Spinoff- how do you support your dressage hobby?

[CatOnLap]

How do you find the money to keep riding?

[username]

like that guy on the riding mower in the TV commercial...I am in debt up to my eyeballs!

seriously though, this may become the case when the prices for this summer's hay are announced

[Surviving the Dramas]

I'm at College so my Mum helps out a lot. She covers my grazing, feed and registration in general. My SO (who I have been with for 5 years) also helps out when I have overspent on the ponies that week:uhoh:

We sell 1-2 horses a year (In theory anyway:sigh:) in order to keep an income coming in to buy others/continue to work with the ones we have.

I also ride horses for other people, compete for other people, break in etc etc. That pays my entry fees, petrol costs, lessons and any extra money that I have left over goes into the horse account to help Mum pay for feed etc.

Needless to say we barely break even:(, but what horsey person does:lol:

[Trixie's mom]

I used to work...then I had three kids. So my wonderful husband supports my horsey habit while I raise the family. I get a babysitter a few times a week so I can get to the barn and then hubby does solodad duty for the kids for a few hours on the weekends. It's a sacrifice but horsey keeps me sane.

[pintopiaffe]

I have four jobs, one FT w/ bennies, three part time; plus I teach, and breed for sale. I checked the first box. ;)

Three of the four jobs, most importantly the FT one, are evenings--16-02 shifts, which leaves the days free to do the farm thing. The FT in theory is also 4 x10s, which means I can work one or two of my days off at a PT job and still have one day off. In theory.

For the first 8 years here I sold one or two foals every year. Last year and this, no sale foals. It's HURT substantially. I've now sold every extra saddle--including the sentimental one, and am starting on extraneous tack. It's hard to even admit there IS such a thing. ALL tack is useful again in the right situation. :sigh:

[Ambrey]

Um, where is the part about having a full-time job as a stay at home mom?

[NovDressageRdr]

I work and ride other peoples horses and my mom helps but all show fees and transport fees are up to me

[tbgurl]

Didn't vote because I fall under two options:

I work and am supported by DH. I can only work part-time because I'm also raising a wee human but I work as much as I can without having to add daycare to our expenses. DH covers the rest. I wish "the rest" was a lot more than it is, but I'm sure everyone wishes that. :D

And for what it's worth--I haven't shown in 9 years, haven't taken a lesson in 2 years, and haven't had time to actually ride in about 2 months. We're selling (giving away?) one of our two horses so that we're no longer in the red every month.

So I don't think I can consider it supporting my dressage hobby. More like just barely hanging on to my one horse.

[baylady7]

It would have been a more interesting poll to show those who support themselves (work and earn XYZ) vs dual income families. I work alot, ride and go to the gym to fill my spare time. Drive an 11+ y.o. small car and show when I can. This year I forewent taking a vacation in order to ride in a few recognized shows. Usually we just do a few schooling shows, so it is alot cheaper. I also go without alot of things (cable, internet, phone, etc) to be better positioned to support my hobby.

[Dressage Art]

I use to work full time for about 15 years and make $100K+. Back then I partially supported my family as well as my horse habit. When my hubby got a new, better-than-mine job that required him to be there most of the time, we decided that I should stay home with our son and work part-time to support my horse habit. Now, all of my horse related expenses are paid by me, but my hubby supports everything else. Basically all of my money that I make on my "DA Horse Gifts" equestrian business goes out to pay for my horse habit. In 2 years of doing that, I failed to save any $... my mare spends every penny of it!!!

[slc2]

I think this happens alot, I know some people who have this arrangement.

It is really nice to see that people have good arrangements with their families and can follow their dreams.

[kahjul]

I also work part time and just cover my horses primary expenses (board, farrier, etc and 1 lesson a month) everything else comes out of the family budget, so certain times of year it's slim and other times it's great-I just push it around for shows, clinics, etc.

[HandD]

I work full time and have a part time job that goes straight to horse expenses (and neither one pays great). Just started doing chores out at my barnn one day a week to work off part of my horse's barn. Just trying to find ways to make the horse thing work in this economy...

[didgery]

I wish the "don't actually ride" option was not grafted onto the "on social assistance" option! How humbling. I chose that option. I ride someone else's horse when I can - a handful of rides each year - but can't afford a horse of my own or lessons. I work part time, my husband works full time and we have children, a mortgage, and so forth. We are not on social assistance.

