To finance her trip to Europe to train with international star Ulla Salzgeber, Emily Gershberg went deep into debt.

Gershberg, who runs Apple Hill Farm in Hudson, N.Y., with her brother, Adam, drained every bit of savings she had in order to spend last summer training with the two-time Olympic team gold medalist in Germany. She arrived there in early June 2004 with her 7-year-old, Dutch Warmblood gelding, Pancratius, and the trip cost her around $35,000.

She doesn’t regret the decision, though, and it’s a good thing since she’ll be paying for that decision for some time to come.

“I see it as an investment. It’s really no different than getting a graduate degree, which can be just as expensive,” said Gershberg, 41.

In her case, it was a necessary trip to advance her career as a professional trainer and rider. But just how many of the Americans who rush to Europe for training really need to be there?

As two-time Olympian Lendon Gray, of Bedford, N.Y., puts it, the Europeans have stumbled upon a good thing–Americans.

“They’ve found a gold mine with these Americans who believe they must rush off to Europe to become great riders and trainers,” she said.
Gray calls this phenomena “Europe envy,” noting that while the Europeans are more than happy to take in those Americans willing to pay for training, that doesn’t necessarily mean they all really belong there and will benefit from it.

“You go to Europe when you’ve done it all here,” said Gray emphatically. “When you’re competing here successfully at the international level, that’s when you go there to get the exposure and the experience of competing against the best in Europe.”

Gray didn’t make the trip to Europe to compete until she was consistently winning at Grand Prix at home, 20 years ago. When she did, she was humbled.

“At the time that I went to Europe to compete, I was one of the most successful riders in the U.S. When I got to Europe, I discovered that the bar of competition was even higher. I learned a tremendous amount competing against the Europeans,” she said.

Gray believes that there are now so many good instructors and trainers at home that most American riders can get the training they need without leaving the U.S. shore.

You Don’t Have To Ride When You Go

Another former Olympian, Charlotte Bredahl-Baker, of Santa Ynez, Calif., shares Gray’s view.

Bredahl-Baker and Gray are each dedicated to helping younger, upcoming riders advance. Gray focuses much of her energy on her programs for young riders, and Bredahl-Baker has taken to coaching young riders, including traveling with them to Europe for a chance to watch European trainers and competitors. She believes that the European exposure is good for young riders–but usually as spectators.

“It’s good for them to go over there and see what it’s like. It gives them exposure to European training methods and lets them see the competition they might one day be up against,” Bredahl-Baker said. “Having said that, I don’t think it’s always necessary to go over, especially for young riders. There are very good trainers here.”

Gershberg, one of those American riders who long dreamed of training in Europe, would agree. “I always felt that either I wasn’t good enough or the horse wasn’t good enough. It’s too expensive to do this if neither you nor the horse is at the right level,” she said. “But the time was now right. I had the horse and was offered the opportunity.”

Gray said the one justifiable reason she can see for average dressage riders to pack their bags for Europe is to gain access to schoolmaster horses, of which she believes there is a shortage in the United States.

But Bredahl-Baker, a native of Denmark, doesn’t believe that Europeans really do have more abundant schoolmasters. She said that the schoolmasters are here, but American riders are too impatient to earn the right to sit on them.

“If you have a good rapport with a trainer, that trainer will usually have something for you to ride,” Bredahl-Baker said. “No, they won’t let you ride a horse they’re competing, but then neither will the Europeans.”

After she retired her 1992 Olympic mount, Monsieur, Bredahl-Baker allowed students to ride him as a schoolmaster.

“But not just people off the street,” she said. “One had to earn that right.”

Since she too believes that Americans can gain access to good trainers and schoolmasters without venturing across the ocean, Bredahl-Baker agrees with Gray that only those competing successfully at the FEI levels in the United States should make that European trip. In the past, a foreign excursion was manda-tory to gain exposure to European judges, but that’s not as important today as so many European judges come here to give clinics or to judge.

Still, the European riders don’t come here to compete. “Thus, in order to see how you measure up against the Europeans, you do need to go to them,” Bredahl-Baker said.

The Right Time

It wasn’t competition that took Gershberg to Europe, but training for what was finally the right horse. Hence, once invited by Salzgeber to train with her, Gershberg seized the opportunity to have access to one of the most successful competitors in the world.

“There is so much education that you can gain. My horse moved along so quickly. When we arrived, he could barely do a flying change, and within weeks he was doing two-tempi changes and canter pirouettes,” Gershberg said. “In Germany you’re submerged in an atmosphere where people take their riding very seriously.”

