Do you need to feel better about travel sports costs?
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Anonymous
| What is the cost for the horses? |
Anonymous
Hunt Seat Equitation In the 80s we spent $1500/month on board. (Exceedingly expensive because it was a top barn in the country) You have vet care and insurance, no idea. The horse itself cost $25,000 and that was on the low side. Training, competition, transportation, tipping, braiding. I cannot fathom the total amount my parents spent over the years. No, selling the horse did not recoup anything. He may have gone for a bit more. Wonder if I will find all the old invoices when I clean out all the paperwork my parents have kept over their lifetimes. Jump to early 2000s. Amateur (non-owner) Hunters Rode at a barn where I got the opportunity to compete on other people's horses. No monthly expenses. No $ to buy the horse. Just my one competition expenses, split care at horse shows, and training fees. I think I spent $30,000 a year to compete. Now had I bought the horse? At least $85,000 to buy, again on the low side. Honestly, I think board was cheaper $1250/month. No idea about vet care or insurance because thankfully have never had to pay it. If not sharing my horse with another competitor I bet competition costs would be more like $40,000 a year. Competitions - that is cost for local to DMV. Not Florida. Not Vermont. Not Kentucky. Just local. I know people who spend easily $100s of thousands on this sport. Back in the 80s and today. |
Anonymous
Really? my kid sailed with DC Sail (and regularly placed highly in local regattas) and it was pretty cheap - about $600/season. He did not fly to Florida for the winter but that amount allowed him to get good enough to enjoy it, learn something and pick up a skill he will have as an adult. |
Anonymous
Horse: $75k. Nice, safe, hardly a world beater. A good citizen for lower levels. Monthly costs: $3000ish, including recurring costs, lessons, and averaging irregular stuff like vet bills. Includes $300 shoes every 4-5 weeks. I’m trying to get the farrier to let me post video for hooftok. So far, it’s a no. Competitions: $5k/rated show, give or take depending on the specifics. This is local. No Florida. This is like, horse middle class. One horse. No Florida. Etc. |
Anonymous
| What is "Florida" and "no Florida"? I don't speak horse. |
Anonymous
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It’s not really analogous to quote prices for horses or training to become an F1 driver (which I understand now starts with crazy expensive go kart racing as kids).
On day 1 those sports are expensive. It’s not as though there are horse rec leagues or F1 go kart rec leagues where you start at $150/season and many of their friends all play and then wrestle with your kid loving the sport and wanting more competition. Opting to have your kid participate in a massively expensive sport from the start is a parental decision. It’s not something organic from the kid at least in the DMV, and it’s not something any parent believes will be “cheap”. It’s no different than trying to make us feel better about our car repairs by telling us about how expensive it is to maintain your McLaren. |
Anonymous
Huge "circuits" in Florida (Tampa and Wellington) during the winter that hold many many competitions. You ship your horse down end of Dec and it comes back early March. Depending on your situation you live in Florida during that time. Or you fly back and forth to compete. |
Anonymous
I feel like if we were talking about f1 drivers we’d have to talk about the top level rich kids and I think we would be talking about $10m/year. I’m not kidding. A base in Wellington, a base in Europe, whether you’re just buying 5* horses or trying to develop young ones it adds up to the same. |
Anonymous
wait ... $5000 to compete in a local horse show?! Why so high and what does that include? Also, how much is a horse lease if you aren't willing to buy? Just asking out of curiosity. DS plays squash competitively and I thought we were paying a lot! |
Anonymous
We are in the flying to Florida for the winter level, and are in the Midwest. A national travel regatta can easily cost $8-$10k for 4-6 days. It's ridiculous, we say no to a lot and save wherever we can - points and miles for travel, staying with friends, driving if possible to avoid chartering a boat, etc.. Many of DS' friends are in Europe for much of the summer right now training and racing. His season fees for the local club are nothing compared to the rest of it, but we live somewhere that freezes in the winter so we have no choice but to travel. Again, it's a choice, but the cost of everything, plus the coaching fees, are insane. To be clear not complaining, but everyday I am blown away by the cost of something related to sailing, despite having grown up in this world. |
Anonymous
I should add that DS is 12, and the kids who sail the same boat as him are usually 10-14 (you can only sail it until 15, but many switch before then for a variety of reasons). It only goes up from here as the boats become bigger and then training and events are more demanding. DS plans to sail for his high school team which will GREATLY bring down the costs, we will see what else he ends up doing during that time. |
Anonymous
Sorry me again! One more thing, because I always want people to know this, that you can also sail for basically $0 - low cost; be a crew on someone else's boat, join a community sailing club, stay local and race around your area, etc. DH started this way in college and races at a high-level all over without having to own his own boat or pay his own way. There is something for everyone in sailing (my PSA is now over  )
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Anonymous
are you funding this? |
Anonymous
Sounds like keeping up with the joneses. |
Anonymous
Hard to understand what this means…but I assume you would only help fund this if your kid was successful and therefore it isn’t costing you anything and in fact is making money. |