Other point to consider…careers where you can make horse money AND have flexible schedule or location.
I am ChE in refining industry. Great money with bachelor’s. Not so much on flexible work schedule, remote work or part-time. Location specific to employers
DH is a Water Tx Engr, has Master’s. Less money than me to start, we’re now equal…but he can work from home, flex schedule and drop back to part time. Water Tx is needed EVERYWHERE.
Pharmacy might be a good fit — money, location, schedule.
Think more about the life you want to lead on a daily basis than how much money you make, because at a certain point–no money is worth your every waking hour. It’s also entirely possible that your goals will change as you age and being miserable in a job just because it pays well for you to afford the big shows won’t mean anything if you don’t want to show them anymore.
That being said, my brother-in-law does software engineering. He makes very good money and works from home, so has a lot of flexibility on hours and where they live. But, from what I understand, he is also exceptionally good at his job even compared to other software engineers so some of that flexibility won’t be there as you enter the workforce. He’s in his mid-30s.
Also, my husband and I combined don’t make 6 figures. I show a few times a year (could more if I were inclined), own two horses. Own 20 acres and a brand new house/barn/arena. Depending on where you live and what you want to actually do, it’s entirely possible to do horses without being rich.
FWIW, I’m in accounting and DH is in construction in the Midwest.
Don’t get discouraged. Depending on where you live that is very doable.
Also worth noting, that depending on where you are in starting/finishing college, a lot of things could change especially if you go for the tech industry. A few big companies like Twitter and Pinterest are already stating that they will either be going permanently fully remote or maintaining a hybrid working model from now on. This change could be HUGE in terms of allowing graduate engineers to live in places much more affordable and rural where you could have easier access to barns, no commute, etc. Tech is such a rapidly changing industry and covid has pushed it into thinking about new patterns.
OP, for a reality check: what level of horse and showing are you doing now, and what do you envision doing as an adult?
If you are a top junior rider now, showing nationally, and want to keep up at that level, it’s very different than if you just want to have a medium nice horse and do the local two foot six.
Honestly I dont think that many working adults play at the highest levels of h/j because either you ride every day, or you pay an extreme amount to a coach to keep your horse tuned up so you can show on weekends. It’s not a game for the 6 figure 50 hour a week young career person. It’s for the independently wealthy.
However, the amount of cash needed to buy a nice enough local horse, get lessons and training as needed, and show locally, is very dependent on region and cost of living. So are important things like how far is your commute to work and to the barn.
Housing costs also figure into it. Because your horse money is what’s left over after you meet all your other necessary expenses. Where I live, the price of a one bedroom city condo will get you ranch acreage 6 hours North but there are few jobs there. If you commute an hour a day, that’s a lot of gas. Etc.
So you can do horses on much less than say $150,000 a year. But you likely can’t live in a big high cost metro area and compete nationally on $150,000 a year either.
The other reality check: what are you good at? Are you good at numbers, finance, math? How do you know? The top people in any field do pretty well. The very lowest tier struggle to make a living. Yes, there are computer programmers, MBAs, accountants, etc., who hadn’t made much of themselves due to whatever. Most people fall into the middle tier. So look at average salaries not top salaries.
If you are a young woman, realize also that most well paying fields remain dominated by men for various reasons, and you may not advance as fast as the equivalent young man.
But you also need to be good at your job, you need to have natural ability and to find the field interesting, and to be in sync with the prevailing corporate culture.
You may also find a niche somewhere surprising. I took a winding path to become a professor in a field I was talented in and loved. Only 50 % of PhD grads in my field get permanent positions. I was lucky along the way. I could afford a fancier horse and more competition than I do, but my riding interests have morphed a different way.
Also finally we dont know where the big money will be in 10 or 20 years. Presumably tech, finance, engineering, but in what sectors? Things change and evolve. Find a direction you have a passion for and stay flexible.
@Scribbler, just FYI, the person I was responding to was not the OP. Someone who says they do not want to show.
I do totally agree with what you posted.
what maybe more important than the field of study might be what contacts you make while in school, at least for son had used his education but primarily his success was Who he met while in school and the doors those people opened (he is in the mid six figure area)
Yes. My college connections have been important, and have been absolutely crucial to those of my crowd who stayed in the field we were in back then (I took a detour).
