As a college student who is struggling to find passions beyond horses, how profitable is running a boarding, training, or sales business in the dressage industry? Is one more profitable than the other and what are the downsides to each? Please share your experiences I would really love some guidance as I figure out career choices!
We are currently in a decline in the dressage world and horse world in general. The cost of buying a farm in the Northeast is at the very high end and you won’t make a profit if you have a big mortgage Add the insurance, taxes and the cost of feed and it is tough to make a living. My advice to a lot of my students for many years is to get a job that makes you some income and do the horse thing on the side until you can afford a farm/barn of your own. That’s what I did, my first career paid for my farm so I made a profit because I didn’t have to pay a mortgage. But now with the cost of everything else I can’t afford to own as many lesson horses etc.
I’ll let someone else respond to the sales part of it because I never focused on it.
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Board is a losing proposition in the northeast. The only way boarding barns make money is by selling other services - lessons, training packages, etc.
The trainers I know making decent money are ok to very good FEI riders who take 8-15 horses in full training. Some are horses they exclusively ride, some are horses they exclusively train amateurs on, and some are shared horses.
The other trainer I know who does ok has no facility or horse of her own. She has a loyal clientele she travels to, and she has no overhead expense other than gas.
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Horses are not profitable. Not at all. Read the replies above me. The old joke is “Question: How to you make a small fortune in horses? Answer: Start with a large fortune.”
You might find a landowner who wants someone to “manage” their farm. You will be at the whim of that landowner.
Learning how to train horse is something best done as an “apprentice” not in a university. It is a trade just like plumbers, electricians, welders…except plumbers get ~$75 to $100/hr.
I suggest getting a degree in business (which you can use for horses). This is a good degree that gives you a backup plan. You can use that degree to analyze the viability of a horse business plan based on costs in your area.
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As a career choice, it’s basically terrible. 
Maybe you’ll pick it anyway, but it’s just so difficult to build a comfortable life where you also have money and time to ride your own horses unless you have a huge pile of cash to buy a piece of real estate and to buffer your cash flow issues.
I don’t say this lightly, but there’s really no better way to learn to dislike horses than to become a professional. It’s a miracle that so many professionals DO still like horses! But you’re counting on a horse to perform in order to pay your rent, or your health insurance, and what will you do if that horse you needed to sell at the show this weekend is just a little bit lame or NQR?
Most professionals I know, their own personal horse is the one that might not get ridden every day, that might not get the best saddle fit, etc. There are only so many hours in the day.
If you get hurt, what then? Even if you have health insurance, you lose your income.
If your goal is to spend time with horses and enjoying them, get a job where you can live in a place with your horses at home and you’ll have time to ride. Or get a job that will pay for a boarding stable in the city of your choice.
Build connections and networking. Make rich friends! 
You can, for what it’s worth, pursue dressage as an amateur and turn professional later, if you find that’s the right path. It’s much harder to go the other way. And any experience you have in Real World business or other activity will only make your horse business better.
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Training coaching and sales at any highish level all require professional level riding, competing and horsemanship skills. And then an apprenticeship in other barns.
The “dressage industry” has many levels. Do you want to coach older returning riders on draft crosses topping out at Training and First? Can you make up easier WB types to Fourth or PSG at local shows? Or can you go play at the CDI level at some capacity? What is your own competition record? What is your own training record?
In any sport, the coaches and trainers are the people who did really well in that sport
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If you use the search feature and spend some time in general reading past threads you can get great insight.
In short, some people make very good money important mid five figure horses, gambling that they are sound and have good brains, show them stateside, and then sell them for a large profit. The ones that make money typically have a spouse making a standard salary or good family money to fall back on. Sometimes you buy a $100k youngster and they end up a giveaway.
Having a 9-5 and teaching lessons on the side or selling 2-3 horses a year is the safest way to make horses a career.
If you’re curious you can do loose math. Look at your area, monthly mortgage to buy a barn, average cost per horse, going boarding rate, etc and then calculate of that profit how much you would lose with something like redoing an arena, replacing 100’ of four board fence, etc.
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Just do it. 9 to 5 will suck the life out of your soul and you will probably make more than an entry level 9 to 5.
They aren’t wrong those - horses are on the decline so your location is key. Make sure there’s a massive hoa near whatever barn you lease.
Find an old quarter horse and use it as an up down lesson pony. House dog pet sit until you find your way. Work 5 other jobs. Whatever writes the checks.
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There are other horse-related careers that will likely provide more stable income, with a lower barrier to entry. Think bodywork, hoof care and saddle fitting to name a few.
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I would agree with you if there were not animals involved…It’s too big a crap shoot and horses get dumped or not fed properly.
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I know a good handful of previously successful low/mid level pros - middle aged or older people who ran boarding barns and did training and lessons for those of us NOT living in FL for the winter.
Very few are living what I would call “comfortably”. The ones that are had/have spousal or family support and didn’t depend on the horses for their entire income and/or they now run a business like a feed store, tack shop, show management company, high end farm bought cheap and lucky in a prime area 30 years ago, etc.
