United States Eventing Association

Don't get me wrong, getting a 9 on your leg yield left is really important. But not to your favorite saddle brand. Here's the real secret: just like sponsors don't actually care about your sub-20 dressage score, they don't really care about your follower count either. What they're actually looking for is something else entirely...and most riders never think to ask what it is.

In the digital world we live in, social media is a tool many equestrians would rather not have to use. It takes time that you’d rather spend in the saddle or in the instructor’s chair. But try to get past the highlight reels on Instagram and the oversharing on Facebook, and ask yourself: is it really possible to run a training facility with no digital footprint?

When you have a rare open stall, where do you advertise it? Most likely, a Facebook group called something like [YOUR STATE HERE] Eventing Network. When you have a horse for sale, you're scrolling your camera roll for the best pictures to post on Mane Street Market. When you are looking for the perfect stallion for your mare, the first place you make an account is ICONEQ. Clinic organizers use sites like Strider to fill spots. All of this builds your presence online, and you'd be hard-pressed to be a professional rider without any digital presence at all. But a footprint alone doesn't land you a sponsorship; it just gets you noticed. What sponsors actually care about is what you do with that presence.

Consider who you follow online. Your favorite singer? Your favorite Bravo-lebrity? Maybe even the Philadelphia Zoo? What do you get for hitting that follow button? Access. Behind-thescenes footage, day-in-the-life content, and — if you're smart enough to follow the zoo — baby animals. What do these accounts have in common? They're run by people who produce authentic, realistic content, and have a story to tell. And sure, they also tend to have tens of thousands of followers. But the following is the byproduct, not the starting point.

It's about as hard to build a truly engaged community on Instagram as it is to make an Olympic team (or, if you're me, to ride a right-to-left flying change). That doesn't stop people from chasing any of the three. And here's where it gets interesting: sponsors know the follower count is hard to hit, and they know it's not really what matters either. Engagement isn't just posting, or even posting consistently; it’s about how people interact online. It's responding to comments, creating content that gets saved and shared, and using your platform to start conversations that outlast the post itself. Yes, sponsors want to say their riders are producing winning results, and that their following is respectable. But more than that, they want riders who will engage with an audience, genuinely use and love the product, and produce content that stops people mid-scroll.

Why? Because what brands are actually looking for is ROI: return on investment. As a horse girl who went to college to ride and get a History degree, I never thought I'd need to know what those three letters stood for. But a sponsorship is just like any other business agreement: a company supports a rider with product or money, betting that the rider is worth the investment. Every clinic that rider teaches, every new horse in training, every post on social media; sponsors are banking on the idea that the rider loves the product enough to convert both their at-home clients and their digital audience into buyers.

That's the shift most riders miss. A perfect test score proves you can ride. A big following proves people are watching. Neither one proves you can move product, build trust, or turn an audience into consumers, and that's the only math a sponsor is actually doing.

The good news: it doesn't take a follower count that could fill the Rolex Stadium. It takes consistency, authenticity, and a good sense of humor doesn't hurt. If you're a rider with dreams of a sponsor banner on your arena wall, my advice is simple: share your story, because you have one. Eventers are gritty, determined people. Tell the story of the horse you didn't give up on, or the start-box anxiety you fought through. If it makes even one person feel a little less alone, who's to say the grooming products you've used for years won't want to cheer you on too?

So keep chasing that 9 on your leg yield. It matters to your coach, to your horse, and to me. Just don't expect it to be the reason a brand slides into your DMs. If you want to be the rider they choose, the work isn't only in the ring; it's in showing up to the barn as someone real, someone with a story, someone worth investing in, and being comfortable sharing that journey.

If reading this made you want to throw your phone into a water bucket, I get it. That's why companies like Mythic Landing Enterprises and countless other talented teams exist. We handle the brand development, content creation, and social media management, so you can focus on smoothing out your next canter half-pass. Because you do this for your love of the horse, not your love of content calendars.

About Izzy Bisese

Izzy Bisese is the Chief Marketing Officer and Creative Director at Mythic Landing Enterprises, a boutique equestrian marketing and business management firm that helps equestrians build sustainable, profitable businesses. Founded in 2008, MLE is a multi-member team based in Maryland, MLE serves clients across the country and internationally. To learn more, visit mythiclanding.com.