exercise riding - life and lifestyle questions

[Larissa]

I know the exercise riding questions are done to death in this forum and you experts probably get tired of helping, but I’d love any input you’re willing to share!

I’m considering a career change, or at least supplementing my current career with some additional riding hours. I’ve done lots of reading and talking about exercise riding and think I have skills that fit well with the job - a love of the types of horses I’m likely to encounter, a level head, decent stickability, experience with OTTBs (not the same, I know, but at least I know I’m pretty unphased by the antics), etc.

Now I’m trying to figure out how life works as an exercise rider. The pay isn’t equivalent to what I’m accustomed to so I’d be looking to supplement my income. Single, fully supporting myself. I have the option to pick up temp or part-time work in my current profession but wonder what situations other people have arranged. Do folks have other horse jobs? Other race-industry riding? Riding show horses? A training business? Lessons? Barn work? Or do you supplement with a professional office gig or something like waitressing?

I assume you have to pay for and carry your own insurance. I’m sure there are lots of variables, but in general is this expense manageable?

Are jobs fairly stable, in terms of location? As in… do you usually have to move around to stay in work or do you usually just move between local farms/trainers/training centers when a job ends? Are jobs kind of seasonal (Mid-Atlantic area)?

I’m sure I’ll get lots of cautionary tales about how difficult the job is and that’s ok… I’m still in the exploratory stages. I know I’d love the experience of being up on a racehorse for hours a day but not sure how the lifestyle jives with mine. Trying to do my research. Thanks so much!!

[SwtVixen]

Most … start with hotwalking and move up the ranks that way.
Many …start on the farm breaking babies.

Pay? Many places its $10/head…x 8-9-10 a day…you do the math. Days like today? -0-
…but if you are on a badge list you will still earn your pay hotwalking/helping on the shedrow as needed.

Lifestyle? 24/7. Penn National starts at 7am now…but usual open hours are 6am-11am. Break 9-9:30/a hustling rider is just getting off the track at 9:15 and helping tack their next one to be at the gate at 9:30. Closes at 11:30 – you will have only 4hrs to get them all out…not a lot of time.
Rain, wind, snow, cold, storms…hot…dont forget riding in the morning dark and fog.(gotta love riding in the fog!)
Your life will run in circles.
When you get done, you’ll want to eat, then nap.

You will fight with trainers over a sore horse, gallop anyway.
You will cry when the horses are claimed or leave the shed.
You will want to quit when they break down.
and you will question your sanity on those really (really) hard days.
You ride sick, you ride sore, you ride no matter what.
and when things are wrong in your personal life, you best park it all at the stable gate and keep you rmind on riding.

      Now, you do get to watch every sunrise-- whether the sun graces you with its presence or not.
     You have awesome views of sky, clouds, ...maybe a fox crossing the field, sometimes a skunk ...ewwww.. 
     You will find friends ..and enemies..mostly friends :)
     and you get to spend your day riding .
              Nothing better than that.

[Acertainsmile]

With my last galloping job I earned approx. $50G a year, give or take a little. Generally 4 hours in the morning period. Year round salary job, no travelling. However, previous jobs I did travel some with horses running out of state, but totally my choice.

I have freelanced in the past, but much preferred a salary job. It’s true that usually you cant pick and choose the horse you want to ride, but a good trainer will figure out if something is beyond your expertise and not torture you (obviously not good for the horse either).

I’ve known quite a few people who have had second jobs, office jobs, ponying in the afternoons, etc.

It may be unrealistic to think that you can just walk on the backside though and pick up mounts, or secure a good salary job. Just depends on who you know, and what type of rider you are. I would recommend galloping on a farm for a few months and then decide if this was something you’d be willing to commit to.

As far as insurance, trainers are required to carry Workmans Comp, many tracks offer some medical and dental assistance through HBPA or private groups.