[spook1]

I just started the show horse thing after 14 years riding racehorses and then when my kid was almost out of school. I went back to school got a "real' job according to my mom. So after getting my new life I rode endurance for two years and now venturing into the show world and I can tell you I could not do this without my husbands(married 2 years) support. So We work alot of extra details on our days off (him more then me..I got to have sometime to ride !)because we fall under 100k a year together.And it is a challenge thats for sure!!:)

[twcolabear]

I work a FT job that I though would pay for a lot of stuff, but it is amazing how fast horsies can drain your bank acct. I am considering taking on a PT job so I can get some stuff my horsies need/pay credit card bills

[MazzyStar]

I wonder how many that voted that they make $100,000+ are ALSO supported by a parent, spouce, or signifigant other?

[seabreeze]

I work and do it all by myself, but as someone else stated, I can't really say I support a dressage hobby. It's more of a wannabe dressage hobby. If I could really support it with lessons and clinics and the like right now, it would be in the dressage discipline. But, financially and physically, it's a bit of challenge these days. Therefore, I'm working to support the pleasure horses. :)

[see u at x]

I work and do it all by myself, but as someone else stated, I can't really say I support a dressage hobby. It's more of a wannabe dressage hobby. If I could really support it with lessons and clinics and the like right now, it would be in the dressage discipline. But, financially and physically, it's a bit of challenge these days. Therefore, I'm working to support the pleasure horses. :)

I concur with this for the most part. Unfortunately, I had to stop my dressage lessons last December when my horse was injured in order to cover vet bills. My instructor was starting to drive me batty on top of that, so it hasn't been TOO much of a hardship. ;) However, during this most inopportune time, I ended up acquiring my second horse! I could afford the two horses without my second job, but it would be pretty tight. My f/t job pays well and has good bennies, and my p/t job is another office job which also pays pretty well and doesn't require me working on weekends.

No, I don't have a lot of extra time for other things besides my horses, really. Plus, with it being show season, things are pretty busy. I work Mon/Tues/Wed nites at the second job and then go to the barn on Thurs/Fri nites plus weekends. Since I'm not taking dressage lessons at the moment, I'm concentrating on refreshing both of my horses with the basics and doing some hunter flat classes. This way, I'm not spending the money on lessons, yet am still making both of them solid citizens, and get to enjoy showing on a smaller scale.

I'm hoping to resume lessons in a month or two with a different trainer, but I think we're going to focus on some hunt seat stuff for a while. She can easily coach me on the things required for a solid training level test with my flatwork, but can also teach me how to jump. I desperately want to do both!

[~Freedom~]

How do you find the money to keep riding?

Work full time and have a brothel on the side.;)

[Raison d'etre]

Where's the "I go to school and take out MAD student loans" option?

[normandy_shores]

Um, where is the part about having a full-time job as a stay at home mom?

Isn't the poll reflective of earning money for a job, not the "value" of that kind of "job"? (SAHM isn't a "job", it's a life's work. Or something like that.)

I think those in your category would fall under "supported by a significant other/family" or "social assistance".


-----

I work full time with a variety of part time jobs. On my own for the first time, supporting the two of us (me and pony), and jeez it sucks. Currently between fulltime jobs and FLOUNDERING.

I toss in a lesson here and there, but more importantly, a chiro visit for him or saddle fitting appointment.

And my ever supportive mother seems to always be there when needed.

[Adair]

I'm 19 and living at home while I go to college. My parents have always been kind enough to support my riding habit (half-leases and lessons) even though I tell them I don't mind paying for it - I think they pay because I don't expect them to. I ride other people's problem horses for free (I don't show and haven't found anyone willing to pay me for training) and they pay for lessons.

Recently I've found a great niche in the market for barn sitters. Last week I took care of 16 horses and went to my PT jobs (I babysit several times a week and work at a boutique). I can't imagine how you people do that every day. It's excellent money and it's fun to meet new horses and find new riding opportunities, but I was exhaused!. It also affords me the occasional stay outside of my house (it can get claustrophobic). This puts extra money in my ever-saving pocket. (I don't think I'll buy a horse until I have a lot more saved up, though - I've seen how expensive colic surgeries can get.) I pay for everything else except food and lodgings (my parents don't charge me rent :)) including cross country excursions (I love schooling cross country but haven't evented, even after 14 years of riding with event trainers).

So that's my financial situation. Finding an out-of-work horse with potential doesn't seem to be a problem and it suits my needs perfectly. If no one else is riding them, they're almost like yours :)

[freestyle2music]

Many years ago I was introduced during a clinic by a worldfamous dressagetrainer, with the words, "Here is the only person who earns something in this dressage-circus"

HOWEVER....
The money for the horses I bought, and the sponsoring I did in the dressage-world came from selling computers and software.

And when I see who pay the bills for our musicproductions today, it's mostly hubby, parents or grandparents.