Month: February 2015

First – thanks to Sprinkler Bandit for asking me to be in her awesome Ammy Hour series! Such a cool idea. If you’re feeling particularly masochistic today, you can go read all about me here.

Otherwise it’s been kind of a boring week for me. I had a jumping lesson on Wednesday night in lovely 60 degree weather that went pretty well, and then tried to do a dressage ride yesterday. It was really cold (38) and I was thinking that if all these other bloggers can talk about riding in 15 and 20 degree weather, surely I could suck it up and handle the upper 30’s. It was also really windy and honestly, it was misery. Henry felt awful, I felt awful, and the whole experience in general was awful. How do you northerners do this? I do not get it. I’m opting out today and bowing down to all those who are obviously tougher than I.

Otherwise I’m just getting all my stuff ready to leave for Europe on Monday. So excited! I think and hope I’ve gotten everything that I need, all I have left to do is pack. It’s actually warmer there today than it is here…

WHHHHYYYY????

And yes, I might have already had the tack shop in Paris put something on hold for me to pick up while I’m there. International tack ho.

In my ramblings the other day about entering horse shows, the cost difference between h/j and eventing came up. I am always kind of floored by how affordable eventing is, having come from jumperland. ***Before I even get started I’m going to insert the disclaimer of “I know it varies for everyone, depending on your personal circumstances” so instead of telling me I’m wrong (because for mine I’m not) tell me how it’s different for you.***

For me personally there’s a huge difference between the cost of a USEF recognized horse trial and an A rated h/j show, but when I say that to eventers they tend to look at me as if I’ve grown a second head. Don’t get me wrong, neither sport is cheap. Nothing about horses in general is ever cheap. But as far as competing goes, in my circumstances, eventing wins the best value award.

Part of it is that eventing is a little more of a no-fuss, no-frills, independent type of sport. They don’t tend to set up elaborate mini-villages with drapes and tables and foliage at shows, they don’t tend to have grooms that you’re paying per day, and they definitely tend to not have a trainer with them every step of the way during a competition. In eventing your trainer cannot help you once you’re in the ring, and there are rules about warm-up and “outside assistance” that foster a you’re-on-your-own feeling at shows. In fact, a lot of them roll their trusty rusty Stanley plastic trunks into their stall spaces, set up their tack hooks on the outside (tack stalls and grooming stalls, pffft), and warm themselves up. It’s pretty darn rare to hear the words “I have to wait for my trainer” come out of an eventer. I’m not saying that makes them better (because god knows some of them could definitely use a trainer), it’s really just an entirely different mindset. They also seem a lot more likely to camp out – I have never in my life heard of anyone legit camping at a h/j show, but no one would bat an eye at a tent at an event. Note: I am not one of those people, I like having a shower and WiFi. They’re also more likely to haul themselves places (therefore making it easier to be so DIY when you’re not trainer-dependent for transportation) which in turn makes it easier for a sad non-trailer-owning person like me to split gas and bum a pretty cheap ride instead of paying a trainer up to $1/mile. So I pulled out some old show bills from my h/j days, one from an A show and one from a local level show, plugged those costs in, then put my eventing costs for similar level competitions next to them, for the sake of comparison.

First lets look at schooling shows, or non-USEF recognized shows:

And then a recognized event and rated h/j show:

A few explanations of my numbers: for the hotel cost I used a flat rate across the board of $50 per night. Obviously if the show is longer it requires more nights in a hotel. Usually I try to share a room with someone so that’s a fairly accurate guess, and in an effort to make it fair I stuck to a standard $50/night rate for all shows. There aren’t a lot of shows close enough to Austin to make it just a day trip, so hotel is almost always a factor. Trailering fees look different because when I was showing h/j I never had the option of tagging along with someone who had their own trailer, therefore I had to pay whatever the trainer charged. Almost all of my eventing friends have their own rigs so it’s a definite cost saver. Also at h/j shows paying a per diem trainer fee wasn’t really negotiable, that’s just how it was done. At events I can pick and choose which days I want trainer assistance (if any). For the sake of fair comparison I kept the trainer fee in the events, even if I wouldn’t necessarily be paying it. All other fees are show fees and therefore concrete, although obviously some events/shows are cheaper or more expensive than others. The ones I chose here for the recognized/rated columns are both what I would call toward the upper end of average, cost wise, for this area.

 

I also didn’t include food costs since that varies, or gas if I drove myself, but I did include a line to mention whether or not some meals/free food are provided by the show to competitors. To me that’s a money saving perk. Feed me.