A good percentage of the rest of them are now making ends meet by farm sitting (manual labor), pet sitting, working retail, etc. Some are still riding and training, with the physical toll of those years showing up big time. These are the ones who never had a career/gave up that career early, didn’t get lucky enough to have outside support, and maybe weren’t super smart with money early on. Living on a shoestring doing the horse thing works when you’re young, but one day you look up and you’re pushing 60, with no job prospects outside farm work, no real retirement funds or savings, and health insurance that’s bleeding you dry. It’s a tough place to be.
Can you do the horse trainer thing and be smart, save up, run it like a business? Yeah absolutely. But as we know, horses have a way of burning through every penny and seeing them as only dollar signs is a good way to start hating the whole thing. It’s very hard to make a living wage with horses, some years you will and a lot you won’t.
My suggestion, from watching these lovely people in my circles, is to get a career outside of horses that will allow you a 401k and “real” money, a small hobby farm to maybe teach a few lessons/take a few training clients/sell a few horses every year. OR, if you’ve got the backing and the skills to make it at the UL, try that for a few years. That’s where there’s enough $$$$ to maybe support you if you’re smart - have a deadline for if it doesn’t pan out where you go back to college. The middle and low end of horses is disappearing along with the money to pay those trainers.
Wow, that’s quite a ramble 
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If I were to quit my job and work with horses it would be in the context of afterschool care/ homeschool care and camps for kids.
I am finishing up a business plan for my area and it would make someone a 25k-110k income set up properly. I’m looking at doing it when I retire.
Sales can make money but you better have a decent eye.
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I only know three people who make a living with horses: My vet, my farrier, and a long-time trainer in our area –
The long-time trainer does as you imagine you’d like your life to be: many clients, huge (80 stalls) facility, massive indoor, massive outdoor, surrounded by 500 acers of hay he uses for his industry.
That is not how he makes his living. The stable/training is break-even (three full-time employees, and seasonal help)
He makes his living as a nationally in-demand judge. He judged WEG, and has a yearly gig at Scottsdale, and Amarillo (reiners, mostly, but has expertise in about everything horse show related).
He is on the road about 30 weeks a year at various venues.
To be that much in demand as a judge, he has an extensive background: four years of college at Finley, 20 years of working with some of the biggest names in the business in AZ, many national level wins, and, at 40, parents who “gave him the farm” on condition that he let them continue to live in their home on the property and look after them (I think his parents are mid-80s now).
I use his assistant trainer for my QH and my own advancement as a rider. I see him off and on, but he’s usually on the road. He has maybe 5 horses in his training line up, and the assistant has about that many too. The rest are boarders. I think he may stand a high-end stallion, but I don’t think that’s on his property as I’ve never seen the horse in person.
Anyway, that’s how he did it.
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Not a direct answer to your question, but I like to say that the only people who ride horses for a living are jockeys and exercise riders. See Eliza Sydnor’s Chronicle article: https://www.chronofhorse.com/article/can-work-life-balance-and-a-savings-account-exist-in-the-horse-industry/
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since horses come out of the womb trying to kill themselves, it is a large miracle that any involved in the horse business do more than break even.
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Making a living with horses involves Sales and Customer Service. The horses do not pay the bills, their owners do so you need to be a people person. Polite and tactful and good at making friends.
I agree with the others that if you love horses you should get a professional job/career that allows you to afford your own horses. Once you start thinking of them as $$$ the whole relationship changes.
As someone who owns her own farm, I will also say the facility upkeep is substantial. there is always something needing repair, fence lines break or get broken by nice horses just itching themselves, weeds grow, the ring needs to be dragged, it goes on and on. And you need $$$ equipment to keep it up OR to pay local providers with said equipment and time.
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At one time I thought I wanted to be an equine veterinarian. I had the grades and ability to get into vet school.
Then, I went to work for a large animal practitioner. After working on horses all day, the desire to go ride was…lessened. And, dealing with owners…even the nicest ones…took a lot of mental energy.
I realized within a few months that it was much better to pursue a professional career that would enable me to work with horses on my own terms. Never regretted it.
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which a good trainer rarely has time to devote to their own horses, when my daughter’s young horse had to be euthanized her trainer gave her one of his from his herd that he never had time to work as the clients needs came first.
adding this horse who was five when given to my daughter had never been saddled , the mare was just being kept in the pasture. She got her in April, by June it won its intro dressage classes (4) She had been entered in an open competition to get her qualified for the Morgan Nationals, she had been entered in two class of each day of the show with the Hope that she would not flip out to get qualified just was not expecting her win one let alone all four
So qualified she went to National with less than six months of work.
Competition there was against horses who had many years of training by professionals yet she won her division being awarded intro dressage national champion, then upon adding up the scores was the world champion. Daughter saw trainer who gave her this horse telling he need to go pick up his award for breeding a world champion … he was the most pleased man ever as he knew the horse was good but just did not have the time to devote to its development .
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Thanks, Silverbell. I was just going to post a link to that article. I think wanting a career as a professional horse trainer/sales/boarding facility is an exercise in futility.
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I know several successful dressage trainers who are happy. They all either have family money or spouses that provide the bulk of the household income and health insurance.
I know other dressage trainers who live hand to mouth, resent their reliance of whomever owns the barn they work at and are constantly soliciting clients often taking on real problems just to make ends meet.
It’s a very hard business to make a living in.
I’m another vote for getting a more secure job and doing horses either as an ammy or on the side.
Good luck whichever way you go.
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