Jennifer Parker has been riding since she was 3 years old and competed in many disciplines before specializing in dressage.
02/11/2025
I get regular calls from parents asking if their kid can take Dressage lessons. I don’t have any school horses and it’s too expensive to have a horse just for that purpose.
Fortunately, I have a client who is willing to let a Junior student ride and learn on her 23 year old FEI horse. At some point, though, this won’t work as the student will be too tall, the horse too old, etc. And the price of a decently trained, safe Dressage horse is out of the realm of possibility for most parents.
I’m not sure what the answer is.
𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐤𝐢𝐝𝐬?
I’ve been following a lot of passionate social media discussions surrounding recent Eurodressage articles. Many important topics have been brought forward, but the portion of the conversation that grabbed my attention has been centered around the question: Why don’t we see more kids riding dressage in the United States?
Well, I have an opinion (surprise, surprise).
Just give me a second to get my soapbox out here... Okay, ready.
To be very blunt, the recognized youth divisions in U.S. dressage are structured terribly, and that is definitively why we cannot get more kids in dressage.
Let me paint you a picture:
You are a non-horse parent with a 6-year-old kid that loves horses. You type "horseback riding lessons near me" into a search engine and start investigating. 90% of the programs that show up offer instruction in "hunt seat equitation." Must be popular! You see that the highest rated barn offers a summer camp and you decide to send your child. She loves it and starts making friends with the kids who ride at the barn. She begs for weekly riding lessons. She takes lessons one to two days a week until her trainer mentions that she is really getting quite good! She should start to compete.
She does the leadline division and gets exposed to an environment like the Devon Horse Show. Dreams ablaze in her heart she asks if she can have a pony of her own, but your family isn't ready for that type of commitment. "No worries," says the trainer. "You can lease our small pony." Then she ages out and you lease the medium pony...or the large pony... or the Junior Hunter.
But at some point your kid is getting quite good and the trainer helps you buy a competitive A-circuit equitation horse. Your daughter goes on to place well at several big championships, catching the attention of a noted trainer who offers to take her on as a rider. She goes on to become an assistant trainer, or to cruise happily around the amateur divisions. The End.
Everything curated. Everything clear. Their goal is to not overwhelm parents because there is real money in developing youth riders in hunter/jumper land and real milestones to attain from the time the kids are little. When that's true, the trainers are happy and structure their programs to make parents and children happy.
NOW, let's say your first call was to a dressage barn. Nine times out of ten, that conversation is going to go like this: "Hello! I am inquiring about riding lessons for my 6-year-old daughter." ...."Hi! Does she have her own horse?" ..."No, we don't.".... "Sorry, can't help you."
But maybe by the grace of god you happen to call one of the 10% of dressage barns that can accommodate beginner children. Your kid takes riding lessons there for two years. In her third year she might do some dressage schooling shows at Introductory Level, your trainer may even take her to some unrated hunter/jumper shows because the format is easier, cheaper and she can get more ring time. Next year your kid begs to show recognized at Training Level. At only ~10 years old she really does quite well on the barn's lesson pony! She qualifies for Regional Championships.
When you arrive in the warmup for your first class, you see your child's eyes widen to saucers. She rides over to her trainer and asks in hushed tones, "Is SHE in my class?" Yes, my dear, SHE is. Your eyes slide over to the 21-year-old rising professional riding her client's young horse, who appears to be the second coming of Glamourdale.
The class commences. Your kid rides her heart out on her lesson pony (you had tried to find something nice for her to lease for this year, but no luck finding a quality seasoned dressage pony for lease). Still, even with her best test of the year, she places third to last with a 62%. The young pro wins with a 74%. Not because your kid isn't great and skilled for her age, but because there is a CHASM in terms of experience and physical ability between a 10-year-old and a 21-year-old!
This is what it is going to look like for the next few years until you buck up and buy a pony for her to do FEI Children's or Ponies on (probably from Europe because that's the only place to reliably find a competitive pony that's actually been shown and proven by a kid). Sure, you could aim at Dressage Seat Equitation Medal Finals, which has a 13 and under division... if you have one of the few 10-year-olds who can ride First Level inside out and backwards, and you can find a size-appropriate mount for her to do it on.
In general, we do NOT provide the Disney experience to families like the hunter/jumper community does. We do not structure our divisions to give kids appropriate milestones (Like, HELLO - why not have an equitation class that is just Walk/Trot like they do in hunter/jumper land? Why can't we get out of our own way and reward correct basics without making the kids do leg yield zig-zags and counter canter and three changes of lead through trot on the diagonal?).
Because the way our youth divisions are structured is so challenging, no trainer really wants to structure their business around it. It's a bad gamble that will almost assuredly result in a ticked off parent and a disappointed kid. Much easier to help adult amateurs who already know they dislike hunter/jumper land pursue their medals.
So here are my counter-questions: We want to see more kids riding dressage. We want to see better horsemanship and depth at every level of the sport. Then where is the space for younger riders to compete, learn and connect with their peers? Where are the milestones for them to aim towards?
Until we have an outlet for these young kids to showcase their skill and test their ability in classes that are structured fairly, I think we are going to continue scratching our heads and wondering, "Where are the dressage kids?"
Read more musings at https://www.thedressageacademy.com/blog/
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