Jobs that allow freedom to show

[Rumorhasit93]

I am a real estate agent! Bonus - my team specializes in equestrian property and my business partner is a horse person also, though doesn’t show.

I can write off some show expenses (travel) if I am advertising or sponsoring at the show. Leave it to me to integrate my work passion and my passion for horses.

The shows are an excellent place to network and get business. I just purchased one of those fancy 3 step mounting blocks for a trainer who referred me a client!

My other friends who show a LOT do the following for work:

• CPA
• tech
• work for their parents (ideal, honestly)
• Amazon

[onlyTBmares]

Technical sales here (business development manager is my actual title). I make pretty good money but still don’t have the funds to show a ton. However I have unlimited PTO. If I had more money I would show more and would have the time. The downside is that I don’t actually get any true days off. I just took 4 days off to show a couple weeks ago and had meetings, phone calls, and answered emails every day. But that’s something I can work with and allows me to show. I can always take a Friday off and be offline for a weekend show, but a week long show will always require some working from the show, whether I take time off or not.

[risuenaVT]

Yeah, I’m in the midatlantic and got to ride a young horse who places well in all of his classes and was featured in some big money classes on USEF network. He was a delight and had the nicest canter I’ve ever ridden, and his owner is a nurse, with a pretty flexible schedule. And I feel like I know a lot of nurses
with horses and with pretty intense show schedules…

[luvmyhackney]

I’m a remote Program Manager in Tech, I don’t currently show except one day schooling stuff, but if my horse was in a program or I had an all weather arena I would take off days to attend shows.

My days are filled with meetings and I have an overfilled plate, but my boss doesn’t care if I ride during lunch, leave early, have a family thing as long as my job is in order. But taking full days off is harder but not impossible now that I have some seniority. I do have to work twice as hard to catch up and stay on top of my projects, so I don’t ever fully unplug. I usually always take my computer with me and have email/Slack on my phone.

I have unlimited PTO but has to be used in consideration of the work.

Find a good manager. They are essential.

[NeedsAdvil]

I work as a consultant and try to take long term projects so that I am not constantly chasing new business which can be time consuming and stressful. I can make my own schedule and get paid based on my billable hours. That being said, the more I work the more I make, so I use my flexibility for riding time rather than showing time since most of my competitions are on the weekends anyway (mostly eventer who still dabbles in jumpers etc.). It’s not too bad in the summer because of the length of daylight and the heat (I usually just go ride at like 6:30am and start my work day a littler later than usual), but my flexibility comes in handy in the winter when I can go ride during the warmest part of the day or the time when it’s light out or whatever and in those cases I just start my day a little early or a little later.

There are a lot of jobs in management/sales/healthcare/legal that have a lot of built in flexibility and it really depends on what you enjoy doing, because at the end of the day the flexibility is nice but you STILL have to get the job done. So do something you enjoy that has some kind of built in flexibility and I think you can make it work unless you are expecting a 3 day work week more often than not.

[Tini_Sea_Soldier1]

Also in tech sales… it WAS a great role… but layoffs are everywhere right now in tech and even those left behind are getting work piled on them and management/leadership cracking down, comp plans that aren’t reasonable, and piling on KPIs. We went from tons of flexibility and autonomy to having to work 8am-8pm on weekdays and tossing in a few hours for additional updating and reporting over the weekend.
Actually thinking of moving in a different direction myself due to the volatility.
Healthcare and Finance seem to be much better industries right now and there’s a need for healthcare workers nationwide, so there’s a ton of job opportunity and job security.

[Ponyplusaninch]

Yeah the one thing I’ll say about tech startup world is that it is by far and away the most volatile industry as well as the most lucrative. High risk/high reward.

And right now is not the time to join unless you bring a niche skillset and/or know how to network well.

People/HR/Talent Aq has just been slaughtered this last year. They’re usually first to go when companies look at trimming the fat. Ironic because then those companies wonder why employees complain about the culture and don’t recommend anyone to work there after the company is ready to hire again.

