Balancing riding and work! ADVICE NEEDED!!!

I’m currently a college student trying to decide how far I want to take the sport. My goal would be to stay an amateur and do some grand prixs later on in my career. Unfortunately I can barley afford to go to shows as it is, and never have been able to qualify for indoors because I can’t get to enough shows. But I am very hardworking and spend all my free time at the barn and it has paid off by allowing me to competitively compete in the Low AOs.

I know that I can’t afford to do what I really want full time because I have no money behind me. So I will have to get a full time job, I’m thinking something to do with my major of business information technology but I’m also thinking medical device sales. I’m just not sure how I’m going to balance a full time job with trying to compete and further my riding career.

Does anyone know any amateurs that have done this? Any advice is welcome. Thanks!

Most ammies have full time jobs. I used to. It’s all about time management. You’re in college right now; it’s the best time to develop schedule strictness. Stick ti a schedule and you’ll be fine.
As far as competing, that might be a tad more difficult, but create a good working relationship with your boss so in the event you need to dip out early on a Friday, it won’t be grounds for termination. Be up front (after you’ve gotten the job not in the interview!) about your riding and never call out sick for a horse show! Try to find a place that has flexible scheduling so you can come in early to get in all your hours.
Be dedicated and you’ll be fine.

Thank you so much!

It’s all about good scheduling and communication. I’m fortunate to have a flexible work schedule that allows me to be in the office from 7-4, and they know at 4, I am out the door to go see my ponies. They also know that I will finish up work from home in the evenings if something needs to be done ASAP. I have proven myself as reliable in those situations and very, very occasionally I have skipped the barn to stay and work - but only when absolutely necessary. Having a boss that understands work-life balance is invaluable.

I use my PTO to show. It sucks, but at least I have the option. My old boss used to let me take half days here and there without dinging my PTO because she knew I would make up for it (or had already made up for it). New boss is more of a black and white numbers guy, so you’re either here all day or you aren’t.

The only thing I would change is my commute times. Home to Work is about 45-60 minutes, depending on traffic. Barn is 15-20 minutes from Work. Home is 45-60 minutes from Barn depending on traffic. In a perfect world, I’d have everything in a tidy 30 minute circle (or have the ponies at home!). I find being in the car that long very draining and I do it 6 days a week, but that might not matter as much to you.

I’ve managed to ride seriously with a full time+ job for the last decade or more. There are always compromises but it is possible.

Here are the three issues:
time-- this is the most obvious crunch. Work expects XX hrs. You need XX hrs riding time. Strictly scheduling priorities will allow you to do both. Finding barn/work/home in low traffic or easy-commute distances will be a huge help here. If you have limited hours after work to ride, you might need to pay more for a full board/training program so Dobbin can get schooled 3-4 days a week if you can’t make it out, and they can take him/prep him at shows so you can just show up to ride. A job that gives you guilt-free adequate time off, or flexible hours is important if you want to show. Social things like hanging out with friends might fall by the wayside. Most of my friends are horsey-people, so we might hang out on a trail ride, or do an early morning hack and then go to brunch in riding clothes… that kind of thing.

Money–most jobs aren’t enough to pay for a $$$ grand prix horse in a super fancy full training program. the ones that are, usually require so many hours and weekends of work, you have limited time to ride or show said $$$ grand prix horse. So, finances become a balance. I bought green horses and made them up myself, with regular lessons. I saved money by boarding at smaller barns and hauling out on weekends for lessons and schooling rides. But progress that way is much slower than having Dobbin in a full training program

Family/Friends–people also take up a lot time. Friends miss you and want to hang out. Boy/Girl friends expect you spend a lot of time with them. Husbands/wives/kids are a serious time commitment, and things like cooking dinner, taking care of the house, driving to sporting events are all less-negotiable if you want a happy family life.

It’s all about your priorities, and how much you’re willing to sacrifice as far as social time, nice “stuff”, and how many hours of sleep every night.

Managing both work and showing seriously is frankly exhausting. I did it one year and had fun, had some good ribbons and decent shows. Now I’m taking a break from showing, investing in my own farm and some breeding, and hope to start back up showing again in a year or two.
I will caveat, it’s easier to balance work/showing/no sleep/constant travel when you’re younger… I no longer have any desire to sleep in my truck…

Time management, as said above. Set it up for success from the get-go. You are wise to be thinking through this now while you are still in college.

