Estimating the Global Dressage Economy

Why and How?

By building an estimate of the Global Dressage Economy (GDE) the community can develop arguments to use when negotiating with governments and sponsors. But how can we get a reasonable estimate?

I have started from the premise that the most important component to estimate is the national competitor. They clearly make up the bulk of dressage riders, and some fraction of what they spend actually feeds up (or down, depending on your perspective) the chain as they board their horses with higher level riders, or receive their training from them, or buy their horses from them. To avoid double counting I try to assess mostly the costs of this base of riders who compete mostly on a national basis. I know there are also many riding club members who do not own their own horses and whose outlays are less than this middle of the field national rider, but in a way they also feed into this middle layer, who use some of that income to finance their own riding and competition.

Please click here to read the rest of the article as it appears on the Eurodressage website.

Article written by: David Strickland