The potential to win back money exists at some shows too, and is worth considering. Granted I have never won back enough money at any show to really make much of a dent, so to me it’s not much of a draw, but to others it is. What I do think is pretty interesting, and worth noting when looking at comparisons like this, is that events are largely run by volunteers. IMO that helps keep the costs down. On one hand it seems like it would require more manpower in the way of XC jump judges, bit check, etc. But when you consider that most h/j shows are running several rings at a time (and all that that entails) I would bet that the number of people needed comes pretty close to equaling out.

 

As you can see, for me, the savings is pretty substantial. I can do 5 recognized horse trials for what it would cost me to do 2 A rated h/j shows. The same ratio applies on the schooling side –  I could do 5 unrecognized events for what it would cost me to do 2 schooling h/j shows. My reality? It’s 2.5x more expensive to show my horse as a jumper than as an eventer.

Honestly it seems like no matter what the cost is, everyone will always think it’s too much. That’s human nature I guess. Even in triathlon, where entry fees are generally from $70-120ish per race, they constantly lament about how expensive it is while I just laugh to myself. At least at the end of a triathlon you almost always get a medal and cookies… I can’t even imagine how delighted I would be if someone gave me a medal and cookies every time I came out of the ring at a show.

I would be interested in hearing what the costs of h/j vs eventing and rated/recognized vs schooling are like for other people! I’m jealous of those who are are only a short drive away from your show venues and don’t have to pay stall/hotel all the time… makes me miss Maryland.

 

Something interesting happened on facebook the other night when someone tagged me in a comment on a photo. It was interesting because it was MY photo that I took of my friend’s young stallion Diabolo D’Esquelmes a few summers ago here in Texas. Only problem? It was posted by someone I don’t know, and the caption said that it was her young horse Winston. Umm… no.

This really begs the question: what the hell??? Perusing this person’s page and doing a little sleuthing uncovers that many of their photos are stolen.

I really wonder why the heck anyone would do this. This is definitely not a kid playing some kind of internet game because the page can be traced back to a real life adult woman. Are you just inventing a fake internet life for attention? Or are you trying to do something worse and more fraudulent by creating a fake business with a fake reputation and fake credentials? And really – do you think no one will notice? The Global Sporthorses page has almost 2500 likes – what’s going on here?

In case there’s any doubt, here’s more pics I took of DD that day

And pictures of his buddies, Cartier R and Jus D’o. Obviously the same jump and the same venue.

I’m not a photographer, so I don’t mind people using my pictures elsewhere. These are on facebook and have been re-facebooked several times for legit reasons, plus shown up in articles and blog posts. What I do mind is people taking them and using them for fraudulent purposes, lying to people, and making themselves look like jerks on the internet. Someone explain this to me because I don’t get it.

USPS for the win – the Devoucoux arrived on Saturday. I may or may not have been outside in the driveway stalking the mailman. I may or may not have opened the box IN the driveway because I couldn’t handle myself. Whatever. She’s beautiful.

 

I’m really pleased with the condition, it’s in good shape and the panels literally look brand new, there’s nary a scratch or rub on them. As soon as I pulled it out of the box I stuck it in the car and went to the barn to try it out. It fits Henry pretty well and I find it SUPER comfortable. My leg seemed to just fall exactly where it was supposed to go, no effort required, and I really love the narrower twist. I did a quick ride in it and Henry felt great – dunno if it’s the saddle or the chiro or both but he gave me two stretchy trot circles. So far so good… I think it’s a keeper. I’ve never had a monoflap before so I was really surprised by how light it is, and I love the leather. Now I can’t wait for the dressage shaped Ogilvy and calfskin leathers to come so it’s appropriately outfitted. Yes this means I’ll have a lot of stuff for sale soon!

I ended up working on Sunday morning and wasn’t planning on riding, but peer pressure won out and I ran out to the barn to beat the cold front. Of course, as soon as I got on and started trotting the wind really picked up and so did a lovely freezing cold drizzle. Princess Henry was NOT amused. I wasn’t amused either, I’d been riding in t-shirts all week. I did a quick 10 minute warm-up and then hopped him over a few fences before running back into the barn where it was warm(er) and giving him lots of cookies for being a good sport. It was not beautiful course work by any means but he was a trooper and stayed rideable (even in just his sidepull) despite being mad and cold and rained on, so we’ll call it a win.

You should really watch the video all the way through the very end to see the surprise. Thanks Bobby.

Henry Feb 22 from amanda chance on Vimeo.

I also Harry Potter-fied my schooling pad, because I just felt like I had to do something to make dressage more fun. Ironing is about as crafty as I get, so this was manageable.

Otherwise it was just a typical weekend of spin, food, and a little bit of much needed down time. And guess what: ONE WEEK TIL EUROPE!

PS – my horse is a derp.