To think, people say horse riding is really expensive/posh, when actually a lot of other hobbies are just as or more expensive

[LardLizard]

Like dancing for example, I know people that spend far more on that

I do it because I love it. I always have done and I always will.

People seem to think all horse riders are born with a silver spoon in their mouths and that's what gets my back up.

I think the total cost for my horse is under £200 a month, including all vet, physio, insurance etc. £50 a week for something that makes me happy, helps with my mental health and is fantastic exercise is IMO priceless.

A 1 hour group Horse riding lesson for my 8 year old at a half decent school locally costs about £30, and that's before spending ££££ on jodhpurs, boots, hat, body protector etc or the possibility of a horse of her own.

Her weekly ballet lesson costs about £5, and the clothing about £20 in total.

Brownies is £25 a term, about £2 a week.

Horse riding is definitely for the better off.

beepbeepimasheep

The flaw in your costings is that you're using decent range tennis and cricket gear and comparing them with pretty low range horse riding gear.

Yes, you can buy a riding hat for £50, or a bp for £60 - but only if you're happy with that level of protection and the fit suits the individual wearing it. I rarely pay less than £100 for a hat (due to shape and safety requirements) and you can easily pay £200 for a good bp. You could spend over £100 on short boots (or hundreds more if you really wanted). Equally, you can buy a tennis racquet for a tenner and some trainers for not much more - depending on how seriously you're pursuing it. In general, horsey equipment comes with a huge mark up, and isn't cheap. It's disingenuous to suggest otherwise.

Sorry I have realised I got confused by the OP as she is actually asking two separate questions - she is asking if it is really expensive/posh? These are two different things.

My response was about it not being considered posh in my area because so many people do it, it's probably considered quite commonplace rather than posh or elitist. That doesn't mean it isn't expensive.

It's £12 a hour here and not considered a posh hobby.

A bit off topic

Rode as a child / early teens. Recently rode on holiday - OK only for 3 hours and could barely walk a couple of,days afterward.

If I wanted to,take up,riding again as an adult, maybe for something to do at the weekend, where could I go and what would the cost be? Is there any such things for adults? And does any special clothes etc have to be purchased?

Am in London and in my50s.

Don't mean to derail thread.

DiseaseofSheep.
Agreed. £60 for a body protector is an absolute joke.

like pretty much every other hobby I could name.(Ever tried owning a boat or a classic car?)

More beautiful demonstrations of people only being able to think of expensive hobbies - keep 'em coming.

Noone considers themselves posh or rich. I've not seen anyone on the thread questioning the hobby -eg cow etc saying it's fine to spend 50quid a week on something they enjoy. Of course it is! No one's questioning that, but to make out that it's cheap or accessible hobby to most kids is the problem it just isn't!

We live rurally and whilst riding isn't seen as posh it is definitely more expensive than other hobbies. When DD stopped a few years ago her lessons were £16 for an hour in a group. The car park was mostly full of slightly beat up muddy old cars and the kids would hand around after to help out around the stables (not to earn free rides but just to spend more time with the horses). So yes prohibitively expensive for many, but definitely seen as a normal hobby around here.

OTOH the fact that the DC do rowing provokes a lot of ridicule from friends and family. They see it as an upper class sport full of posh snobs but the reality couldn't be further from the truth. I don't have to pay for each session but pay £12.50 a month and they do 3-5 sessions each week (averages about 70p per 2 hour session). Competing is expensive some months (maybe £150 a year in race entries), but I put aside money throughout the year to cover it and if parents can't afford entries the club pays. No specialist kit apart from a racing all-in-one. On top of that the kids are responsible for looking after the boats, doing basic repairs on them and preparing the boats for competitions. From my involvement in the sport I really don't understand how it's got the posh reputation when the only real factor that makes it exclusive is proximity to a river!

My DPs family all live rurally in farming country. They certainly see riding as posh. But there seems to be a big divide between ordinary working class people, and middle class people.

Riding is pretty expensive even if you just have lessons on a riding school horse. Been there, done that. If you want to take it further it's going to cost.

But then so does any sport. I fenced seriously (international) and between the cost of kit, weapons and travel to competitions that too is very, very expensive.

Taking any sport to international standards is expensive. Difference is most sports you do have a cheap option for kids to do weekly. Lots of kids do swimming, football, dance, all usually very cheap to do as a fun activity.
Horse riding, fencing, classic cars, tennis, boars, are all sports that are dominated by better off people. There is a reason for that.

The only horsey person I know is as far from posh as you can imagine. However she works a ridiculous amount of overtime as a support worker to afford her hobby. She would be the first to admit it is expensive and not hugely accessible to most people. It's not inverse snobbery to point that out.

Pointy - no as seen by this sport "any sport" does not cost at entry level. Tons of examples on this thread of swimming, dance, football, gymnastics etc etc don't cost much at entry level often a fiver or less a week.

