Equestrian · published prize money
Karl Cook’s prize money, and the most granular money register in sport
Equestrian sport keeps a money register that is more granular than almost anything else in sport: the international federation records prize money per rider per competition in its own results database, class by class. For a show jumper that means the documented earnings figure is not an estimate or a compilation: it is a query against the governing body’s own records.
- Where his prize money is published
- FEI database
The international equestrian federation publishes prize money per rider per competition in its own results database: one of the most granular money registers in sport.
What the federation database records
Every international competition is entered in the federation’s system with its class, its prize money, the starters and the results. Prize money paid to each combination of rider and horse is part of that entry. Because the federation sanctions the event and the organiser reports to it, the money and the result arrive from the same source.
The practical effect is that a rider’s international prize money for a season is a published sum, not an inference. Very few sports can say that at competition level.
What the database does not contain is the cost side, and in equestrian sport the cost side is unusually large. Horses are bought, kept, insured, transported and campaigned; grooms and trainers are employed; entry fees are paid. Prize money in this sport is a gross receipt against a very substantial cost base, and the cost base is private.
| Item | Published? | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Prize money per competition | Yes | The international federation’s results database |
| Results, placings and rankings | Yes | Same database |
| Horse purchase prices | Only when a sale is announced | Auction results or announcements |
| Stable, transport and staff costs | No | Private |
| Ownership arrangements for horses | Partly: the federation records the owner | Federation entries |
Ownership is recorded, which is unusual
The federation records the registered owner of each horse alongside the rider. That makes a genuine ownership fact public in a sport where ownership matters financially: a rider competing on horses owned by others has a very different economic position from one competing on his own.
It is a good example of a register documenting something adjacent to money rather than money itself. The entry does not say what a horse cost or who paid for its keep, but it does say, officially, whose horse it was on the day.
Why there is still no wealth figure
Because published prize money net of an unpublished cost base is not a wealth figure, and because family and business interests outside the sport are private. Where a family business is a registered company, its filings document the company, not the individuals connected with it: a distinction this site holds to strictly.
The documented answer here is: prize money, per competition, from the federation’s own database, with the costs unknown. Where earnings figures come from places that alongside the other registers.
Questions readers send
Does the database cover national shows as well?
It covers competitions run under international rules. Purely national events sit with the national federation, and whether they publish prize money varies from country to country.
Where is equestrian prize money published?
In the international federation’s own results database, per rider and per competition, alongside the class, the starters and the placings.
Does prize money represent profit?
No. Equestrian sport carries an unusually large cost base: horses, stabling, transport, staff and entry fees, and none of it is published. Prize money is a gross receipt.
Is horse ownership documented?
Yes. The federation records the registered owner of each horse alongside the rider, which is a genuine public fact about who owned what on the day.
Where these figures are published
- 01 Fédération Équestre Internationale, Prize money per rider per competition, results, placings and registered horse ownership The federation’s results database, by athlete and event
- 02 Auction and sale announcements, A horse’s price, but only where a sale was publicly announced Auction results for the relevant sale