The topic of today’s article will be Cavaliada, specifically the cost of going there as a competitor. Because who among you, if you are at all interested in show jumping, has never dreamed of competing in the Speed & Music class in a hall filled to the brim? It is undoubtedly a great experience, which many competitors have confirmed more than once. Enjoy the read!
What requirements must be met to be able to go to Cavaliada?
All right, let us start by making a few assumptions. It is not at all that easy to get into international competitions of the Cavaliada calibre. Firstly, we must have a horse that is able to compete at this level, and secondly, we ourselves must have the appropriate skills and qualifications. That is, the appropriate sport classes and licences obtained. In addition, both the horse and the competitor must have licences paid at international level and have vaccinations and tests. We will leave this topic for another occasion, however. For now let us assume that we have everything we need. We want to compete. What next?
Can anyone compete at Cavaliada?
There are always a lot of candidates for competitions of this rank. Unfortunately, not everyone can compete. The selection is therefore made on the basis of the general PZJ ranking, in which points are awarded based on results at competitions. So you have to be among the lucky ones who get permission to start.
How much does it cost to compete in the Speed & Music class at Cavaliada?
Now it is time for the fees. So let us take a look at the proposition of Cavaliada Poznań from 2021. It is a neat 40-page PDF file available only in English. After all, it is an international competition, so what if it is in Poland. We read and read, and finally there it is. The fee list. What follows from it? Let us now count how much the whole trip to the competition will cost for a 3-person team with 2 horses. So a competitor, a groom and a trainer will go. We dreamed of competing in the Speed & Music class, so we have to enter CSI3* W.
- First we have the general fee per horse – Entry fee per horse – 450 euro. This includes a box for the horse with the first bedding and the entry fee in a few selected classes. Let us move on.
- EADCMP fee, i.e. the Global Equine Anti-Doping and Controlled Medication Programme. Simply the anti-doping fee – 25 CHF.
- Fee for manure disposal – 40 euro.
- Fee for health/customs-related documents for Horses, i.e. the cost of checking the horse’s documentation if the judges want to do so – 30 euro.
Below there is also a fee for connecting the horsebox to electricity, but for our calculations let us assume that we travel modestly, with a trailer for 2 horses, and for sleeping we will look for some cheap hotel. We will bring hay, feed and straw with us, so we will not have to buy it at the competition.
That is all the costs for Cavaliada per one horse. Let us move on to the next calculations.
- Time for fuel. Of course this is an individual matter, because we may live in Poznań and then it will be a few zlotys, or in Kraków and it will be quite a bit higher. We will, however, take into account that during the year you go to competitions more than once, in various directions. Let us assume that on average we will do 300 km one way. So we have 600 km in total. A car with a trailer burns on average about 12 l of diesel per 100 km. So we have 72 litres at the average Polish price of 7.75 zł per litre of diesel. It is easy to calculate that fuel will come to 558 zł.
- Now the hotel. We will book it on Booking, we are organised, so we do it 3 months in advance and have a wide choice. We would like breakfast included, we come to Cavaliada at least a day earlier, so we have 4 nights to book. There is quite a pleasant option for 1080 zł. We take it. If we were late they would all be more expensive, over 1000 zł. We managed to find it cheaper, though.
- Now it is time for food, breakfast is included in the hotel, so we will add lunch and dinner. Let us assume 20 zł per person, with 3 people and 3 days. This gives 480 zł in total.
- We already have almost everything, let us add to it the payment for the trainer, he likes us a lot so he takes only 100 zł per day of competition. In total this gives 400 zł.
We probably have everything now. Let us make a summary.
So we have, per horse:
- 520 euro, i.e. about 2465 zł
- 25 CHF, i.e. about 121 zł
With 2 horses this gives us a total of 5171.6 zł. This is the amount we will pay the organiser, i.e. MTP. Now it is time for the rest.
For the remaining items it came to 558 zł + 1080 zł + 480 zł + 400 zł, i.e. 2518 zł.
So it is easy to calculate that if we add all this up we get an amount of 7700 zł for a 4-day competition with 2 horses. This cost may be higher if we choose a more expensive hotel or buy hay at the competition.
