The Business of being an Owner - Julia Hornig

This blog story is for all you dressage enthusiasts who aspire to own a competition horse - but can't/won't produce it yourself!  Does it work is the big question ...

I should introduce myself to anyone that does not know me.  During a fun and colourful career trading Asian and European stocks in the City I met Rebecca Hughes when I was looking for a Dressage Trainer.  This is now 30 - yes 30 years ago.  It's all been a blast and the experiences have been so much fun - I truly realise how very lucky and privileged I have been.

We began buying horses together as a joint venture - Rebecca is a phenomenal producer of young horses.  The end result of our plans and dreams came true with a European Gold Medal for Rebecca's husband Gareth with our Classic Briolinca in Germany 2023.  How did this happen?  It is like a fairytale.

I wanted to share with you the nitty gritty of being part of a team that could be this successful.  Mainly because I want more people to enter the sport in my capacity and understand the emotions and commitment required.  I want potential owners to come forward and feel they can speak to me and get serious help and advice.

I'm going to make you a table of what I think is very important when you decide to buy a horse to produce - just things to think about and be comfortable with.

1.  Dressage HAS to be a passion - it really is all about the journey.  My friend Lindsay Nicholson (she's just written a book called Perfect Bound - buy it -shameless plug) told me that there was no point holding your breath waiting for some victory that might not happen - you just have to enjoy every part of the training and that has to be enough.  She was so right.

2.  Sharing the costs - if you as an Owner have all the costs of buying and keeping then you make ALL the decisions.  And that is not so motivating for a dedicated rider.  Consider sharing costs so that you are both invested.  On one hand Riders are lucky that they can sell their skills whilst Owners have to earn the money, pay 20-40% tax and then pay bills.  On the other hand, Riders have to solve all the problems with the horse and have all the pressure to successfully train them - not so easy.

3.  Both parties have to be motivated.  That means discussing who gets what and who pays for what.  Remember the cost of training, competing, travelling are now huge.  A bonus for the dedicated Rider is paying for training and travel - it benefits everyone!

4.  Sell the odd horse.  That is smart all round.  Mind you if we had done that with Classic Briolinca that would not be so smart!  Stick with the horse you believe in.  We all did and really had to just stick it out through thick and thin.  It was total dedication and unwavering commitment from Rebecca, husband Gareth, Yard Manager Steph and her full care team - we never gave up.  

5.  I frequently consider giving up riding.  However it is not just a sport, it's a lifestyle that involves friendships, exercise and teamwork.  You lose all of this if you turn away from dressage

6.  A successful partnership - whether it is Rider/Owner or Rider/Horse is always unique.  Work on it - you will be rewarded.

7.  If you want to know more about what we do or even want to be a part of what we do I'd love to hear from you!  julia@classicdressage.com

 And then Rebecca and I did it again.  We chose a gangly 3yo Gelding by Tango at the Equine Elite Auction and successfully bid on him and brought him home.  Not expensive but we liked him.  He slowly journeyed up the levels with Rebecca right through to Grand Prix and once again Gareth put the finishing touches on.  And here he is winning the dressage at Windsor Horse Show this year 2024!  He followed through with British National Freestyle Champion in September this year.

Classic Goldstrike has been a darling.  Rebecca's daughter Ruby has even vaulted on him!  All three in the family - Rebecca, Gareth and Ruby have all competed Grand Prix with scores 66-73 depending on the length of the riders' legs.  AND Ruby was on the Bronze Medal Team at the Junior Europeans in 2023.

So do we sell him?  He's now 13 and has never had real time off for injury.  He's kind, willing and puts his best foot forward. These are the real troubling issues for Riders and Owners!   UPDATE on this post.

We have taken the hard decision to sell our lovely Goldstrike if the right home presents itself.  You may have seen the social media posts last week.  Luckily enough no-one was too judgemental.  Riders, Owners - we're all the same.  Mostly in the UK we're self made people who've had to earn the money to run our yards and buy horses - often out of 40% taxed income.  But we wouldn't change anything.  If we need to upgrade our arena surfaces or fix a driveway we have to come up with a huge amount of money which is why I made the point above - sell the odd horse - it's fine.  Please whatsapp Rebecca if you're interested

So another thought before you move on.  We're putting a syndicate together to buy a talented dressage horse.  Our idea is to support a talented young rider like Ruby Hughes through a financial contribution towards buying a horse with very manageable monthly costs for keep.   Ruby is 16 and has already been on the last 4 junior European teams - so we figure she's a keeper!!