She didn't compete at the Olympic level, but at a level or two under that. I think she was a Amateur Adult champion one year.

Olympic caliber dressage horses can reach $500,000 a piece but usually not more than that. They usually don't come anywhere near the price of Kentucky Derby type race horses. Some in fact are rejects from the racing world.

Back when I was first learning dressage (a few decades ago) t-breds were common. The American Dressage Institute had a string of t-breds. A classmate of mine was making a go for it on a t-bred.

Keen was one of the last of them to make the big league. Around that time, I was a working student for Kathy Connelly -- she made her name locally on a re-habbed t-bred who had been on the Olympic team but foundered with complete rotation before getting to the games. (She worked with a farrier who was able to re-grow his hoof over the coffin bones) and was riding another t-bred (Gabrielle) who was on the USET watch list and described as possibly the best t-bred in dressage in the US at the time.

But around that time, the money people took over and changed the scoring system in competition to favor fancy movement (and expensive horses). Originally, judges scored each movement or sequence based on the horse's intrinsic ability, so that correctness, willingness, harmony between horse and rider, etc. counted for more and scored higher than a horse with big, expressive, flashy gaits that was incorrect.

They changed the system to one in which judges give a baseline grade on the overall quality of the horse's gaits and then score each movement from there. So a horse with correct and nice, but not huge, gaits may start with a baseline of, say, 7 for the trot. Then each movement or sequence is scored starting from 7. If they do it perfectly, they'll get a 7. A late transition or not perfectly round circle may drop it to a 6 or 5. But the horse with the big, expressive trot starts with say a 9, and any small imperfection in the movement drops it to an 8. So you can see where that leads. Whoever can afford to buy the fanciest horse has a big edge.

If you look at the USET dressage team now, the horses are all European warmbloods, usually either Dutch or German Hanoverian or Oldenburg. Mostly owned by 1%ers, or those lucky enough to pick up a 1% sponsor.

Although the horses that Anne rides are not Olympic quality, they do partly own some international quality dressage horses. They are part-owners of the one that Jan Eberling took to the World Cup. The good news is that US has yet to be able to buy the Olympics in dressage, as hard as they are trying. Apparently even putting a German trainer on the team (there was a certain amount of grumbling down in the ranks, as up and coming Americans were spurned for 'lacking international experience, while Jan, not good enough for German's team, moved here and got on ours) isn't working. At the world cup, with all Mitt's money behind him, he still only placed 11th out of 14.

And also, fwiw, there is a lot to be said for rescuing, say, a little arabian from starvation and neglect, starting him and training him yourself, and beating out some of the warmbloods. His scores may have only just been 60% to a 1%ers 70%, but who really had the bigger accomplishment or the closer bond with their horse?

beyond the lowest levels, let alone Grand Prix. Older school master GP horses with past international careers can retail for $500k, or those who are competing at the smaller, less prestigious shows, but those who are fairly young and operating at the top of the field are easily much more than that.

too expensive, not expensive enough. she needs more horses.

People collect what interests them, and what they can afford.

And yes, I suspect her animals are worth considerably more than a quarter million, and that she spends a sum greater than most people's annual income for their care and upkeep. Horses are like boats in that regard: expensive to purchase and a continuing drain for as long as you maintain them.

(Definition of "boat": A hole in the water into which the owner pours money.)

I read awhile back that Ann Romney pursued dressage as a means to cope with her MS. So there's a medical rationale for her hobby. I see a similar reasoning behind my love of books. They help keep me sane.

Most people who ride who have MS give up the sport, because very reliable horses are more expensive. Not as expensive as her horses, of course, but expensive nonetheless.

the Silver Sneakers class at the Y.

let alone her houses. Today $250,000 only buys a modest bungalow. Never mind the price of the horse, there is so much more to owning a horse and maintaining one. One of my neighbors are a couple that are veterinarians. They train horses for dressage. However, their services are not cheap so the owners of those horses are pretty much of the 10% if not the 1%.

to convert money to manure.

/horses are almost always a financial disaster no matter how often horse owners refer to their "investment".

//''But he won 500 bucks at the last competition!" And it only took 20,000 in food and veterinary care to get him there. Oh and don't ask about stable fees or the cost of tack or . . .

He would have to spend a lot more on the horses than he does now.

If you have a stallion or mare that does very well in competition and has a good quality bloodline, you can put them in a breeding program after you retire them from competition and market them long after they retire from competition. That's where race horse owners make money. Course stallions may make for unpredictable dressage or jumping horses.