[sportinghorsepolo]

My S.O.'s best year galloping was the last “active” year at Pimlico, where between Pimlico in the AM and breaking babies on the farm in the PM he made very close to 100K. He was freelancing and did not have to travel out of MD.

This was by far his best year, but it is possible.
Now- he was getting on close to 30 a day between those two jobs…and not really in the mood to do anything but go to bed when he got home! Drove quite a bit from home to track to farm and back home. Worked 6 AM-11ish straight, break from 11-12, on the farm 1-4 roughly.
I can’t imagine him doing anything else, I however am the desk job chump working to support my herd:D
I envy him most days (when it’s NOT 20 degrees, wet and blowing wind or unmercifully hot).

[jengersnap]

The best part of galloping as far as I see it is you “just” ride. You don’t have to brush up a horse, tack them, bathe them, cool them out. You show up, horse is usually ready, get a leg up, go exercise the horse, and hand him back to someone else to do the dirty work. If you love love love riding and you’re good at it, it can be a lot of fun, especially for those looking for the occassional challenge.

[Timex]

it can be very rewarding, and it can suck royally. i’ve gotten to ride some really nice horses, and some real rats. and a few that wanted to hurt me.

so, here in NY, going rate is $15-20 a head, and the track here is open 5:30 - 11:30. the track is only open april through november, though, unless you want to go south to aqueduct or florida, or where ever, or can find a farm to ride at. so it CAN be a year-round thing, depending on what you want to do. i have a kid, and a farm, so i stay put. luckily, the trainer i ride for stays here too, so we keep going all year round, but that’s not the norm around here.

as far as getting a job, you can’t just walk onto the backstretch. here, without a badge, they don’t let you in at all, so you generally have to know somebody. and it’s much different than riding a riding horse. my advice is to find a farm that will hire you to start working with babies and teach you how to ride racehorses, and go from there, see if it’s really something you’d want to go further with. keep in mind, depending on your finances, you may or may not need another job, the days start early, it’s 7 days a week for most, if you get hurt, you’re out of work, you’re easily replaceable, a lot of trainers won’t hire girls, or ‘show’ riders, some people are real a**holes, you’re at the mercy of the weather (pouring rain, blazing heat, and everything in between), i know more than a few girls that have had to choose between having a family and having a job… it can really suck. there are those people for whom it’s just a way of life, we do it because we love the horses, and there’s those for whom it’s just a fun little job, for now. neither one is wrong, but you just have to decide if it’s for you, and how long you can tolerate it for.

[Timex]

@jengersnap;5412350

The best part of galloping as far as I see it is you “just” ride. You don’t have to brush up a horse, tack them, bathe them, cool them out. You show up, horse is usually ready, get a leg up, go exercise the horse, and hand him back to someone else to do the dirty work. If you love love love riding and you’re good at it, it can be a lot of fun, especially for those looking for the occassional challenge.

yeah, until the hotwalkers don’t show up, the groom is sick, or that horse needs to get out NOW, in THIS set, and has yet to be tacked. exercise riders needs to know how to groom, tack and bandage, because we DO end up doing a lot more than ‘just’ ride.

[Right_on_Target]

I was a hobbyist baby breaker and exercise rider back in high school and at the beginning of college (quite a while ago). I say hobbyist because I would not put myself into the same category of the true professionals, but maybe my experiences will help you out. I rode more off the farm than at the track, but I did spend some time at Pimlico.

Maybe you could start slow? If you try to get a job at the track and just limit the hours in the morning, maybe you can keep your current job until you are more established in the exercise riding role? It will take you some time to gain fitness anyway.

You definitely have to hook up with a trainer because they put you on their badge list (as was previously stated before) and you can’t be on the back side w/out a badge. You also can’t ride without an exercise license. You have to apply for the license and the outriders have to certify that you are reasonably competent. I don’t know if you can do that w/out a trainer since I wasn’t in that situation.