You need a career, as well as a job and a boss, that allows more flexibility in adjusting your work and off hours. Sounds like you are on the right track already, generally speaking. Do NOT get into an office-bound track such as accounting or customer service (or management!) that is not time flexible. They not only expect standard hours and days, but you are under the eye of boss & co-workers in a culture of putting in the hours, regardless. Do pursue sales or tech jobs with work-at-home capabilities. Even offshoots to the financial industry that have you out of the office and mobile, such as property inspections, appraisals, so long as your location and time aren’t constantly monitored. Being able to put daylight hours to riding and other hours to work will help a great deal.

You need a field that pays well for individual work without depending on promotion to management. Management can be very difficult to time-control. Unless you become ceo of your own company!

Avoid anything that will lock you into a lower-income strata than you need to be in. If it doesn’t pay well, strike it off your list (you should do that anyway as your work should be appreciated and rewarded).

What the others said above about how much time you have for what in your life. To pursue your riding as seriously as you would like, you may become a work-barn-work-barn machine. You won’t be able to make ongoing commitments to community, charity, church, other interests/hobbies/activities, just an occasional one-off activity here & there. You will know non-horse-people less - you won’t even be in places where you can meet them, outside of work! Relationships and family will require understanding and compromise, on both sides. All that has to be ok for your life.

You can also choose certain times of the year when you are all-in with riding and competing, and not so much the rest of the time. You might choose a year when you are going all-out for year-end awards, but not maintain that level of effort every year.

And last … do it EARLY in your career. Don’t let riding jeopardize your first jobs, but do this NOW, before you are anchored by family. :slight_smile: :winkgrin:

Plenty of people manage their children, their horses and their competitive riding, and have sweet pictures to show for it. BUT … bottom line, if a toddler is with you, or even an older child, you are first a parent and second whatever else is going on. Meltdowns and mealtimes will end up taking precedence at the horse show. You will be limiting your horse-outings, just because of the massive logistics of having children and family there with you. :yes: So - go for it early, build your memories and satisfy the itch while you can more easily do so. :slight_smile:

You sound like a wise and thoughtful designer of your own life. Have a good one! :smiley:

[QUOTE=ElementFarm;8867735]
most jobs aren’t enough to pay for a $$$ grand prix horse in a super fancy full training program. the ones that are, usually require so many hours and weekends of work, you have limited time to ride or show said $$$ grand prix horse. [/QUOTE]

This is the eternal struggle. Using law as an example, young attorneys coming out of a good law school usually have to choose between “Big Law” firms (starting salary of 180k/year + bonus, with 70 hour work weeks) or gov’t/non-profit jobs (starting salary of ~50k/year with a 40 hour work week).

With the former you have the budget to ride, but not the time. With the latter, you have the opposite problem. :sadsmile:

Thank you!!

Thank you everyone for the awesome advice!!! You guys helped a lot :slight_smile:

ElementFarm really summed up the lifestyle. It’s not easy and it really is about sacrifice.

What I’ll add is the suggestion to not base your career solely on its ability to support your equestrian endeavors. Working long hours at a job you dislike for the perk of slogging through traffic to ride your horse for 30 minutes a few days a week will wear you down, let me tell you. Choosing a field with some high-income and flexibly-scheduled options down the road is wise, but make sure you don’t otherwise hate it.

You’ve gotten good advice. I’ll also add that sometimes you have to look at balancing it all over a longer time horizon. I was working as a consultant and riding very competitively for a while, and then when my horse was injured I got pregnant, and ended up not riding for over 10 years. I couldn’t do the mom thing and the career thing and the spouse thing and also live in a city where the closest barn is 45 minutes away. For those 10 years I focused on my career and family, and built up college savings for my kids, and bought a house, and traveled. And now I do have the money for riding (for myself and my kids) and am senior enough in my career to be able to manage my own calendar more than I used to. 15 years ago I would have told you I’d never take an extended break from riding, but in retrospect it really helped me be where I am now.

So be open to figuring out your own path to get you where you want to be long term.

–R

If youve got the discipline you could consider self employment and become a consultant in IT. You set your own hours, jobs you want to take on.
I knew someone who would work as a consultant and save up until he had enough money for taking trips. He liked to travel. That’s where his disposable income went. He wasn’t married btw. It worked for him.
Good luck.

You’ve got lots of good advice already. I’m in pharma, so i can tell you the medical device sales will offer you the $$ and time flexibility (work from home) you need to ride competitively, like others said, make sure this is what you enjoy, not just for the $$.

I’m an ammy, and own/operate a small boarding barn. My days start at 5 am and end around 8 pm. Time to get in the house, eat some dinner, take a shower and crash. (I’m blessed with an amazing husband who supports these crazy hours!) I’m a CPA. During tax season I work seven days a week. So while everyone is in Florida, I’m riding in the dark and freezing! During extension season and the late winter I work four days a week. I still pack a 40 hour week during the off season, but I give myself an extra week day off to do barn chores, ride, horse show. My job is another that allows me some flexibility.

