amazing horses and shows as a junior. Envisioned she’d be paid handsomely to ride and show other people’s horses. Not successful in developing the client base she was going to need to accomplish that goal. Granted she made mistakes along the way, but that was with super supportive horse industry parents. She’s now in her mid 30s. She’s a oro, but for her that has morphed into being the young horse trainer for a well heeled farm owner. She’s not going to the Olympics any time soon, if ever.
All of these posts from people with way more experience than you - I hope they are food for thought. There are lots of good suggestions that won’t cost $100k a year for high school and will get you just as close to your goal of professional status.
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Correct! We got kids qualified all the time by hitting a smaller winter A at the beginning of the year. Being prepped and ready to go while others have a new pony to learn on or are focused on holiday/beginning of school stuff can make qualification easier. It’s a great way to get opportunities to go to these fun year end shows without having to hit the circuit hard and heavy or own The Winner.
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I got curious and scoped out TAMU’s equestrian program and came upon this page for their equestrian team roster for 2023-2024. It is interesting reading the bios of some of the girls on the team.
And I was sad to see that there was not one single male rider on that team. In Texas! I would have thought there would be at least one guy doing Western horsemanship, if nothing else.
I believe their NCAA team is women’s only due to Title IX
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Could be - looks like their soccer program, softball program, and volleyball program are also for women only.
But dang, that seems kind of unfair to a talented young reining horse rider (for instance) who just happens to be male. No chance for him to compete in the sport of his choice on the university team.
Is she very competitive at shows with the same kids/horses that will be in the top 20 at indoor finals? Or has she been competitive at relatively local, smaller A shows? There is a difference.
To really garner top lease prices she needs to be rock solid and point & shoot ride. And sound. And a top 10 ride at finals. Not just qualify. The rock solid part doesn’t sound like it is entirely the case.
It is absolutely doable to get a handsome lease price for a decent horse, but you’d better have a ironclad contract regarding injury and such. If this is how you will pay for school for multiple years, you’re taking a risk that she won’t stay sound or won’t have the same successful record under another rider that she apparently has with you.
I paid for undergrad by selling my junior horse. I saw him a year later. Well-loved by his new owner, but she was not the same caliber rider with the same caliber trainer that I had. He’d lost a ton of muscle and sharpness and I would never have been able to get the same price (or lease had I gone that route) the following year for him. In my case selling turned out to be the smartest thing for me. Just another food for thought comment.
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Correct. I believe this is the case for almost all the Div 1 riding programs. I know some programs are used to offset certain men’s programs - like football. I would imagine that’s the case with Texas A&M
Yep. They have to balance their massive football program and other male dominated sports like baseball. Not to mention that there are so few male riders at the caliber you need to be to ride on these teams that it’s a “safe” sport for the schools to use to fulfill their requirements. Western is smaller and newer than the hunt seat programs, so that may change eventually.
It does stink for the guys, but same for the women who might want to get into X program or do Y men’s sport. Also, IHSA is co-ed so anyone can ride in college if they want!
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I think the school in question is Grier School in PA - but could be wrong.
I think everything else people have contributed about comparing OP’s current experiences against her aspirations is very valuable. It does seem like there is a disconnect between the OP’s aspirations and her real understanding of the monetary reality of achieving those goals. I also don’t think someone who really wants to be an equine professional as a top grand prix rider/trainer achieves this through going to a private boarding school with a riding program or riding a a D1 university. They do it through training with BNT, and showing competitively at the highest levels possible, as much as possible. As others have mentioned - this is why adult ammies exist. Those of us who pursue an education that will allow us to afford our horses vs pros, those who try to make a riding career provide horses for them.
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I googled them out of curiosity and they claim that one of their school horses won “prettiest horse” at Devon. I’ve never been to Devon, but I feel like perhaps that’s not an actual prize there…
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It is not.
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I am feeling weirdly elated. Late, middle age elated.
Hearing this is almost as good as that time I realized I was accidentally adding a year onto my age.
See how I am with numbers? 
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