Good Equestrian Careers?

[red_mares]

Like many here, I grew up around horses. At 10 or 12 I wanted to be a trainer, never mind I could barely ride.:lol: If I went back in time, I’d probably become a plumber. I know a few and none are poor. The work is a little sh!tty sometimes, but so is shoveling manure.

Look outside of your comfort zone (horses). A great way to hate something you love is to do it everyday for a pay check.

[woodhillsmanhattan]

Second who ever mentioned going into a STEM field. There are a lot of outstanding agricultural research programs in this country that could lend themselves into a career “with horses”. There’s nutrition, entomology, physiology, etc. If scientific research isn’t your gig (or you don’t love school + living on a low income stipend like myself ), agricultural economics is a good field and you could potentially work with some equine related accounts, large farms, etc. There are a lot of creative options outside of the more traditional horse careers such as a vet, trainer, groom, etc. Depending on what your goals are for your education, work day (do you want 9-5?), timeline, comfortable salary, etc.

Sorry that I don’t have a concrete answer or suggestion!

[Lyssabd]

I went to an ag college and graduated with a BS in Equine Science and Management and specialized in reproduction. I thought I was going to breed horses for a living, but after graduating already burnt out from working 7 days a week to pay for my horse, gain experience, and try to pay bills, I got an office job working for a major equine wholesale distributor of equestrian goods with a great brand portfolio. I recently quit and moved down south and am now in sales and marketing working with agriculture clients across the US. Still ag so it’s in my wheelhouse, but it’s nowhere near what I thought I’d be doing. Be open to working in an office - there are a lot of ‘horse-ish’ jobs you can find with major equine brands, pharma, or ag overall if you’re willing to broaden your horizons. My goal is to get to a point in my career that I can support myself, my horse, and within the next 7 years purchase land to bring my horse home. I would not be able to do that in an equine career the way I was going.

Also - be careful with pursuing a career in massage therapy. I’m massage therapy certified, I did it right after college and love it (I only work on my horse and a few friend’s, I did not end up trying to build a client base), but it’s become the game of “Everyone can be a massage therapist!”. There are so many people certified who only half know what they’re doing and the market is becoming saturated, at least in the northeast!

[Belmont]

First, I would being with what you call “decent” money. That’s going to highly depend on your area of living and what kind of lifestyle you/your family live.

Second, I’m probably going to get shamed, but I spent 6 years of bouncing around in college trying to figure out what I wanted to do, because so many people told me that is the way to go. Get that degree! Be the cushy ammy! I loved agriculture, and I still love agriculture - but I can’t imagine myself stuck in an office and the jobs I wanted to go in weren’t any better paying than the horsey jobs.

Third, take a year and do the WS thing, if you can. See if that is really a career you wouldn’t mind. I will tell you what I’ve done and my observations:

• Vet Tech: L O N G days, sometimes sleepness nights. A lot of emotion goes into the job, and it’s hard (at least for me) to realize you can’t control everything. I worked in a small office, so the drama was rampant, but I got paid decently and eventually wound up a director of medical services, but for the amount of work/jobs I was doing… the pay wasn’t enough… However, I broke my leg in October, and I was told I couldn’t go to work because I was a liability. All I needed was a big dog to bound up to me playfully or even one to barely knock me, and I would have had to have surgery. So that put me out of commission there, and I moved on to a different job.

• Assistant Trainer: L O N G days. Seems like a 24/7 job. Super fun as a kid in college, but after I was an adult with real bills to pay, I couldn’t make it on that particular barns salary alone. I loved every minute of the work. I just literally couldn’t afford my bills, so I had to take a second job in town - which wound up taking over as my only job. If it would have paid better, I would have gone back in a heart beat, and there are some barns that DO pay well. This was just a limited area.

• Saddle Girl (Rodeo Company) - A hard job to find. Another one that I adored. I got to be a rodeo gypsy and travel around to take care of committee men and horses for the pick-up men. It was another area of HARD work, but it paid really well when I traveled. However, it was dead at home. So if we weren’t on the road, I was not making any money.

• Rider: I was a rider for a ranch that had a sales operation. The job was long days in the elements, but I had a ton of fun putting time into some nice and some green horses. However, this is the job where I broke my leg (ya know, the good ole I promise she is kid friendly thing). You can’t ride with a broken leg. I made decent money here, as well, which paid for my horse show entries and lease on a nice jumper.

• Sales Rep (Saddle Company) - This is my current job. I’ve been doing it for a few months. I love it. The market is very competitive, so finding a spot is pretty hard, and most companies are very particular on what they want. I still wonder how exactly I fell into this, but I also know I had connections (from my AT days - another important tip! CONNECTIONS, CONNECTIONS) that helped me get in. The money is good. The job is fun. However, it can also be very stressful. I’m on the road a ton. To put it into perspective, I’ve been home maybe 5-7 days this month. I’m driving home early tomorrow and taking appointments on the way. I’ve got to take appointments all week, because this weekend we are having an annual meeting, which means I wont be home. Then I fly back home for less than twenty-four horse before moving down to Louisiana for two weeks during a horse show. I barely see my boyfriend. However, I am around people that I thoroughly enjoy. My leg is still healing for the break six months ago, so I’m not riding, but I would have little time to actually ride if I was.

So these are just my observations and opinions. If you can - my vote is to take some time and try it out as a WS or whatever you want to do when you come back. It’s been mentioned, but I’ve had some friends that live nice lifestyles doing Pharm Sales. One in particular has a bachelors in business, but she got on with a large animal drug company. She made a ton of money before quitting to become a pro.