Expensive Sport

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No. My kids had/has insane social anxiety. His sports helped him make friends, fit in, and he is good at it. Not good enough to be a pro, but he is a star player on his college team and it helped him fit in college and keeps him on track. But, our situation might be unique.

My son has ADHD which has the component that is usually difficult to pick up on social cues, which can be difficult obviously.

We want to start him in a sport (he's 11) but we're not sure what sport to start him in that all of the other players won't have been playing for years & years together already?

Any suggestions?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My DD is an equestrian. I'm about to spend $50,000 on a new horse that "might" last her 2 years before she's at the next level. Then there is the $6K saddles, etc. And, of course, the board and maintenance of said horse. It's ludicrous.

I didn't fully appreciate the cost when she started and had no idea she would ever be serious. We are lucky we can do that for her. She struggles in school, so it is her therapy (although pay for therapy, too).

I'll be honest. I kind of resent it, but lately, she has started to understand what it all costs and has been very grateful, so that helps.

Why would the horse last her 2 years? Can't the horse learn too?

Not really. you need a better “quality” horse at upper levels.

Do you keep the horse as a pet and buy a second?

If the horse is still sound at the end of those 2 years, you usually sell it to another kid moving up and use that money plus another $50k to buy a nicer horse with more scope for the bigger divisions. If it breaks/goes lame/gets sour/starts stopping at jumps, you send it to a retirement facility and continue paying $500 a month for the rest of its life, which could be a decade or more. I currently have 4 former show horses boarded at my farm. Bless their owners for taking care of them, but it isn't cheap.

I would not recommend anyone to buy a fresh off-track Thoroughbred for a child to learn on. I have 2 myself and enjoy bringing them along, but I have the experience to do it safely and successfully. 50k is about right for a 1.1 m Children's Jumper. When the poster's child is ready to move up to the juniors she'll be looking at low six figures for something capable of helping a kid move up. Plus it will inevitably need a different saddle and wear a different size in all the rest of its tack and wardrobe, to the tune of $$$$$$$$

I am a PP from earlier - grew up riding, but did 4-H and small shows. Kept our horses on our property, rode almost daily. My mom bought my "big horse" for all the showing when I was 14, and he's still alive and on their farm (I'm 36 now). We were small fish in a big pond. My mom paid about $3500 for that horse when he was young and I did a lot of work with him. Mostly I enjoyed being able to ride when I wanted to.

I say this as a horse person - horse people are crazy. Especially rich horse people. Not all, but most. CRAZY.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No. My kids had/has insane social anxiety. His sports helped him make friends, fit in, and he is good at it. Not good enough to be a pro, but he is a star player on his college team and it helped him fit in college and keeps him on track. But, our situation might be unique.

My son has ADHD which has the component that is usually difficult to pick up on social cues, which can be difficult obviously.

We want to start him in a sport (he's 11) but we're not sure what sport to start him in that all of the other players won't have been playing for years & years together already?

Any suggestions?

Fencing. A big plus is that they wear masks so no need to read facial expressions! My son fenced for years and the fencing community is very accepting of different kids.