Comparing entry level horse riding (inaccessible to many due to cost) and international level sport costs is just bizarre! My kids can do fencing at school for a few pounds a week if they wanted. Football/netball/athletics/dance/running all free.

diseaseofthesheep

The riding hat was Charles Owen, I forget the make of the body protector but it was reduced from £90 to £60 in the sale. The short boots were leather ones, the chaps were a decent make and lasted about three years.

DH and I met rowing. Now there's a sport that can be very expensive (his 1x was more than £6000 and that's before racking, roofbars etc) but can be in the £5-10 a week category.

Which is fine, beepbeep if that style of CO hat happens to suit the shape of the head you're buying it for, and is suitable for the disciplines they intend to do in it. The make is, largely, irrelevant, provided it carries the correct safety standards (PAS or SNELL) and is well fitted to the head. Shapes vary hugely, so whilst you might get lucky and get a good hat for that sort of price point, you equally may well not.

If you cut corners on a pair of trainers for tennis and they don't fit perfectly, you probably won't suffer huge consequences. If you cut corners on the fit of a hat, you risk serious consequences in the event of a fall and a head injury (and god knows, they're not uncommon for horse riders).

Obviously you got a decent deal on the BP. I have a £40 bargain, discounted from c. £100 spare BP, and a £200 decent one I use for XC - the difference in fit, comfort and quality is huge (and again, this partly depends on individual shape etc). Again, this isn't really something you want to compromise on - if the £60 BP fits your child best, and meets safety standards, you absolutely should use it. If it doesn't fit properly, you may well be looking at shelling out £200, or risking injury due to a poorly fitted, interfering BP. This is partly because there are relatively few manufacturers of riding PPE out there, compared to manufacturers of trainers or other general equipment for other sports. Less competition, etc.

You can get lucky and find bargains as you describe, but that's not really comparable to the really decent mid range gear you list for other sports.

I rowed at uni! I didn't realise it was posh. There's a local canoe club thats cheap as chips and will even do the basic training we were thinking of for our kids.

Tally hoo! And all that.

Rowing can be very posh. Posh rowing for me is taking exactly the right cushy part-time job (possibly coaching one of the schools) in Henley and spending 2-3 hours a day on the water and similar off the water, in the hopes of a GB spot but certainly a good club place for HRR medals.

Normal rowing is about 4-6 hours a week in a Janny slightly the wrong weight, training for other local club heads/regattas over spring/summer where you're mildly grateful to get knocked out by midday so you increase your bacon butty and homemade cake opportunities.

It's not considered posh here (I don't personally like that term)
We do live near a lot of farms and rural land so there are many horse riding schools so perhaps more accessible than other places. My youngest dd is going to start riding soon as there is a fantastic place near us that helps disabled children ride, that did have a long waiting list and more expensive than other places but it's easy to see why.

As with any hobby, the costs can vastly increase from when you start. It stops being a hobby when you progress to being a serious competitor I think.

My dd started gymnastics as a hobby, wasn't too expensive to start with but now she is 10.5 and it is very, very expensive.

She is in the gym 6 days a week, everything costs! From monthly fees, physio, normal gym clothes, competition gym clothes, club uniform, country uniform for walk ons, leotards, competition leotards (different for pair and individual tumbling) weights, blocks & other equipment, competition entry fees and the list goes on and on.
Travelling is the killer, originally the competitions started locally, then across Britain and now throughout Europe with different travel for certain training too, even with sponsors and fundraising it's a lot.

So, I think skills and money can progress within any hobby or sport. My friends son was an amazing swimmer and her costs were very similar to ours now.

My dh's hobby is more expensive than I even care to think about tbh (music based) though that's more to do with the things he wants, not the things he needs! (he'd argue that he does need them of course )

I agree with the PPs who have pointed out that, although other hobbies can cost as much/more than horse riding there's not really a true cheap and cheerful version of horse riding. My DD loves riding and begged for years to have lessons. We pay £12 per week for a half hour lesson and have to periodically buy equipment which even if not the top of the range is much more expensive that, say, a cheap pair of trainers or dance outfit. There's no way we could afford to own a horse (not sure she really believes this) but we've agreed she can learn and then if she wants to spend her own money on horses when she's working that's up to her.

However, I think I understand your point about the inverse snobbery. I have a couple of friends who quite pointedly told me that they would not allow their DC to have such an expensive hobby when DD first started riding (acting like I was clearly spoiling her). Yet now they spend silly money on their DCs hobbies (which could be done cheaply but they choose to have top of the range everything/travel for events etc) .

To clarify, it's my middle dd doing the gymnastics..

I have two horses , currently loaned out. I'm lucky that I had my own stables and fields so avoided livery charges , but with vet fees, worming, hot shoeing, the odd trip out to a show in a hired box , getting kitted out I could easily spend a grand . Ridiculous hence loaning out now to save some money. Weekly private lessons cost £26 for half HR. Good quality hat £60 rest of 'kit' handed down. If your sat on a friends pony walking round a field it's cheap, there's some pretty run down riding schools that do cheap (comparatively) lessons but overall I'd say horse riding IS an expensive hobby. It's not. 'Posh ' thing to do, only if you make it .