A good reason not to spend every waking hour of college at the barn but to focus on campus activities and clubs and social life.
Not sure why I responded to you. Sometimes the responses are kind of random depending where on the thread you are when an idea strikes!!!
If you’re small enough, jockeys actually make a lot.
My boss makes comfortable 6 figures in the insurance industry with only a high school diploma but he has an unusual background & set of connections. I could reasonably hit 6 figures within a year or two with my little niche I’ve carved. I’ve become interested in taking the CFA exams despite being too old to be on the big $$$ track with them. The knowledge base gained would fit nicely into what I’m trying to do now.
Until she got caught 
only took 29 years… and if she had not gone to that last horse show she may still be at it
Somewhat of a curveball, but what about urban planning? I work for a large municipality in Ontario and the Senior Planners make 6 figures. Even the typical Planners make high 5’s. Actually, I believe the salaries for Planners are pretty standard across the province. There are community meetings etc., but for the most part, it’s a pretty typical 9-5 job.
So much of this is dependent on your location - $75k goes a lot further in somewhere like small-town Florida or Arkansas than it does in NYC.
Also what you mean by “support horses.”
One horse, boarded at a modest boarding facility, with maybe a few lessons per month and a few shows per year is a whole lot different than three horses in full training at an AA-show barn, showing weekly or even monthly.
However, I’ll go ahead and suggest some kind of trade. Welding, Mechanic, Electrician, all good professions that can earn quite a nice income.
I feel like Canadian public service jobs may pay higher than their equivalent in many American towns and cities. In some places of course they may be higher.
I was thinking that too, but I thought I’d throw it out there. There’s also the private side of urban planning and they also make quite a bit of money. I doubt that would significantly differ between countries as we hire American counterparts often for hearings.
Do you enjoy finance and business? Are you good with numbers? Do you click/connect with your peers who are pursuing that path? I would just follow what you are best at, with an aim to find or create a high-paying, flexible role within that field.
I think the working world overall is shifting toward self-employment, freelancing, and remote work, and your life will be easier and your earning potential will be higher if your work is something you enjoy and have a natural aptitude for. If you want to have time to ride, you will also need something with decent work/life balance and location flexibility. Some kind of tech/finance job that allows you to work remotely is probably ideal but it’s hard to say what those will be in 5 or 10 years - things are changing fast.
As an example of following what you’re good at and not just money: I have the world’s most useless undergrad degree, I make 6 figures working as a writer, and I just turned 30. I live in a super HCOL city which eats up most of my salary, but I work remotely and could easily do my job from somewhere less expensive and have a horse. My full-time gig and all my freelance work come via connections, so I really think it’s important to be in a career path (and a city/town/region) where you will genuinely click with the people around you.
I’m certainly smart enough to grind it out in a traditionally high-paying career path but when I switched from a career that didn’t suit me (staring at Excel sheets from 9 to 5 in an office in Manhattan) to one that did, I starting making way more money and I became much happier, too. Just have to figure out the location part of the puzzle and then I’m golden. You’ll work it out!
This is very true. Many of the techs I work with make quite a nice living. Especially if they specialize. An electrician with a specialty in controls makes a very healthy income in my area.
Another thought is to have a side gig and a day job that’s more flexible. Something that earns extra money but you control the amount of work or quantity of clients you take in. Side gig can be related to horses or not.
I have a finance degree and have consistently made at least the high five/low six figures since I was in my early 20s.
HOWEVER.
I don’t work in finance. I stumbled into sales during the 2008 recession and never looked back. It’s a really good career, though mentally exhausting many days. I did take a break to work at an IT company for a lower income, lower stress job - and those guys were brilliant, but overworked and underappreciated. Turnover was very high.
If you don’t mind cold calling, uncapped commission based sales is where big money is for the average person.
And ditto to the person above who mentioned connections in college - it’s never what you know, it’s who you know.
I don’t really agree with this. I think it can be either. I have no connections from college, or even graduate school, although my graduate school is well-known and in my current city, so it is recognizable.
Certainly college matters - degrees are important, grades are important.
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