‘The top level of equestrian sport is becoming unreachable,’ warns Pammy Hutton
Pammy Hutton on the price of the podium and the sector’s vanishing voice
With so much emphasis on winning and killer pressure to stay at the top, is our young riders’ system flawed? It should be a stepping-stone to the senior ranks, yet many never successfully make the jump because they have never learned how to produce their own horses. Indeed, many avoid competing against adults until they have to – then get a shock.
Then there’s the ever-present threat of being without a suitable horse; dropped from the World Class Programme and minus the hope that goes with it. So high is the standard of horses that riding merit alone won’t keep a young rider on that top list.
Having said that, there are phenomenal learning opportunities and the current team management is excellent.
At the recent international at Wellington, the new stars on show were really just that.
But the costs of competing, where it’s normalised to spend without restraint, are extraordinary.
In the real world, how many 16- to 21-year-olds can afford £1,000 a pop for a helmet, jacket and riding boots? Or complain that “I’ve only got £250,000 to spend on a horse”, as was expressed to me recently.
As I watched in awe a young rider on a stunning horse coached by a foreign trainer flown in for the day, I realised how so many ambitions remain at home trapped behind the affordability barrier.
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One day, we’ll invent a horse with a coin slot between its ears. You put 50p in and turn the ear to the level you require. Then anyone can win!
There are glimmers of hope. A favourite young rider I know gets more pleasure from painting a patent top on their second-hand De Niros than buying a shiny new pair. Even their horses are bargain-bucket rejects; a £200 stud fee and a vet failure.
But sadly, without access to millions, competing at the top level is unreachable for the normal rider. Unless, that is, you are Gracie Catling, whose ability and success are inspirational. Mette Dahl is also brilliant, albeit with a hugely experienced and well-resourced team behind her.
A few are bucking the trend. But even with exceptional talent, young riders need a miracle of luck to achieve without the money. Although affordability perhaps needs addressing, horsemanship should win the day.
Praised, not protected
Written and spoken praise is heaped upon riding schools, crediting them with fostering the future of equestrianism and giving root to many an international rider.
Yet they’re closing faster than village pubs because common sense dictates that it’s financial madness to try to run one.
Unlike other countries, UK riding schools have no government support, fiscal or otherwise. There’s no lobby to clamp down on illegal “lessons on own horses” in defence of lawful, licensed establishments, for instance.
The plight of equestrian businesses has no traction with the public. It’s simply too elitist.
The British Horse Society (BHS) offers much advice and support around how to run a business, from marketing to management.
It runs world-class assessments and globally-recognised qualifications. Yet those of us in the system are having to work harder just to maintain the wherewithal for these to happen, not to mention to create jobs for the newly qualified.
Despite all it does, the BHS lacks political clout. We have the British Horse Council, which does a decent job with the Government, and Defra on equine health and welfare, which overlap into sporting issues. However, there’s a distinct lack of appetite to take up the cudgel on behalf of embattled equestrian businesses.
Farmers have the National Farmers’ Union and Jeremy Clarkson fighting their corner. But despite a preponderance of organisations, the lack of a “National Equestrian Union” renders us voiceless.
Like farmers, our animals are a way of life beyond counting our costs and time. But it would be nice to earn a little money – if only to enable us to keep going and give generations to come the chance to experience the joy of horses and riding.
Good luck to our World Championship teams!
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Pammy Hutton is joint principal of Talland School of Equitation and an international dressage rider and trainer. She is a Fellow of the British Horse Society and has competed internationally in eventing, being reserve for the Montreal Olympics. Pammy is the daughter of the late Molly Sivewright, is married to Brian Hutton and mother to successful dressage riders Charlie and Pippa. A regular Horse & Hound columnist, you can read Pammy’s views in the magazine or digital subscribers can view them online below.