The easiest ways to get to this spot in my opinion are:

1. work on a farm either breaking babies or on a farm that runs horses off the farm- the experience will help and the trainer may be able to put you on their badge list if they have horses at the track too
2. start as a hotwalker- and maybe you can work up by shedrowing horses and then moving up to riding on the track?
3. network to find a friend who is friends with a trainer who may help you out

In my case, I started breaking babies on the farm, and then later when the trainer was at Pimlico I went there for a few months before college athletics got too demanding on my time and stamina. I learned A LOT and still barely scratched the surface. To start out I was supposed to ride/hotwalk and groom as needed for 3 horses. About a week later I had two other trainers ask me to ride for them, so all grooming duties ended- as a result my education in that area didn’t progress very far! I rode about 6-7 horses most days, but as few as 3 some days depending on what the trainers needed. I was only doing the job for fun, not for the money, so I didn’t pursue getting more mounts. I had one day off a week.

I was a catch rider, not on salary as you may have guessed. Some riders are on salary for a single trainer and some ride for a bunch of trainers. I also started by riding for my friend which was why it was no big deal for me to drop the hotwalking/grooming duties when I got more mounts.

As a catch rider, I coordinated times to ride with the trainers and I showed up at those times. The horse was tied in the stall saddled. They’d just pop the bridle on if it wasn’t already there and I’d hop on and head to the track. I’d do what they wanted on the track, then hop off, take the saddle off, pat the horse, and drop the saddle wherever the trainer wanted. I’d then head off to ride another horse or get on that trainer’s next horse and repeat the process. Most trainers paid weekly I think. Maybe every 2 weeks? I wouldn’t go much longer than that w/out being paid b/c some of them could have cash flow issues.

You’ll want to find a good mentor as well. Someone to explain all the rules, show you how to gallop, what to do in the gate, etc. I know I ran into a few situations where I wasn’t sure of what to do and I may have made the wrong choices.

Strength: If you aren’t lifting now, you might want to start b/c those horses will drag you around the track and pull on muscles in your back and shoulders that you didn’t even know existed. I’d work on hand strength and squats too. Stirrups on exercise saddles don’t go down very far and if you are leggy, you will be riding much shorter than you are used to! Working on wind won’t hurt either. I remember in the beginning being so muscle tired and out of breath after jogging some horse 2 miles I thought I might not make it back to the barn. I think the babies are easier to ride- they may act squirrely but they don’t pull much. Can you tell that I’m not the strongest person by nature? Although after working at the track I could do pullups w/no problem!

Insurance: as far as I know, the trainers have to carry accident insurance, so if you are hurt riding their horses you are covered. But that isn’t regular medical insurance. I’m not sure what a salaried position would give you.

If you aren’t on salary, you work as an independent contractor and I don’t know if they file tax docs on you or not. Probably depends on the outfit.

Some of the riders I know had differing other jobs: worked on farm breaking or galloping, worked for landscapers, law school student, etc. These were catch riders.

I don’t know what happens in the winter because hobbyist exercise riders like me had the option to only ride when it isn’t cold out. I don’t know if people follow the horses to Florida or not.

I have to admit that there are not many experiences that can compare with riding a sleek powerhouse in the early morning where all you hear is the light patter of hooves and the soft “pfft-pfft” exhales he makes as you gallop around the racetrack.

Good luck in your endeavors!

[jengersnap]

[QUOTE=Timex;5412693]
yeah, until the hotwalkers don’t show up, the groom is sick, or that horse needs to get out NOW, in THIS set, and has yet to be tacked. exercise riders needs to know how to groom, tack and bandage, because we DO end up doing a lot more than ‘just’ ride.[/QUOTE]

