Hi everyone! I am trying to make money for summer horse shows! I have started tack cleaning and babysitting. Does anyone have any ideas on how to make money?
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I’m assuming you are a young teen. Opportunities can be limited until you are old enough to hold an actual part time job. Braiders make a lot of cash but you need to be very very good.
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I have tried braiding.I’m not very good at it unfortunately 
Depending on your age, pet sitting/dog walking can be a pretty good part-time gig. I know there are teens who work at the doggie day care center near me. I’ve also hired (highly dependable) teenagers to look after my dogs for me.
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Definitely practice braiding, regardless of discipline. For example I will generally pay inexperienced, but decent braiders for doing braids for the dressage phase of a 3-day ($40 for 11-13 button braids). Lots of folks will be will in to do that, especially for smaller, local h/j shows. Practice on any horse in the barn that their owner will let you (I do that). My sister practiced braiding at home on old dolls and such.
I mowed lawns and did basic yard work around the neighborhood. I worked around the barn as well to pay for lessons and such. Cleaning the trailer out, picking up jumps so they could drag the ring, pulling weeds around the owner’s house, even cleaning stalls.
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Just keep showing the people around you just how responsible and hard working you are and I am betting you will have no problem finding ways to make some money.
Have you told your barn owner/trainer that you are looking for ways to earn money? They might have some ideas.
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Clipping
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Weekend stall mucking job is the classic for teens. Bonus is that you get to hang around with horsemen, who might teach you something valuable for free… horsemanship skills. Also, you get fit and strong, as another bonus.
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For making decent money, it is hard to beat either clipping, braiding or pulling manes. Of the 3, braiding is the hardest to learn. I highly recommend watching all the YouTube videos and shadowing a really good braider. RAyers is spot on - dressage and show jumper braids are easier and less time consuming than full on hunter braids, so start by mastering them. Then learn hunter braids, then learn tails.
Easiest to learn is pulling manes, but it helps to have done some braiding so you know exactly how long and thick a mane needs to be. Pulling manes also requires almost zero investment - a mane comb, a pulling comb and a used clipper blade. Volunteer to pull the manes on the school horses at your barn for practice, when you have them looking good, people will ask you to do their horses.
I do a lot of body clipping because it’s lucrative and I’m better at it than braiding. Two problems, though - 1.) it’s very dirty work 2.) you’ll have to eventually buy your own clippers, and that’s expensive. The clippers will pay for themselves in 4 - 6 clips, though. Same suggestion here - shadow someone who clips to learn the ropes, (I will teach anyone to clip if they’ll hold the horse for me. 
)and then volunteer to clip school horses at your barn. When you start turning out good looking clips, people will hire you. Start by learning to do a show trim - ears, jaw, bridle path, fetlocks and coronets - and then learn to body clip.
Tack cleaning is a great start. I would be happy, happy, happy to pay someone to put a full on, Pony Club clean on my tack. Consider adding polishing tall boots to your service; that’s something else that tired people showing would be happy to pay for.
Best of luck to you!
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You and me both!!!
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Our local Pony Club did this as a fund raiser at a hunt with a breakfast to follow. After you put your horse in the trailer, you gave your tack to this PC assembly line and went into the breakfast. When you came out of the breakfast, your tack was waiting.
Genius. I wish they’d do it more often. And include boots.
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Some local horse kids offer a day long drive thru trailer cleaning service to fund raise–get together with a couple friends and do a full on inside/outside trailer clean complete with stall mat removal and vacuum of dressing room. Scrub the exterior as well–charge $150-200 per trailer maybe. Just make sure to put the word out and have it in a convenient location ie easy to
pull through/access to water and good drainage.
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As I teen I made the most money starting a small business babysitting. My best paying gigs where offering child/petcare for events like weddings, overnights, and pet care.
I also made cash organizing and cleaning out barns, sheds, closets, etc.
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Always make sure to factor in your “input costs” when doing things like clipping, tack cleaning, braiding, and so forth (supplies, equipment, and the time devoted to learning). I agree that if you get the right situation/ clientele (busy adult amateurs) braiding/clipping can be great skills to learn and a “forever” side gig, but if there isn’t demand, it might not meet your financial goal.
Probably the best thing to do, if you’re looking for horse-related jobs, is to ask your barn owner and friends at the barn. I’ve always found the best way to get work is to determine what people’s needs are, and how they mesh with my skills (preferably, skills I can do more easily and quickly than the average person). It’s much harder to actually drum up business, convince people of a need, or to try to pick up cash doing something you find difficult.
Other things I don’t think people have suggested but to consider might be dog walking, pet sitting, farm sitting (if you have your own car and are capable of doing this), and tutoring students (not horsey, but again, if you have the skills). If you’re young and presumably don’t have insurance, though, you’d have to limit yourself to people you know/more casual arrangements re: pet-related businesses.
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If you’re old enough, working as a server at a restaurant was the best paying job I had as an older teen. (You don’t need to be 21). Dinner shifts make the most money and have the added bonus of not interfering with spending the morning/early afternoon at the barn.
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Spring is approaching and many people will be needing winter blankets cleaned and prepped for storage too. It might be easier/faster to clean them with a commercial washing machine, but it can be done just as well with a stiff brush, detergent, a good hose and some elbow grease. Maybe a big tub too, to let it soak a bit for any of them that are really nasty.
I made great money horse/ house sitting while people were away. They needed someone who knew how to feed and look over the horses.
I also wasn’t afraid of weird creatures. I made great money watching a family’s breaded dragon (and cats) because I was the only one who would feed it the raw worms it liked.
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Washing and waxing trailers. A lot of trailers’ exteriors age way too quickly because owners don’t treat their paint jobs like their cars’. You’d have to be comfortable on a ladder.
Cleaning out trailers post-travel. Scoop the poop, shop-vac, wipe interior walls with disinfectant.
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In the horse industry, braiding is the most most lucrative part-time gig. Braiding costs almost nothing up front aside from practice time. It takes a long time to get good, but once you can do pro-quality braids, you can make a really good hourly wage for the cost of yarn, and you have a lot of flexibility over when you work and how much.
Otherwise, you are probably going to make more and steadier money outside the horse biz. Think about the usual choices for part-time jobs: waiting tables, working retail, babysitting, etc.
Ideas like tack or trailer cleaning might make sense as one-offs, but the market of people who want those services regularly is probably very limited. And most standard barn work doesn’t pay well relative to civilian jobs.
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If you’re old enough, the best money you will make as a teen with the least investment is waiting tables at a higher end restaurant. Doesn’t have to actually be fancy but your tips are based on ticket totals so pick somewhere with a more expensive menu. A few weekend shifts and a dinner shift is $$$ when you don’t have full adult bills. Or, look for a hostess job that does tip sharing. Hostesses get a flat wage (usually over minimum) plus a share of tips, without having to work as hard as a server.
Clipping is also good if you live near a showground (my trainer used to call her contact to to clip literally at a show - we bought/leased something, picked it up there, and went straight into the show ring quite often). You’ll need practice and clippers though, but it’s way easier than braiding!
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