The advice you have received has been wonderful: Plan and major in a career field that offers you some flexibility. And don’t work yourself to death, set aside two hours a day to get to the barn, even if it is on a weird schedule.

Really great advice so far!! I have recently made the transition for horse ownership “as an adult”, aka paying for everything myself :lol:. It is a TOUGH road, but I enjoy every “horse poor” minute of it.

I have a career outside the horse world, and work 40 hr wks (so not as much as some people!). I havesome flexibility with scheduling. Mostly though- if I want to go horse show, I have to use PTO. I also have to be able to afford it. $2k a pop h/j shows are a BIG deal for me these days, which is hard when your whole barn goes to almost every show while your horse is left home. It is absolutely worth it though, IMO. Good luck in your future adult horse life!

Piping in as a young lawyer. I echo the poster above who said that you should look at a work/life balance with horses in the long term. I think pretty much any career you are in that is going to allow you the $$ to compete at a high level is going to take a couple of years of buckling down and “proving yourself.” That’s not to say that your life will constantly be consumed by work forever. But I think its important to establish yourself and then when you are more senior you are at a place where you have more flexibility with riding. At least that’s what I’m telling myself. :lol:

[QUOTE=AnastasiaBeaverhousen;8868345]
If youve got the discipline you could consider self employment and become a consultant in IT. You set your own hours, jobs you want to take on.
I knew someone who would work as a consultant and save up until he had enough money for taking trips. He liked to travel. That’s where his disposable income went. He wasn’t married btw. It worked for him.
Good luck.[/QUOTE]

I’m not a consultant (I just make things pretty in Marketing ;)), but my company does IT consulting. Companies vary a lot in how much travel is required. Our consultants average about 25% travel, which is on the low end. Some of them do more, but that’s mostly their choice.

It’s a great field if you want flexibility, but you also have to keep in mind that you might be gone for 4-5 days once a month or more depending on the engagement and your % of travel required (which is where a good training program for Dobbin would come in quite handy!).

[QUOTE=Imoen;8867860]
This is the eternal struggle. Using law as an example, young attorneys coming out of a good law school usually have to choose between “Big Law” firms (starting salary of 180k/year + bonus, with 70 hour work weeks) or gov’t/non-profit jobs (starting salary of ~50k/year with a 40 hour work week).

With the former you have the budget to ride, but not the time. With the latter, you have the opposite problem. :sadsmile:[/QUOTE]

As a lawyer now partner I can chime in here. I managed to ride and compete all along but in the first few years I sold my UL horse. I’m an event rider so it was a big time commitment and I just didn’t have the time to keep him fit enough and myself. Now I have more help but you still need enough time in the saddle. So I went back to young green horses which just take less time.

It is doable but you have to be extremely disciplined. I often am up a 4 am and either riding early or very late. It is long hours and not really time for anything else. So if a family is high on your list…forget it. Not possible with a high powered career.

And even still…I’m working more than I want too. I now own the fancy farm and a large string of horses that mostly others are riding because you either have a career that earns you enough but time is then very limited. Or you work less and earn less!!!

i live near the horses. You need to have one commute short and I found it best to live near the horses and commute about 1 hour to work. I ride 1 to 2 horses most days but some weeks, work just gets in the way. Having a good support system is huge. Personally I like training more than competing so often have more projects that I’m bringing along so it does bug me more when work gets in the way.

I would recommend a position in sales (you mentioned medical devices) because typically you will have more flexibility in your schedule. You will be evaluated on what you produce in terms of meeting or exceeding your sales goals. Outside sales (where you are calling on customers outside the office) will afford you flexibility in scheduling your sales calls. I know several adult rides who schedule sales calls around horse shows so that you can combine horse shows and business. Plus, if your sales calls are legitimately close to the show locations, your employer may pay for your hotel expenses. Mine did, and it was totally legitimate so long as I made those sales calls. Many times I drove my horse to the show with my F350 pick up, dropped the trailer and made a few calls on the days I wasn’t showing.

We have a www.coth.com series devoted to just this—Amateurs Like Us, which runs every Wednesday. It has profiles of working amateurs that reveal how they make it work with career/family/riding and blogs from amateurs getting up every day to make it all fit in.

EVERYONE has a different solution; it’s fascinating to hear how others have shaped their lives to accommodate their passion. https://www.chronofhorse.com/category/tags/amateurs-us