Does every rich girl become "good" at equestrian as long as the parents spend enough money?

[Anonymous]

Is it a sport you're essentially guaranteed to be "good" at if you pour in the money into it and fly your kid around to "compete" in Florida, Kentucky, etc. every other weekend?

We have been friends with a few wealthy parents who are really into it and even though they are in totally different social networks, they all talk the same way. They all make it seem like their teen daughter is a future Olympian.

I can't imagine the pool of families with a daughter who can afford a well-bred horse, local training, and flying on a dime across the country every other weekend is very large.

[Anonymous]

Behind every great horse girl is... a rich daddy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is it a sport you're essentially guaranteed to be "good" at if you pour in the money into it and fly your kid around to "compete" in Florida, Kentucky, etc. every other weekend?

We have been friends with a few wealthy parents who are really into it and even though they are in totally different social networks, they all talk the same way. They all make it seem like their teen daughter is a future Olympian.

I can't imagine the pool of families with a daughter who can afford a well-bred horse, local training, and flying on a dime across the country every other weekend is very large.

No, there is a lot more to the sport than just being rich. The being rich part is basically the barrier to entry. Then the talent (and other factors) have to be there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is it a sport you're essentially guaranteed to be "good" at if you pour in the money into it and fly your kid around to "compete" in Florida, Kentucky, etc. every other weekend?

We have been friends with a few wealthy parents who are really into it and even though they are in totally different social networks, they all talk the same way. They all make it seem like their teen daughter is a future Olympian.

I can't imagine the pool of families with a daughter who can afford a well-bred horse, local training, and flying on a dime across the country every other weekend is very large.

No, there is a lot more to the sport than just being rich. The being rich part is basically the barrier to entry. Then the talent (and other factors) have to be there.

The pool of kids rich enough to really indulge the hobby is small enough that a girl who gets start young and is dedicated enough with rich enough indulgent parents has a very good shot to go far. Certainly a better chance than a kid in just about any other sport.

[Anonymous]

I grew up with a number of "horse girls" and not all of them were super rich but they all had families that spent a ton of money on it obviously. I do think there is actual talent and skill involved because some people bail on it early when they don't do as well as others despite spending similar money.

But I think the biggest factor is time put in. The more you train with your horse the better you and the horse will be and the better you perform at competitions. The issue for most girls is that even if their parents are willing to commit unlimited money to it the girls also want to have a social life and "be normal" to some degree.

I think if you have a kid who is willing to live and breath equestrian sports for her entire teen years and you are willing to spend the money then yeah you probably have a realistic shot at competing at the Olympics because you probably have the baseline skill and talent level to sustain that interest and are willing to put in the hours. This does seem different from other rich kid sports like tennis or golf or lacrosse where some kids are just fundamentally better at the sport and you start to see real separation between people who can be competitive at the college or pro level and everyone else starting in the early teen years or even before no matter how much money you are willing to sink into coaching and home training facilities and travel and all that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I grew up with a number of "horse girls" and not all of them were super rich but they all had families that spent a ton of money on it obviously. I do think there is actual talent and skill involved because some people bail on it early when they don't do as well as others despite spending similar money.

But I think the biggest factor is time put in. The more you train with your horse the better you and the horse will be and the better you perform at competitions. The issue for most girls is that even if their parents are willing to commit unlimited money to it the girls also want to have a social life and "be normal" to some degree.

I think if you have a kid who is willing to live and breath equestrian sports for her entire teen years and you are willing to spend the money then yeah you probably have a realistic shot at competing at the Olympics because you probably have the baseline skill and talent level to sustain that interest and are willing to put in the hours. This does seem different from other rich kid sports like tennis or golf or lacrosse where some kids are just fundamentally better at the sport and you start to see real separation between people who can be competitive at the college or pro level and everyone else starting in the early teen years or even before no matter how much money you are willing to sink into coaching and home training facilities and travel and all that.

