Squeezed finances have hit competition as British Dressage (BD) reveals a drop in how often its members compete.
The finding came as part of BD’s latest competitor survey, released on 17 May. It received 3,256 responses from members who had actively competed in the past four years – a near-identical number to the last survey in 2019.
Although the picture was broadly rosy – satisfaction scores were up across the board and people are largely happy with the competition structure – the survey found that cost of living is having an impact on members’ ability to compete. This is less pronounced among full members, the proportion of whom competing at least once a month is only slightly down from 78% in 2019 to 77%, compared to club and para riders.
“Only 50% of club members now compete at least once a month, representing a 15% decrease from the 2019 survey, while para has fallen from 61% to 55% over the same period,” state the survey notes.
BD chief executive Jason Brautigam told H&H that membership “continues to go from strength to strength” with a record 18,500 members and 17,000 horses registered.
“Our total participation numbers are up year on year and overall the sport is in good health, although on a per member basis there is evidence that riders are competing slightly less frequently, down marginally by 2.5% versus 2022,” he said.
“This is supported by the findings in our survey, and is an inevitable consequence of the cost-of-living crisis and inflationary pressures. With less discretionary spend available, competitors are perhaps staying closer to home rather than travelling longer distances. The high cost of fuel has definitely had an impact, although thankfully the price at the pumps is finally now coming down.”
He added that conversely, engagement in regional training is up by almost 30% year on year, indicating interest in dressage has not diminished and that riders “are finding other cost-effective ways of continuing to measure their progression”.
“We will continue to monitor this closely and will work with our venues to ensure that competing with BD still offers good value for money,” said Mr Brautigam.
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