I also wonder how these horses are/were treated once she finished with them. If she doesn't "get" that strapping a dog in a carrier to the roof of a car is abuse, well, I would have to wonder about these horses, as well. I'm sure the horses were looked after by employees, etc., but what about when their worth to her had diminished? Sold to slaughter?

Animals and lesser humans are of no concern when they no longer have use for them.

Any ideas how we would find out???

Mitt doesn't worry about me or my pets. You know, that whole safety net for the poor thing. Well I guess I can always share my safety net food with my pets

$250k, just that one horse alone. By Ann's own admission she has more horses than that - so many she keeps that number a secret from Mitt.

The horse at the World Cup is probably an $800k horse all by itself - an international dressage mare is extremely valuable (would be even more valuable if it were a stallion but with embryo transfers, the mare is also a valuable commodity indeed).

has little to nothing to do with it other than providing the $$ and playing horse-world politics. The trainers, handlers, and barn employees are what matters.

Very few of the people you see riding have much to do with the competition.

Yes, the Mittster most certainly only operates as "the bank" for Ann's "hobby" but Ann is deeply involved in the dressage community and does actively ride herself.

I don't understand your last line "Very few of the people you see riding have much to do with the competition. "

My husband's currently a professional dressage and combined training rider and trainer, we own and operate a 40 horse training farm west of Chicago, so I'm just trying to get clarification on what you mean.

staff does 99% of the work and the "bank" gets the glory. Bill Shatner is/was a well known example, he did the riding in the arena after all the work is done.

I can't tell you how many times I heard sis say how much easier her job would be if the owners would keep their dumb-ass noses out of her business and just let her do her job. She worked for weeks to get it just right, and the owner comes in and undoes all that work in a few hours. Not to mention the "My friend says this is the best method/technique/product" nightmare.

It really is hard to be patient on correcting a horse if/when the owner's screwed them up again for the week but that's how we make our money so you just grit your teeth and do what needs doing - two steps forward, one step back and all that. I started my equine career as a gallop girl and after watching THAT scene from the inside I've never had any desire to compete so I do everything else but that - conditioning, physical care of the horses, manage the farm and clients, bookkeeping, buying, selling etc. My husband's the "front man" (I manage his career too - literally). He's fairly intimidating so we don't get a lot of people pushing fad stuff.

I'll pm you and see if we know each other. We're heavy into the dressage and eventing community with some contacts in the H/J world only for buying and selling purposes really. Horse people tend to get very insular within their niche but if your sister is into the dressage and ct world, maybe.

and you are right - at the lower levels, the riders groom their horses, saddle them, get them ready, hose them off afterwards, wrap their legs, etc, etc. But ONLY at the lower levels.

Do you really think Ann Romney does those things?? Or most riders on a horse worth 250k do these things?? Ha!! The higher up the food chain the show is, the less the kids and adult riders do. They almost all have trainers and groomsmen, who get the horse ready. The rider takes the reins outside the ring, gets on, rides and then, if they did well, gets off and hands the horse to the groom, maybe with a pat on its neck. If they did poorly, they get off the horse, whip the reins to the groom and storm away. I have never seen such rich, entitled, nasty people in my life - both to their horses and the people who take care of them. I really wanted to give the teenagers a good smack for treating the horses and their "servants" that way. What snotty brats. I still get annoyed when I think of what terrible human beings they seemed to be.

So your husband's experience is not the norm at the shows I have seen in the northeast. Sorry.

I 110% agree that the wealthy riders have grooms and trainers at the barn, and maids to do their horse laundry at home.

I was simply responding to the point that Ann Romney simply acts solely as the bank and doesn't participate in showing or riding. Actually she does. We've been to some shows where she's competed in the past. She really does appear to love the sport and has done her level best to throw a ton of money at it in support.

Disclaimer: I don't want to appear to be endorsing the rMoney's, I'm simply making the point that she rides.

I've attended as a spectator the Grand Prix jumping shows in Tampa, FL and most of the grooms were Latinos. These grooms were very good at their job and had a good touch with the horses in their care, but I read that one of the "scandals" in the Grand Prix world was that most of these Latino grooms were undocumented workers. I wonder if Ann's grooms were documented or not?

Top show grooms are incredibly valuable. We have two guys who are literally our "right arms" without whom I believe our operation (much smaller scale, much smaller $$) would be in real trouble. They've been with us for years and honestly, if I suddenly discovered they were illegal I'd be in a quandary - I'd really consider paying them under the table just to keep them. Other professionals in the industry would probably say the same. You spend so many hours with them on the road and at shows and in hotels and at parties... they become your family. True family.