Whoa, Timex! I said the best part in my opinion. Certainly not everything is riding pretty ponies in circles under sunny skies. Yes sets get screwed up, “after the break” turns into waiting around until 5 minutes before the track closes, the tack is put on like a 2 year old saddled up their rocking horse and you have to strip the horse and redo it for your own safety, the yoke’s too tight, the polos too loose, the bit makes the horse look like Jack Nicholson’s Joker, the two year old your on solo has always gone out in company before and is putting on a rodeo of spin, spook and bolt, the equipment breaks, is in poor condition or abuses your hands, the old campaigner is pulling your arms off until you want to cry as you try to do a slow gallop, the trainer tells you “he’s never done that!” after the horse has propped and dropped your bum and you’re shaking the sand out of your pants on the long walk back. I get it. I was simplying pointing out the good. The bad can be ugly, dangerous, and even deadly. Its not for me. A couple of years in a row my husband was bringing home irons off other trainers’ saddles that went from under him, thankfully not during a breeze. But I must say, more riders out on the track are smiling, humming a tune or wishing you a good morning as they go by then not. There is joy in it if it is in you to do it.

[BansheeBreeze]

A couple things to think about to protect yourself.

1. Yes trainers have to have workmans comp. However I’m pretty sure that unless you are a salaried rider for that trainer you will not be covered. Check the insurance coverage. Sometimes it is provided through the track. Sometimes through the Horsemans Association(which usually covers alot less)

2. I would advise starting on a farm or at a training center. But again, here you will NOT be covered by any insurance. Galloping a FIT racehorse is MUCH MUCH different than a riding horse, even an OTTB.

3. Make sure that you PLEASE follow the “traffic laws” on the track. There are so many who dont and it is so dangerous to everybody around.

4. Think thoroughly about the dangers. You WILL get hurt at some point. If you are trying to supplement your income right now, can you afford to get a broken leg and be out of work completely?

5. Make sure you keep track of every horse you ride, every day. Don’t fall behind or you will end up working for free. I would strongly advise against freelancing if you are just starting. It’s the fastest way to get hurt and not get paid, especially since you are new and don’t know the people you are riding for. Some trainers dont’ care if you get hurt,they’ll put you on anything because you are nothing more than $10 to them and if you get hurt, oh well, they’ll get somebody else the next day. Or they’ll promise to pay you next time, or try to short you on pay. I’ve gone MONTHS without getting paid while Mr Bigshot Trainer rolls around in his new Corvette.

6. The racetrack can SUCK. Absolutely SUCK. People you think you can trust, you can’t. They are out for themselves and will screw you any chance they can get. If you are a girl, every male on the track thinks they have a right to get in your pants. Horses you fall in love with sometimes die horrible deaths because of a stupid or greedy person. Some days will make you just hate horses altogether. Moving around every few months is incredibly hard and EXPENSIVE. It is usually 7 days a week. Whether you are sick, in pain, whatever you have to be there. It is physically and mentally demanding and exhausting.

BUT…it can be the most beautiful and incredible experience of your life!

I just quit the track because I couldn’t handle all the bad, but I dont’ regret pursuing that dream. Some of the most incredible and memorable moments of my life were galloping horses. So weigh the odds, take the advice and decide for yourself. Let us know how it goes!!!

[olympicdreams04]

You have to love it. Adore it. Cherish it. Eat, sleep, and dream it. And it has to be a means to an end. No one gallops forever. What everyone else has said is absolutely true about money and injury and time. It is NOT a part time job or a way to supplement income. It takes, IMHO, a minimum of 5 years to even be what i would consider proficient. And that is 5 years of working 7 days a week 50 weeks a year. Plenty of extra money can be made hotwalking, grooming, ponying, and such. Stick to that.

[pinkdiamondracing]

[QUOTE=olympicdreams04;5422306]
You have to love it. Adore it. Cherish it. Eat, sleep, and dream it. And it has to be a means to an end. No one gallops forever. What everyone else has said is absolutely true about money and injury and time. It is NOT a part time job or a way to supplement income. It takes, IMHO, a minimum of 5 years to even be what i would consider proficient. And that is 5 years of working 7 days a week 50 weeks a year. Plenty of extra money can be made hotwalking, grooming, ponying, and such. Stick to that.[/QUOTE]

^^^THIS