But it isn’t a cheap submersion. The roundtrip airfare for a horse to Europe runs around $10,000. Then there are the monthly board and training fees, which vary greatly but average $1,500 to $2,000 a month. And unless you sleep with your horse, you’ll have your own room and board expenses. If the trip involves showing, then there are show and shipping fees.

It’s not unrealistic for a three-month stay in Europe to cost a minimum of $20,000, but $30,000 is a more realistic budget. Those who make a living as professional trainers and instructors must add to this cost the income they’ll lose while away.

Gershberg was fortunate in that Adam was able to run their training business. Others aren’t so lucky. Gershberg trains with Chris Hickey, who also trained in Germany with Salzgeber last summer.

“When you’re in Europe, you aren’t making any money,” Gershberg said. “Chris flew home to do clinics so that he didn’t lose so much income.”

Tom Noone, of Scituate, Mass., has made several European sojourns, and he knows how difficult it is to stay in business while away.

“Sometimes you just have to hope that when you return home, your clients will come back to you,” said Noone, who rode in the 2001 FEI World Cup Final. “I try to emphasize to them that I’m leaving so that I can gain more knowledge that will allow me to help them more when I come back.”

To support his students while he’s gone, Noone lines up other trainers who “share the same philosophy and training methods as I do” to cover for him.

Gershberg hopes that her training trip will not only turbo-charge her career with Pancratius, but that her students–both current and future–will also see it as an added benefit for them.

“Whether or not it’s valid, if you have some European experience on your resume, people think that you’re better,” she said. “Thus, my hope is that my trip will open doors and bring in more clients.”

The Bottom Line

If it’s so expensive to train and show in Europe, how do so many American riders manage it? The less wealthy mortgage their homes, deplete retirement accounts, take out personal loans, sell off belongings (sometimes horses), drain life savings, and knock on doors, lots of doors.

While the U.S. Equestrian Federation regularly sends riders abroad, those trips are only available to riders who’ve already made a U.S. team. It’s not available to those seeking the training and competition experience that will get them on the team.

One of the most common ways to fund a European trip is through clients with the financial means to send you. Trainer Lendon Gray said those willing to put in the work and years building their professional careers at home will in time “earn” the client base that can provide financial support.

“Once you’re competing successfully at the top here, people will help you,” she said matter-of-factly. “People forget that our top riders who do go to Europe worked hard to get there. You have to pay your dues to build the relationships and to build your reputation. Once you’ve done that, then you’ll get the clients who can afford to send you and a horse to Europe.”

Rider Tom Noone said that networking is the key, not just for the funds to get there, but also to get an invitation.

“Even if you can get the money together, you can’t just say, ‘OK, I’m going to Europe now.’ You either need a referral from someone or you need to impress a trainer,” he said. “The really good trainers don’t have empty stalls sitting around.”

Another option, which also requires the right connections, is to get accepted as a working student with a European trainer. Gray cited Olympic riders Lisa Wilcox and Michelle Gibson as examples. But she warned that young riders considering this option need to realize that it will be work–really hard work, as some of Gray’s own young riders have discovered.

Riders who lack the clients with the funds to pay their way and who can’t go the working student route do have some other options. But, as Emily Gershberg discovered, they require a bit of legwork too.

“It’s a bit like researching scholarships for graduate school,” she said.

She found that there are scholarship programs out there. Most don’t pay much, but, as Gershberg said, “every penny counts.” In the end, she expects to get about $10,000 of her costs covered.

Although the U.S. Dressage Federation doesn’t offer any programs itself, it will assist in providing links to others that do. And some regional dressage organizations offer assistance. For example, Gershberg got $1,500 from the New England Dressage Association.

Check out organizations that aren’t dressage organizations too. One of the best is the American Horse Trials Foundation. Although geared toward supporting American event riders, the foundation, which helps about 100 riders a year, will assist others, like Gershberg.

Riders must solicit contributions to the AHTF, and in exchange the foundation will provide the riders with financial support. The benefit of working through the foundation is that it allows donors to gain a tax deduction, something they can’t do by donating to riders directly.

Perhaps the best financial support can be found through The Dressage Foundation. Created in 1989 by Lowell Boomer, The Dressage Foundation has a variety of scholarship programs, probably the best-funded programs around. In 2004, the TDF had more than $100,000 available for scholarships.

The bottom line is that with a bit of research and a bit of creativity, it’s possible to piece together the finances that will get you that European exposure needed at the international level. As Gershberg said, just be ready and willing “to work for it.”