The Dressage Youth Dilemma

By George Williams

Lately, there has been considerable discussion regarding where all of the dressage youth have gone. Not surprisingly, numerous opinions have been expressed on the topic—of course, some pointing to easy targets that tend to make the solutions sound simple and uncomplicated.

As the Florida winter season is ending, looking back at the small number of youth entries in the CDIs—and for that matter on the national side, as well—it is once again a valid question: Where were the dressage youth? If it’s any consolation, the California CDIs did not fare any better.

I honestly don’t pretend to have the answer, and I’m not certain that anyone really does. If we zoom out to the 30,000-foot view, this is not limited to the U.S. or just a dressage problem. Looking at all youth sports, the Aspen Institute Project Play “2025 Annual Report on Trends in Youth Sports” refers to the 2009 recession when the rate of participation of youth in sports fell. The number of U.S. youth that played a team sport on a regular basis dropped to 40% in 2013. The rate of youth involved in all sports had another downturn during the COVID pandemic. Tom Farrey, founder and executive director of the Aspen Institute’s Sports and Society Program, gives “credit to all who have innovated to improve access to quality sports programs” for the recent positive uptick from those low numbers. According to a National Survey of Children’s Heath conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau in 2023, 55.4% of youth ages 6 to 17 played sports.

For dressage, there are several good youth programs in place. Whether they are offered through USEF, USDF, Dressage4Kids (D4K) or another entity, not all of them require a horse. But in general, the majority are primarily geared to those already riding. Logically, this brings up the question of accessibility of the sport.

Let’s start at the most basic point: If you’re a parent and early on your child shows a love of horses, what are you going to do? You might first search for a riding school where your child can take lessons. It could be a futile search in many parts of the country. Even if you’re lucky and are successful, the odds are slim that it will be a “dressage barn.” I’d like to give a shout out to The Dressage Foundation as they are launching a Riding School Fund this spring. While in the big scheme of things it’s a small step to try and offer some support to riding schools, it does recognize the importance of maintaining and increasing the number of riding schools around the country.

Another basic factor is that dressage is not a social sport. Too often a young person is the only one of that age in a stable full of older adults. I think for many, it explains part of the appeal of D4K. For me, Pony Club was my primary circle of friends as a teenager. It’s important to take into consideration the social aspect and basic need of belonging to a community. Along similar lines, dressage is not always fun for young people. A little diversification could help.

Dressage is not known as an adrenaline-producing sport for youth like, say, eventing. Nor does it offer quick rewards. It requires patience and discipline, as well as attention to small details. The old Pony Club model was an ideal way to introduce young people to riding. A little jumping (a feeling of flying), a little cross-country (galloping through fields) and a little dressage—just enough of each to become familiar with the three Olympic disciplines. Then, in your mid to late teens, you could be drawn to the discipline that calls your name. For sure, these are not the only avenues to provide a good, well-rounded background for dressage riders, as I discussed more fully in my column last summer.

In addition to the serious lack of riding schools in this country, we do not have a formal way to guide parents to choose a qualified instructor for their young equestrian. The USDF Professional Development Program’s Instructor Certification is a good start. Indeed, it needs to be more robust. While the program has been revamped over the last few years, I believe it still needs to be enhanced through increased education and, most importantly, increased buy-in from our top professionals. The USEF, working with the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee, has been exploring successful multi-discipline and multi-sport programs geared toward coaching. These could be an integral part of a professional development program. I wouldn’t be opposed to requiring all coaches of U.S. athletes at the NAYC to have completed a coaching program. From my perspective, we can do better in helping our young athletes become better, more rounded horsepeople.

And then there is Safe Sport. Safe Sport gets blamed for many of our shortcomings when it comes to bringing youth into dressage. I’m not going to delve into the topic of Safe Sport in this column. Certainly, while the Center for Safe Sport may be imperfect, the core principles behind Safe Sport are important. Suffice it to say that there is need for those core values to be understood and adhered to.

And now, the elephant in the room: There is absolutely no question whether equestrian sports can be expensive. However, equestrian sports are not alone. Going back to the Aspen Institute Project Play, their research shows that the costs of all youth sports has increased a “whopping” 46% since 2019! As a horse owner, I am very aware of how much the costs of owning a horse have increased over the years. I haven’t formally done a study, but my guess is that the costs have increased at a rate that is more similar to the 46% mentioned above than the 32.3% general inflation increase over the last 10 years. Between board rates, real estate prices, hay, feed, bedding, vet, farrier, showing, memberships, lessons, training, etc., expenses not only appear endless, they actually are.

In spite of all of that, from personal experience: Where there is a will, there is a way. Most of these costs are beyond our control. While I understand the challenges, I don’t think we can just shrug our shoulders and blame the expense of the sport for the lack of youth in dressage.

Finally, education and school are yet another factor for the low number of young people competing in dressage, especially here in Florida. Post-COVID education is requiring in-class attendance. Home schooling or online classes are not for everyone. Dressage is great, but a good education must be a priority for our youth.