You can play all three for relatively cheap and a truly talented player would be able to shine and advance. For dressage, having access to the horse is a bigger barrier to entry than anything in tennis or golf or lacrosse

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I grew up with a number of "horse girls" and not all of them were super rich but they all had families that spent a ton of money on it obviously. I do think there is actual talent and skill involved because some people bail on it early when they don't do as well as others despite spending similar money.

But I think the biggest factor is time put in. The more you train with your horse the better you and the horse will be and the better you perform at competitions. The issue for most girls is that even if their parents are willing to commit unlimited money to it the girls also want to have a social life and "be normal" to some degree.

I think if you have a kid who is willing to live and breath equestrian sports for her entire teen years and you are willing to spend the money then yeah you probably have a realistic shot at competing at the Olympics because you probably have the baseline skill and talent level to sustain that interest and are willing to put in the hours. This does seem different from other rich kid sports like tennis or golf or lacrosse where some kids are just fundamentally better at the sport and you start to see real separation between people who can be competitive at the college or pro level and everyone else starting in the early teen years or even before no matter how much money you are willing to sink into coaching and home training facilities and travel and all that.

You can play all three for relatively cheap and a truly talented player would be able to shine and advance. For dressage, having access to the horse is a bigger barrier to entry than anything in tennis or golf or lacrosse

I agree with this. I have spent time around the horsey set without being horse-mad myself, and as a complete outside observer it seems like the richest girls always win the most. To be fair, horse people love horses to the point of being complete obsessives, so of course they have built the skills of riding. But a poor girl who loves horses will never do as well in competition as the rich girl whose parents move to Florida, buy a horse estate, import as many 250k horse(s) from Europe on their private jet as needed, and pay for one of those ritzy online "schools", so she can spend all day doing horse stuff with the very best trainers instead of going to school...well naturally she will win all the competitions. I can't think of another sport that rewards wealth as much as equestrian stuff.

[Anonymous]

When teen girls fly around the country to compete, they have to pay a truck driver to drive their specific horse there and back each time, too? Or do they house the horse in the winter down in Florida? The sums of money involved must be obscene.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When teen girls fly around the country to compete, they have to pay a truck driver to drive their specific horse there and back each time, too? Or do they house the horse in the winter down in Florida? The sums of money involved must be obscene.

The really rich ones fly the horses too. Not to mention, it's hard to truck a horse to compete in Bermuda

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I grew up with a number of "horse girls" and not all of them were super rich but they all had families that spent a ton of money on it obviously. I do think there is actual talent and skill involved because some people bail on it early when they don't do as well as others despite spending similar money.

But I think the biggest factor is time put in. The more you train with your horse the better you and the horse will be and the better you perform at competitions. The issue for most girls is that even if their parents are willing to commit unlimited money to it the girls also want to have a social life and "be normal" to some degree.

I think if you have a kid who is willing to live and breath equestrian sports for her entire teen years and you are willing to spend the money then yeah you probably have a realistic shot at competing at the Olympics because you probably have the baseline skill and talent level to sustain that interest and are willing to put in the hours. This does seem different from other rich kid sports like tennis or golf or lacrosse where some kids are just fundamentally better at the sport and you start to see real separation between people who can be competitive at the college or pro level and everyone else starting in the early teen years or even before no matter how much money you are willing to sink into coaching and home training facilities and travel and all that.

I think a lot has changed. I don’t recall any horse girls in the 90s jet-setting all over every other weekend. So similar to all the other travel sports frenzy of the 2010s and 2020s, horse families are blowing tons of money normalizing the extensive travel schedules. Like travel youth baseball or soccer on steroids.

[Anonymous]

It worked for Princess Anne.

[Anonymous]

Look at the colleges with equestrian teams. It’s CLEARLY the most reliable backdoor into elite colleges and/or to become a D1 student-athlete. It’s 100% exclusively filthy rich girls.

[Anonymous]

How well do the succesful horse girls do on the marriage market?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It worked for Princess Anne.

Bloomberg’s daughter. Bruce Springsteen’s daughter. On and on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It worked for Princess Anne.

Bill Gate’s daughter.