Emma Kofov, 10, sat atop her Welsh pony, Brookside Sun Bunny, preparing to enter the jumping ring at HITS in Saugerties on Oct. 1.

The rider from Ottawa was representing Partridge Acres farm in her first appearance at the Hudson Valley horse show.

“I just love the animals,” Kofov said. “I like the thrill of riding, the thrill of jumping. That’s my favorite.”

She went on to win the Cross Rail Olympic Jumper event.

For the riders and trainers who came to town this fall, that enthusiasm comes with expenses well beyond entry fees. One grandmother paid $10,000 for a pony for her granddaughters, and boarding alone can top $15,000 a year. At the sport’s upper levels, owners spend hundreds of thousands of dollars on a single horse. Some riders work in barns in exchange for training, building careers around the daily demands of caring for horses.

HITS, a national producer of equestrian competitions, hosts dressage, jumper, and hunter shows. It opened its nearly 200-acre showgrounds in Saugerties in 2004. A study commissioned by HITS estimated that its 2023 show series and other equestrian events held at the property drew more than 30,550 visitors from outside Ulster County.

“I grew up coming here since I was 17. I love this place,” said Stephen Hirsch, a professional rider, trainer, and owner of DDR Farm, a stable and training facility in Melville, New York.

Hirsch and his partner Diana Russo, also a rider, traveled to Saugerties with a group of four trainers, nine horses, and nine student riders.

Among the students was Reilly Biglin, 10, of Massapequa, who competed in beginner-level jumper events. Her grandmother Cindy Thomas made the trip from Dallas to watch.

“I love the sport, and I love what it can teach the girls, especially independence and being responsible for an animal,” Thomas said.

Three years ago, Thomas bought a pony named Hunter for Reilly and her younger sister, Avery, now 7, so they could learn to ride and care for horses.

Hunter cost $10,000, Thomas said. She also covers his boarding at DDR Farm, his care and medical needs, and lessons for the girls. The farm lists basic boarding at $1,325 a month, or $15,900 a year.

Thomas said the benefits are well worth the cost.

“You do not have to have a ton of money, but you have to have some,” she said.

Beyond buying and boarding a horse, riders face expenses for lessons, veterinary care, transportation, and competition fees. DDR Farm also offers an intensive show camp for more serious students for $700 to $900 a week.

Some owners hire full-time grooms who travel with them to clean stalls and walk, bathe, feed, and care for horses so they stay competition-ready.

“You can get to a certain level on a certain budget, but then it’s kind of make or break,” Russo said. “It’s a very different ballgame from a pet horse.”

At the sport’s upper levels, owners spend “many hundreds of thousands of dollars” on competition horses, often imported from Europe, Russo said.

She pointed to a tall, dark horse warming up to enter the ring.

“That’s ours,” she said. “She just flew on a plane from Belgium.”

Many riders who don’t come from wealthy families start out as working students to offset the cost of training, Russo said. Working students groom horses, clean stalls, and do other barn chores in exchange for lessons. That’s how Russo and Hirsch got into the sport.

“I just always liked horses,” Hirsch said.

At 15, he got a job as a trail guide at a stable on Long Island.

At 18, he moved to North Carolina to be a full-time working student, cleaning stalls and grooming horses for professional riders. He eventually went on to compete and train in Germany, the Netherlands, and Belgium.

“I worked really hard on my discipline,” he said.

That route into the sport also brought Martha Wyatt-Luth, 23, to HITS. A working student at Whitehall Farm in Pittstown, New Jersey, she came as a groom for Olympic silver medalist Peter Leone and his Dutch warmblood, Peridon.

Wyatt-Luth said she began working in barns and taking lessons at about 12.

“My family knew nothing about horses. Nothing. But they supported me,” she said.

She has since saved enough to buy a horse of her own.

“The average rider is a normal working adult lady, I’ll say,” Russo said. “And she works very hard at her job so that she has the extra money to come and do this.”

At DDR Farm, Russo said, a good attitude and a passion for working with horses go a long way.

“It’s a lifestyle,” she said. “We do this because we enjoy it. It’s a ton of work. It’s never ending.”

“But we love it, you know?” she said.

Photos by Michael Sofronski/The Overlook.

Isabella Schoonover is a staff reporter for The Overlook covering Woodstock, Saugerties, Hurley, and surrounding Ulster County communities. Send correspondence to isabella@theoverlooknews.com.