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

[Anonymous]

I think this is true for most sports. If you invest enough and get enough private teaching/coaching, your kid is going to be good at just about anything eventually just from the extra practice and repetitions.

[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.

My friend stables her horse in FL during the season and then it comes back up here for the summer. There are so many expenses related: stable, cleaning, vet, training, chiropractor. It must be an absolute fortune.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Surprised that the networking within the horse world has not been mentioned yet. Having access to the best horses, trainers, teams, etc is essential. For families with significant resources, building relationships with key people in the horse world—like top breeders, trainers, and current horse owners—is crucial and there are A LOT of egos. These connections are vital because they give the insider knowledge about where to find elite horses, before they’re even listed for sale, what trainers are the best and how to best game the compeition schedules to maximize points. Getting a word of mouth invitation to to some of the most exclusive events or joining elite equestrian clubs (The Equestrian Club of Palm Beach, etc) is also key.

In these extremely high-net-worth circles, it’s not just about having the money. It's about leveraging relationships between families. Families get early invites to private auctions or be given first pick on horses through their network. Essentially, so much of the top of the horse world if not just about being able to write a check.

In the world of dressage, high-net-worth individuals can even create their own competition events. By organizing and funding exclusive dressage competitions, they can effectively create a controlled environment where their horses and children (or children of those in their horse network) are more likely to succeed. Yes, this involves setting up shows with hand-picked judges and carefully limiting competition from other top riders.

Jennifer Gates didn't need connections when she had dad's checkbook

Of course money is necessary. But you are missing out on juicy nuances of the horse world if you don't try to understand what kind of work even the richest horse girl needs to do to get access to certain equestrian circles that will essentially ensure sucess.

When your father's bank account has an extra comma or two, the nuances don't matter. No breeder or trainer is saying no to that level of wealth

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think this is true for most sports. If you invest enough and get enough private teaching/coaching, your kid is going to be good at just about anything eventually just from the extra practice and repetitions.

No way. Just like you can’t put lipstick on a pig

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think this is true for most sports. If you invest enough and get enough private teaching/coaching, your kid is going to be good at just about anything eventually just from the extra practice and repetitions.

No amount of money will get an average athlete to the national stage in basketball. A billionaire father can easily do that for an equestrian

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think this is true for most sports. If you invest enough and get enough private teaching/coaching, your kid is going to be good at just about anything eventually just from the extra practice and repetitions.

No amount of money will get an average athlete to the national stage in basketball. A billionaire father can easily do that for an equestrian

I disagree. You have to have money or have access to money through sponsors and owners who want to place their horses with you to compete.

Show Jumping is the discipline where a really expensive horse can do the most to make up for a lack of rider quality, but dressage and even more so eventing requires skill and dedication.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think this is true for most sports. If you invest enough and get enough private teaching/coaching, your kid is going to be good at just about anything eventually just from the extra practice and repetitions.

No amount of money will get an average athlete to the national stage in basketball. A billionaire father can easily do that for an equestrian

I disagree. You have to have money or have access to money through sponsors and owners who want to place their horses with you to compete.

Show Jumping is the discipline where a really expensive horse can do the most to make up for a lack of rider quality, but dressage and even more so eventing requires skill and dedication.

Dressage is easy to game given the ability to create private competitions for points.

A rider has to have a base level of ability. But a high-average skilled rider on a perfectly trained horse will be higher ranked than a world-class rider on a just well-trained horse. There are only certain breeders and trainers (Moeller is a name everyone knows, but there are others who are more of a secret) who can produce this type of horse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think this is true for most sports. If you invest enough and get enough private teaching/coaching, your kid is going to be good at just about anything eventually just from the extra practice and repetitions.

No amount of money will get an average athlete to the national stage in basketball. A billionaire father can easily do that for an equestrian

I disagree. You have to have money or have access to money through sponsors and owners who want to place their horses with you to compete.

Show Jumping is the discipline where a really expensive horse can do the most to make up for a lack of rider quality, but dressage and even more so eventing requires skill and dedication.

Dressage is easy to game given the ability to create private competitions for points.

A rider has to have a base level of ability. But a high-average skilled rider on a perfectly trained horse will be higher ranked than a world-class rider on a just well-trained horse. There are only certain breeders and trainers (Moeller is a name everyone knows, but there are others who are more of a secret) who can produce this type of horse.

And if the rider cannot get it done even on these horses, the owner can hire a rider to take their horse to the top competitions. This is what Ann Romney (wife of Mitt Romney) did for the 2012 Olympics.

[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.

I assume there is some artificial barrier to entry to keep the rural girls out.

[Anonymous]

Watashi wa star

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think this is true for most sports. If you invest enough and get enough private teaching/coaching, your kid is going to be good at just about anything eventually just from the extra practice and repetitions.

No amount of money will get an average athlete to the national stage in basketball. A billionaire father can easily do that for an equestrian

Don’t forget that the national equestrian federation ultimately selects the Olympians from each country. As long as the rider meets FEI criteria, they can be put on the team.

[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.

I assume there is some artificial barrier to entry to keep the rural girls out.

Of course.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are there equestrian boys?

I know one who got into an Ivy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think this is true for most sports. If you invest enough and get enough private teaching/coaching, your kid is going to be good at just about anything eventually just from the extra practice and repetitions.

To some extent, but the barrier to extra repetitions and practicing is lower for some sports than others. Basketball has a low barrier, go run a mile then shoot a thousand shots every day. In many locales you only need shoes and a ball half the year. Maybe some gym time in the north.

Soccer, just get a pair of cleats and a new ball every month wear them out.

The travel aspect of these sports doesn't really lead to improvement. At least in my opinion. Spend more time in the car than playing. It's an artificial thing that parents do. Mostly rich parents that don't want to play with the kids next door, many of the little league world series winners never go on to play baseball later.

At the younger ages the games and to some extent even the practices are opportunities to show off skills that you learned/practiced at home. There are plenty of resources for picking up the skills. I'm partial to a combination of books and youtube videos.

All the parents you see hauling their kids around town, you never see them so much as kick a ball with their kids. I think that is weird.