Right?! Boarders come, ride, and leave. Some of the parents literally sit in the car waiting for them. No fun, no shenanigans, no races, no tag, no horse swapping, no catch riding, no bareback, no round-the-world, no people shows, no trail rides, nada. I secretly call it the No-Fun Zone. They don’t even take a few minutes to hand graze their horses before chucking them back in the stall. It’s sad.
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It makes me insane when I see kids at a horse show sitting around on chairs or tack trunks, staring at their phones, while their horses are standing in their stalls. Take them out for some grass!!
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East Coast version: In the 70s-80s I grew up in a neighborhood bordered by the 5000 acre Fair Hill property. Parents (wisely) wouldn’t buy me a horse but to their credit, starting when I was 8 they fully supported my barn rat/lesson habit. Driving distance wasn’t difficult since we were surrounded with equine opportunities. As a teen I connected with a lady who flipped OTTBs from the FHTC. She’d bring them fresh off the track, put rides on them and use them as lesson horses for a friend and I until they sold. It wasn’t a formal/public lesson program, we just rode with her and that’s what she had. (Bonus for me/my parents was she lived walking distance from my house). She had no problem with me hacking out on the FH property, alone. And me - and my innocent parents - thought nothing of it. I didn’t ride BB on those tall, racing fit, shark-fin-whithered unicorns, but:
Exercise saddle + plain snaffle + OTTB + galloping over and exploring the hills of Fair Hill MD (wearing my velvet plastic hunt cap with the elastic band tucked neatly over the brim, alone, and no cellphone) = So Free. Yes, those were the days.
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With all due respect, I’ve been showing a long time, and nobody I know competes “to advance the sport as a whole.” Juniors and ammies go to have fun, test themselves, win ribbons, and hang out with their friends and horses. Professionals go to make a living and advance their careers.
Also, what I said was: jump height is not the measure of successful horsemanship. There are many amazing horse people who do not jump or show at all. It’s about having fun, being active, and building respectful relationships with these amazing animals.
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I have sadly come to the realization (at my advanced age 
) that I will now, never advance up the ranks. Even if I were younger, I would never in 1000 lifetimes have the money to buy the beast that would get me started on that journey. Horses are proportionately far far more expensive then they were when I was a kid. I may as well just be happy with what I have and can afford 
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Okay, this actually piqued my curiosity. I had a children’s hunter in the '90’s that we paid $10K for. He was a bad mover, but he always jumped around and had an auto change. In today’s dollars, that would be about $19K (thanks online inflation calculator!). No way can you buy a safe, made children’s hunter for that today. Conservatively, it would cost triple that. So you’re right.
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Actually had almost this exact conversation with my mom last night: I had two 3’6" hunters in the late 90s who were both competive in good company but not Devon-type winners. They were $10k each. One was young and green when I got him - he was a Holsteiner when the transition to WBs was just starting to really be a thing; the other was a TB already doing 3’6" but required a tactful ride. Either way, no way would you buy either for comparable prices today - I had guessed with inflation it would be closer to $30k so $19k is truly laughable 
Can you imagine someone getting a comptetive junior hunter for less than 6-figures now?
The thing that will always amazes me is that the Holsteiner was bred/sold by a still big name seller. I looked at 3 horses that day, they were all the same price and included the homebred Holsteiner AND a restarted OTTB, who were the same age and both jumping around small courses. That blows my mind - TB’s were still considered the same quality and price at the time.
ETA: this also probably plays into why people stay at the lower heights. Maybe the horse and rider is completely capable in the 3’ ring but the horse is not considered 3’ quality. It takes $$$ to even get 3’ quality these days, let alone 3’6"
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I was once complimented by a trainer at a show, for taking my horse out on so many walks!
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Contrary to popular belief, most of us are not going to the Olympics
You cannot believe how many times I hear that when people interview me as a trainer;" Well Janey/Joey wants to go to the Olympics, so we need a trainer to let us jump really big!"
Yah, ok, let’s learn how to ride a 3’ bending line first, shall we?
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Our local newspaper had some of those brags. “Grandma sends granddaughter to trainer XXX for Olympic bid.” “Trainer XXX headed to Olympics” We’d have our little chuckle, watch the $$ flow and the horses get used up. Then never hear more.
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So ridiculous, right? In what other sports do beginners show up declaring their Olympic ambitions?
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Probably a lot of them.
I’ll bet the coaches for gymnastics hear that all the time.
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All of them. This is why it’s so important to keep horses in the Olympics. Kids need to dream.
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OMG, we had some unseasonably warm weather recently. Beautiful warm weather. I normally get out on weekdays but ended up blessedly at the barn on some lovely Saturdays. Now I know the trainer takes that as a personal day when not a show day (because civilian day job and a big family), but where were the boarders?! Dude. Every barn I ever rode at in the old days would’ve been bustling with boarders on a Saturday, especially a warm one this time of year.
I will say this, though, there are a lot of super engaged parents among the lesson ranks. Some of them even pitch in with chores and help their kids work off some costs. I was just floored at how quiet the place was on a 60-degree Saturday in November. (a small part of me didn’t mind as I get re-rider self-conscious in front of young, hip, and fit audiences 
)
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I have a lesson tomorrow at noon. NOON. On a SATURDAY. I thought for sure the coach would struggle to fit me in and I’d wind up with 6 p.m. on a Wednesday. It may be a onetime opening and soon enough I’ll be relegated to weekday nights, but wow.
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I don’t know where you are, but in colder climates, sometimes the fair weather types slack off a bit in the winter, so the lesson schedule loosens up to a degree.
Have fun!!
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So anyone who isn’t interested in the Olympics or jumping higher should quit?
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That would result in an awful lot of unemployed horses and horse people. Lol.
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Indeed! Let the kids and motivated dream. For us fat old ammys on our ponies we just want to jump 2’ 6" and go home to take a nap
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