As seen in The Chronicle of the Horse. Written by Eliza Sydnor Romm. Illustration by Susan DiFelice.
I had already told my clients, family, and friends, but I figured I would let everyone know. I tried to decide if a short, upbeat post was the best way to go—no intimate details, just a perky announcement about my new life. But that felt a bit disingenuous. I was excited about my plans, but I was also feeling many other things. And I knew I wasn’t alone, so I decided I would be totally open and honest about why I decided to stop leasing a farm and taking horses in full training and instead become a freelance instructor. I hoped it would resonate with folks, but I didn’t expect much. Here’s what I posted:
“I sat down and did the math on what my finances would be like if I just taught two days a week and had no expenses outside insurance, my car, memberships, etc. I would make MORE working that little than I do right now,” I wrote in part. “And I run a pretty great program—my barn is always full with a wait list, about half super nice young horses and half FEI horses. My students and I compete a lot, very successfully. But the cost of running a program like this is so high, that even though I am ‘successful,’ I barely make a living wage. I pay my wonderful assistant trainers more than I make (because they 100% deserve that salary and more!) And of course I could raise prices even more, but I think I charge an awful lot, and at the end of the day, I just feel awful about expecting people to pay SO much for a luxurious hobby.”
I added that my single biggest challenge in the past few years has been getting and keeping good employees and paying current wages.
Dressage trainer Eliza Sydnor Romm and professional artist Susan DiFelice were first introduced decades ago, when Sydnor’s family hired DiFelice to paint a portrait of her horse. Some 20 years later collaborated on a dressage training video for DiFelice’s website Allpony. In this new “Drawn To Dressage” blog series, we will be sharing their most recent collaboration, which combines their talents and shared passion for education and horsemanship to share illustrated dressage training tips.