Besides being the 37th most earning Dutch sport athlete, Anky van Grunsven also won the most prize money at competitions in 2009. The Dutch/FEI magazine Horse International calculated the total earnings of dressage riders through prize money at shows.
Van Grunsven has two horses in the top seven, Salinero and Painted Black, which earned her a total of 169,000 euro in prize money. American Steffen Peters and Akiko Yamazaki's Ravel won a total of 134,000 euro which ranked them second on the "rich list." Peters claimed his biggest purses at the World Cup Finals (88,600 €) and CDIO Aachen (45,100 €) while he only competed Ravel for 6 months in 2009.
Third placed Edward Gal and Totilas only started competing internationally as of June 2009 but the combination raked in 73,000 euro in a short period of time. They achieved ten victories and one second place out of 11 entries. He earned, for instance, 20,800 euro by winning the 2009 World Dressage Masters in Hickstead.
Isabell Werth finished fourth (68,790 €) and Hans Peter Minderhoud slotted in fifth (66,617 €). Dutch 2009 European Grand Prix Special gold medallist Adelinde Cornelissen is sixth with 65,757 €, followed by Laura Bechtolsheimer (53,799€) and Imke Schellekens-Bartels (44,395 €).
A striking difference is to be noted in the purses at World Cup qualifiers in Europe and North America. At the CDI-W Burbank, Peters won the Grand Prix and Kur, but only went home with 425 €. At the CDI-W Del Mar, there was no prize money at all. In Europe a Kur victory can earn a rider, for instance, 6,200 euro (at the CDI-W London) and even 14,000 € (at the CDI-W 's Hertogenbosch).
One has to take into consideration that riders are taxed by the goverment on their personal income. Many riders also have a 50/50 share agreement with the owners of the horse and split the money. Furthermore, the costs of competing at an international show are substantial.
Photos © Astrid Appels
Source: Academy Bartels
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