If there is one incontestable truth in the world of horses, it is this: no matter how expensive your pony is, there will always be another horse somewhere else that is even dearer. You start puffing out your chest at having spent $100,000 on your latest equine purchase, only to find out one day later that some other person spent $150,000 at the same venue.

So far as I’m concerned , it is not how much you spend that’s significant, it is what you spend that money on. Your capability to pick out the right pony is far more important than the dimensions of your bank balance or the price tags of individual horses. It is rather like comparing the Marlins with the Yankees.

The Yankees have always been stinking rich, and can afford to spend just about any amount of money on getting the players they need. Their modus operandi is to assess all available players and pay for the best, whatever is required. The amount is not primary. The Yankees believe strongly in steam rolling all opposition with an array of costly superstars.

Horse owners who are obsessed with buying winning horses, irrespective of cost, are like the Yankees. I have lost count of the amount of times I’ve seen horses picked up at exorbitant prices by some absolutely astonishing, unknown buyer who allegedly bought the horse solely for the bragging rights that came with it. Obviously, these purchasers do use the paid services or horse specialists when making their picks, rather like the Yankees use squads of talent scouts to smell out the superstars.

The Marlins are the poor cousins of baseball. They operate with a budget that is much more limited in size than the budget of the Yankees. They concentrate their talent searches on varsities, in the hope that they can pick up potential gems at much cheaper costs. Regularly they buy more gems than they actually need; they resell the excess supply to bigger teams like the Yankees and make profits that help them maintain their budgets, which they use to head out to buy some more fresh players who they can resell.

The joke is that in the last few decades, the Marlins have a much better win record at the world series championships than the Yankees. It’s very clear that the Marlins are running their ‘farm’ far better than the Yankees and coaching some fresh young stock to become winners. The Marlins have pretty much mastered the science of making hay from green prospects. If they miss out on a potential superstar or two each time they sell stock to the Yankees (which they do often), that’s okay, because they have filled their coffers in anticipation of going out to some more varsities and netting some more raw talent cheap.

I know of pony owners who explain away their horse’s losses at competitions by justifying it with the claim the winner was a more expensive pony. They should take a leaf or 2 out of the Marlins’ Book. The Marlins may be able to take on big-spending giants like the Yankees because they have adopted a very successful technique. The point is this: you don’t need megabucks to compete well, and this is what I try to impress upon my students. Like baseball players, horses also begin someplace low down before they climb to super stardom, and the trick is to catch them while they’re still cheap.

Don’t think I’m anti serious cash. Offered the choice, I might much rather coach the Yankees than the Marlins. But I have performed well in the arena of pony events, and financially speaking I am more a Marlin than a Yankee.

I’m convinced riders can become successes without stacks of money backing them. Money doesn’t equate to resolution and tough work. If ever you feel like bemoaning your loss at an event because in cash terms your pony was a Toyota and the winner was a Mercedes, take a break. Use it to catch up on some Marlin history.

Horses are Heather Toms passion and she enjoys sharing her extensive knowledge through her 100s of articles with other horse lovers, like all things about horse shop