But judging if they are legal is close to impossible. Their Social Security numbers check out on the US database (yes I do check on all new hires) but that doesn't mean they're attached to my guys. I've had the IRS come to me a decade or more later letting me know that Pedro who worked for us one year in 1999 was using a legal SS # which wasn't really his. Oops!

but then the meaning became clear.

The 1%ers you see riding in competition (really, passengers in competition) have very little to do with caring for or preparing the horse for competition.

It's the behind the scenes, underpaid lackeys who muck out, feed, water, groom, tend to illnesses and injuries and actually train the horse that make the competition.

The dressage queens are as involved in dressage as, say, the beauty queen who reads the 6pm world news involved in journalism.

I don't doubt Romney's, or Shatner's, love for riding. But I question how much of it is ego. She loves what it does for her. Would Romney still love her horse if he got fed up and left her eating dirt one day? Or if she had to ride in anything less than perfect weather on something less than a perfect, and perfectly groomed, arena?

How many winters would her love last if she was lugging hot water from her kitchen to a barn at 5am in 15 below, or through hip-high snow during a blizzard, and then mucked out and had to drag the muck bucket out to the manure pile buried under a snow drift?

I currently have 3 dressage queens at my barn, one of whom is hedge fund wealthy. Since most of my business is eventing they have to "endure" the rest of us (my husband competed FEI dressage extensively in his younger years before the warmblood prices drove us out of that market and into eventing but since he's virtually always first after dressage, he still always has a contingent of dressage riders to teach at any given time).

I think that because we aren't strictly dressage we don't have that "entitled mentality" so many dressage queens command. I've seen it though many times since my husband was closely associated with first Jessica Ransehausen and then Betsy Steiner. We definitely saw it at Robert Dover's when he clinicked there but not with George Williams at Tempel Farm.

Ann rides with Jan Ebeling and the Germans typically don't put up with "entitled" nonsense. And I wonder if it's a "guy" thing - none of these women would ever think of handing the reins over to our staff at the end of their ride in front of my husband. If I had to guess, I'd say Ann brushes and tacks her horses herself, rides and cools out. Untacks and probably even hoses her horse off but everything else? The staff does for her. Heavy duty grooming, manes, tails, clipping, mucking, wrapping, hosing, medicating... somebody else does all that including the laundry. These types of women think that what they're doing IS big work with the horses (LOL in a rueful way....).

As far as Ann doing a face plant in the arena dust, I'm guessing her horses are never allowed to get to that point. I presume when she rides its in a lesson or under her trainer's watchful eye. If the horse gets frisky, she simply gets off and Jan re-schools it for a bit until things are manageable again. With that much money, and as a financial owner/backer of his current international horse, he'd be pretty motivated to keep Ann happy and successful. I know we would be....

who are much more real people, and real horse people, in my experience.

I rode in one clinic with Robert Dover, back when I was a working student. I did it as a favor to the barn owner, since they needed to fill a semi-private. It turned out the semi-private was one of his regular students who got a private lesson at my expense. Mr. Dover very simply pretended I didn't exist. I was mortified. I honestly didn't know what to do. Quietly dismount and leave? Or just ride on. I rode on in silence for the full hour, ignored and red-faced, in front of the very full audience. Afterwards, the barn manager approached me and before I could ask for a refund, she told me the BO was very upset about what happened and wanted to give me her private hour with Dover the next day. Personally, I would have preferred to simply get a refund...it was 6 weeks of grocery money. But that option seemed pre-empted, so I returned the next day and spent a second miserable hour with Dover. At least during that hour he actually gave me a piece of advice that helped with my horse's particular issue. You could not pay me to ride in a clinic with that abusive DQ jerkoff again. I stopped supporting the USET went they sent him to yet another Olympics so he could ruin the very young and once-promising Metallic. I heard that he forced that poor horse to piaffe for something like 3 hours straight the day before his ride. If he was willing to do something like that in full view of the world's top trainers, I can only wonder what went on in his barn behind closed doors...

On the other hand, when I was 17 I had the chance to ride in a 4-day clinic with Fritz Stecken. At one point, just as we passed the arena door, a single ray of light hit my horse in the eye and he leaped in a perfect capriole. My years of bareback riding paid off, and I rode through it and kept my seat. When I turned to smile and shrug (oopsie!) at Mr. Stecken, his face was absolutely ashen. At the end of the clinic he said, in front of everybody, that I had an excellent seat on a horse. I try to hang on to memories like those. Otherwise, after all the DQ abuse, I'd just give up.

Yes, you are right about the Germans, at least the few I know. I remember hearing from students who went over to Germany to train, that everybody would be out hand-raking the arenas. Everybody. Nobody was above the work.