How many horses does a rider need to top the rankings?

The continuous growth of show jumping sports brings several consequences. The international event calendar offers several interesting competitions at every level throughout the year. To keep their business profitable, riders need several good horses. Let's look at the riders who rode the most horses in international competitions last year and compare them to the number of horses ridden by the highest-ranked riders in the world.

The rider who started the most horses in international competitions in 2024 is Dayro Arroyave. The Colombian rider rode 37 horses, including 16 young horses in the five- through seven-year-old age group, and the remaining 21 were eight years old or older. With the now 10-year-old gelding Cas Final, he was the most successful in terms of prize money (€21,766).

Global, 20 riders rode more than 25 horses in international competition.

The chart below shows per rider how many young horses versus older horses this rider rode in 2024 and a the prize money this rider earned.

Richard Vogel earned the most prize money with 25 horses. United Touch S was the big earner (€743,297) among his horses. The highest placing percentage 59.8% was achieved by the French rider Olivier Perreau with 27 horses. From the graph we could infer that riders with more young horses earn less prize money.

Top 20 - Riders with most horses in international competition in 2024

Go here to the full ranking. There you can also see per rider which horses they started in 2024.

Certified by Hippomundo © 2025

To ride so many horses, these riders must have a strong team of (dressage) riders, grooms and managers behind them to keep their business running smoothly. Although these people don't get ranking behind the scenes, their work is essential to the success of their riders.

12 horses

If we look at the top riders who earned more than one million prize money in 2024, we see that their horse series is significantly smaller with the exception of Richard Vogel (25) and Steve Guerdat (19). Average, these riders have about 12 horses in their collection to get to the top of the rankings. It is notable that the majority of the top riders are not competing young horses internationally. With the exception of Steve Guerdat with 7 and Richard Vogel with 6 young horses.

Certified by Hippomundo © 2025