Mentor: Hospital Techs, Northeast Georgia Medical Center; Jill Henneberg (Olympian and trainer), American Heritage/different horse farms
Throughout the United States, different disciplines in the equine industry have failed to be recognized as sports. While other professional athletes in sports like soccer, basketball, and football get paid millions of dollars each year, professional riders live paycheck to paycheck to participate in something that they love. Since riders do not have the luxury of getting paid to pursue their passion, they often turn to side businesses and other jobs outside of the equine industry to get their funding. I researched another way for riders to get financing while staying in an area that they are already familiar with. This idea is known as importing horses which is flipping horses from a different country for profit. While importing horses may take a large amount of backing, riders can almost immediately see financial gain. My research outlines the benefits of bringing foreign breeds into the U.S. and the impact this can make on a rider’s career. Not only does my research reflect what I learned about the benefits of importation, but it also expounds upon the downfalls of equine sports, especially eventing, and highlights steps that need to be taken to correct these errors. The conclusions that I reached include the simplicity of experienced riders making money off of importation and the necessity of reaching different groups of people to share equine competitions with. Pursuing equine-related careers is a dying industry. Without the backing from the riders within their very own sport and broadcasting what different disciplines are all about to the public, there is little room for growth and fixing. My research allows riders to correct what has gone wrong all of these years and to show people how incredibly beautiful a connection with a large animal really is.
Website: https://importinghorses.weebly.com/