Who are the new riders entering the equestrian world, and what do they need from brands?

It is Saturday morning at a riding school, and the busiest place is the fence. A mother films her daughter's first trot on a school horse, the helmet still stiff from the box. Beside her, a father who has never sat on a horse asks another parent, quietly, why everyone mounts from the left. Neither of them grew up in the sport. Both are learning its codes a step behind their children, and most of what they knew before today came from a screen.

The short answer is this. A growing share of the people in the equestrian world did not grow up in it. They arrive through a child's first lesson or through an image on a phone, and they often meet the aesthetic of the horse before they meet the sport. What they need from brands is guidance more than persuasion: help to learn the codes without being made to pretend they already know them. The brands that guide them first tend to keep them.

Who is walking into the arena?

Many of the newest people in the sport have no family history with horses. When we listen to how the equestrian world talks about itself, a surge of interest after the pandemic appears among the cultural forces shaping the sport, as people went looking for time outdoors. Many came through their children, and there the scene changes: the child is the one on the horse, while the parents make the choices, from which school to join to which helmet to buy. Families end up learning the codes together, often at the same pace.

Our map of the sport's stakeholders places these people in two territories. Beginners, grassroots instructors and aspiring riders gather around Passion, where the horse is family and the first ride becomes a memory. Families, spectators and digital content gather around Lifestyle, where the horse is an aesthetic people can live in. The new rider usually stands in both at once, moved by the animal and drawn to the world around it. Each of the six territories of equestrian culture asks brands for its own kind of proof.

How fast is the base of the sport changing?

Quickly, at least where it has been measured. In the state of São Paulo, the number of federated athletes went from 553 in 2020 to 2,790 in 2025. The growth came from the entry level of the sport: athletes in beginner show jumping grew 475% over the period, against 54% for the rest of show jumping, and beginners went from 19.4% to 47.4% of all show jumping athletes. In the mini mirim category, for riders aged 8 to 11, ranked athletes grew 35% from 2024 to 2025 alone (Estudo FPH/ESALQ-USP, 2026).

The same study points to a renewal of the athlete base and a lower average age. Its scope is one state and the eight disciplines the federation oversees, so it should not be read as a national or global figure. Within that scope, though, the pattern is hard to miss. Nearly half of the athletes in show jumping now compete as beginners, and the arena is filling with people who were not there five years ago.

What happens when the look arrives before the sport?

The horse has moved into fashion and interiors, as we explored in The horse is back in fashion, and that has changed the order in which newcomers learn. Many of them know the look of the sport before they know its routine. They recognise the show jacket and the tall boot, they have saved photographs of stables at golden hour, and then they arrive at a real riding school, where the first lesson is about patience and how to hold a lead rope. The image brought them to the gate. The routine decides whether they stay.

Social media sits in the middle of this. In our listening, it works as a shop window, where people discover the sport, the clothes and the brands, and at times as a source of misinformation, full of contradictory advice about horses, gear and care. For someone who did not grow up around horses, this is hard to sort. They cannot yet tell a trainer's habit from a safety rule, or a sponsored post from an honest recommendation. So they look for signs that they are doing it right, and they notice who makes them feel foolish for asking.

What do new riders need, and what gets in their way?

Amateur riders and enthusiasts, in our listening, ask for things that are easy to state: competitions they can realistically enter, gear that offers good quality for what it costs, and clubs that feel inclusive and welcoming. Underneath those requests sit two needs people rarely name out loud. The first is belonging, a place in the group that gathers by the arena fence. The second is mentorship, someone who helps them progress with a plan instead of guesswork. What gets in their way is just as concrete: horses suitable for beginners are hard to find, and regular lessons cost enough to decide who keeps riding.

It also helps to remember what a beginner actually buys. A new rider at a riding school rides a school horse and starts with a helmet, boots and breeches. Feed, the farrier and a stable of their own only enter the picture when the first horse arrives, often years later. A brand meets a newcomer in stages, and each stage is a moment where it can either explain or assume. The motivations behind all of this mix skill with social life and personal milestones, and they are shaped by the culture of the local club and the example of peers. The habits of the first club a family joins tend to travel with them.

Why do families matter so much in this story?

Because when the rider is a child, the decisions belong to the adults. Parents choose the school, pay for the lessons and spend their weekends driving to shows. In our listening, parental pressure on young athletes also appears among the forces shaping the sport. It is a reminder that families bring expectations with them, and that a brand should never add to that weight.

Brands that want to reach younger riders reach them through their parents. That is a matter of responsibility as much as strategy. Children are not an audience to be targeted directly, and families are the ones who need clear, honest information to decide well. A parent who understands why a certified helmet matters, or why a school horse is the right place to start, becomes a better guide for a young rider, and is likely to pass that understanding on to the other families at the fence.

What this means for brands

Brands born inside the equestrian world hold what newcomers most need, which is knowledge of how the sport actually works. The open question is whether they share it in a way that lets people in. Four moves help.

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