And no one is hiring entry level devs, designers, etc. unless they’re large and corporate. I cannot in good conscience recommend anyone spend money on a bootcamp to make a career switch.

[bamboopole]

Health care.
12 hr shifts.
Self-scheduling.
My obligation is three 12s per week. Six shifts in 2 weeks.

Work Sunday, Mon Tues. Take off 8 days. Work Thurs,Fri,Sat.

Union pay.

[BITSA]

I am an attorney and two other women at my firm also ride. We have annual billable hours requirements, but if you don’t mind working the extra hours to make up time, or have a super busy month(s) then you can get your hours in and still show. But its hard, it means remotely working during shows and knowing you will need to make those hours up somewhere.

[atr]

Its much easier to make the time in today’s flexible working environment than it was when I was starting out on my career and no matter what, you had to be in an office every day.

Nowadays, I WFH in interior design/sales/project management (I design custom cabinetry.) I spend half my life in my home office and half of it on construction sites schmoozing clients. I’ve come to love zoom especially in the winter!

I love my job, I get to meet some very interesting people, as well as some who are truly appalling. I’ve been doing this for 20-odd years so I’ve got a fairly solid client base.

I’m commission-only which is not for the faint of heart. I’m another of the always available, always working people.

However, I try very hard to not have major installations scheduled when I am showing or clinicing or on vacation. You can just about guarantee that those will be the ones that go pear-shaped, and there’s nothing quite like having an angry client shrieking at you on the phone as you are trying to get into your zen prior to a dressage test…

[FLeventer]

I do defense contracting now - flex schedule with 13.5 hrs of PTO every two weeks. Unfortunately for me, no work from home and though I work 2pm to 10pm now - can flex it however I want though. I ride in the mornings and I can also take my “lunch” and ride, which I do sometimes.

I take what days I want for the most part, because there is a huge team here and as long as the work gets done, we make it work. I will say, it was a journey to get here. To get the credibility, knowledge, experience, and the ability to take time. It was a lot of long days, absurd hours, and though I made horses work, it was a lot mentally and emotionally. I probably wouldn’t change it because it gives me a lot of flexibility now and a very comfortable life.

[Frivian]

Also in tech/defense contracting. For a long time there was no remote work for me, but extremely flexible schedules outside of customer meetings and product deadlines. We have to work 80 hours in a pay period and that can be on pretty much whatever schedule as long as deliverables are being met.

I’m a manager now so I have more opportunity for remote work but a lot less flexibility, with more meetings and more travel. But when I’m home I can pretty much do whatever.

I don’t show right now because I also have 2 young kids and a husband who works a lot. But with my job I could definitely make it work if I wanted to prioritize it.

Bottom line is, a lot of software/tech work will give you more flexibility, and if you work hard at work and produce results, you will find that most managers will trust you to manage your schedule.

[StaceyA]

I own a Garden Centre with my husband which has landscaping and floristry departments. Day-to-day I’m a florist, we have a wedding department with salaried manager, and the garden Centre has it’s own salaried manager, as does the landscaping department.

During show season I can take any time-off I need (but for every day I don’t work, an hourly employee is there - so it adds up) and during the winter our costs are fixed, as most of our hourly staff are done, so besides getting the florals out, we don’t even need to be there. The garden centre and landscaping department are seasonal. I usually alternate week on/off with the other florists.

I work solo as much as I can, to keep my labour costs down, then I don’t feel bad cashing them in in the summer. It’s pretty fluid, monthly financials tell me where I’m at and if I need to cut back on time off or if I have some wiggle room. Though, worth mentioning that I often think that our wedding florist has a great schedule, if only they were an equestrian. She’s salaried yearly with a bonus structure based off performance, and makes pretty good $$.

The big wedding florists in the area make a huge incomes, but I find that’s a slippery slope. Booking = money, and being in charge of your own schedule, next thing you know you’ve worked 35 weekends in a row or something crazy.