I want to spend a year just showing and riding and improving everything about my horse and it.
I’m assuming Florida area is the best for year-round showing and training, so what am I looking at for costs? Saftey concerns? Proximity to shows, trainers, and barns? I will have a lot of financial help from parents and what I have saved up, but because I’m a good/fast braider/body clipper how muuch can I plan on helping myself out like that? I’m also a very adjustable rider, I can catch ride all day and be a working student for a BNT if I can.
Good/bad idea? What else do I consider? Anyone done it? Recommended or no for a 18 y/o girl?
Florida is great in the winter, but gets pretty humid in the summer.
My suggestion would be to find a BNT near you who will take you on as a working student at home and in Florida/Arizona/California for the winter. Some may allow you to bring your own horse, some may not. Be prepared to work long hours and then ride your horse afterwards.
If you have the funds then the other option would be to head down to HITS Ocala with your horse, and hook up with a trainer there. You might be able to make a deal with someone to muck in the mornings in exchange for a couple lessons a week. If you can braid and clip at an A circuit level then you can do a lot yourself (for your own horse) and will be valuable to most barns.
I spent several years grooming and working in barns in my early twenties between my undergrad and post grad. I wouldn’t have been as comfortable and I don’t think I would have gotten as many opportunities as I did if I had done it straight out of high school.
Some barns will be more open to teaching someone from scratch, some will expect you to know how to do everything right from day one. Be honest with yourself with what you’re capable of right now, and don’t stretch the truth when you get hired. Nothing will piss a BNT or head groom off more then saying you can do something when in reality you can’t. Especially at a show.
If you are 18, I would think that means you are showing as an Ammy this year? If that is the case, you might want to keep in mind that your showing may be VERY limited as ammys can’t be working students. You will fall into the pro category.
I actually took a year between university and my big girl professional job and just did horses full time. Not a BNT, but a competitive local barn, which in my area is still fairly competitive and we do AA shows. I loved it, but I was technically riding as a professional at that time, and in reality mostly did the schooling behind the scenes, not as much actual showing in the ring. I also realized that this was not meant for me to be a full time long term pro, which was also a great lesson learned!
Florida is pretty dead in the summer (i.e. May-October) because it’s so darn hot and humid. If your intention is to stay in the same place for the whole year while riding and showing, I would look elsewhere in areas that are considered to be more year round venues. However, I’m not up on the show world enough to offer specific suggestions.
I would just get on yard and groom and go through the available options for grooming positions. Many will offer riding and/or need someone who can also at least flat.
this is going to be better money than a working student position for generally the same kinds of tasks, presuming your clipping and general horse care skills are decent.
Otherwise, just take the year and take a lot of lessons as your parents are bank rolling.
But what’s the end game? Experience in riding? Grooming? Managing horses? Just for fun? (There are no wrong answers but if you are really honest about what you want to do every day, you’re much much much more likely to be happy with your ultimate choice)
I did exactly this after I graduated high school. I deferred my acceptance to college for a year and worked as an assistant trainer for a school riding program and went down to WEF for the winter. I was lucky that I turned 18 just after the Dec. 1 cutoff so I could show as a junior for my last year while still being technically an adult so I didn’t have to worry about not being able to teach.
A couple things that helped me remain focused were the fact that I had a college move-in date waiting for me, if I hadn’t gone through the whole process of applying and getting accepted it would have been very easy to ignore this and just keep slogging along at the end of my gap year. I also took some classes at community college to help me “remember” how to be a student so I wouldn’t have such an adjustment going back to school after doing nothing but horses.
It was a great experience in some ways but there are a lot of things I would have done differently, feel free to PM me if you have questions, I am a huge advocate of doing a gap year as I really think it has positively impacted my life since then.
I did something similar. Taking time off between high school and college to work in horses helped me realize that the horse industry was a tough way to earn a living unless you had a lot of opportunity and/or talent. In the end, it made more sense (for me) to get a degree and a really good paying job if I wanted to realize my goal to own a barn one day.
The suggestion to keep up your studies at a community college is an excellent one. I took two night classes each semester and classes in the summer. It is a great way to learn what areas of study might interest you (or not) while accumulating some credits for transfer. Do take the community college classes seriously and keep up your grades. By the time I made the decision to go back to school full time, I had accumulated about two years of transferable credits and was accepted to several good colleges including an ivy league. I was a little older than my graduating classmates, but I had a pretty good sense of what career path I wanted to pursue, in contrast to some of my peers who really hadn’t figured out that part of their life. Taking some gap time worked out well.
Be honest with yourself, your parents and your employer. Remember to stay focused on the long-term plan and not use the gap time as an excuse to meander.
I would suggest night classes at the local community college even if it is only 2 a semester that’s less that you will have to take once you go to full time. Tryon is a growing horse community and you would be able to hook up with a trainer who may winter in Florida. You could experience the best of the horse world. Georgia is not quite as humid in the summer and pretty mild winters with some low temps scattered here and there.
Stay true to your goals of riding and working. It is very easy to get caught in the social aspects.
I know that this isn’t particularly what you want to hear, but my advice would be to go straight to college instead of taking a gap year. There are so many horse-related opportunities that you can take advantage of while in school. Going to college doesn’t mean that you have to give up riding. If you work hard, you can manage riding and showing while being a full-time college student. I am currently a full-time student with two horses - it is definitely doable! In fact, many of the great opportunities that I have now came about my first year in school such as grooming for trainers and riding horses that I never imagined I would get a chance to ride.
Taking a gap year to ride and show sounds great in theory, but so many people end up not going back to college because it is so easy to lose motivation. Horses will always be there. Don’t sacrifice your education now for something that you can do for the rest of your life!
I disagree - if you are truly motivated to get a college education, you will get one. I met so many people at my non-traditional school who were going back to college, from 30-somethings to 60 and up, looking to achieve that degree.
You cannot always focus on horses. Being young is the best time to do it. Getting older means more responsibilities, relationships, possibly children, a body that no longer bounces. I have taken the last two years to coast at a job that pays the bills but isn’t in my degree area and isn’t a career for me so I can focus on showing my horse. I honestly can say that I have not regretted the horse time for a moment. Slugging through a subpar job that doesn’t really challenge me in customer service is worth it - my job allows me the flexibility to take any time off that I need, and I rarely work overtime. I have made other sacrifices too, but to be able to pursue the one thing that I’ve always wanted to, even as an amateur…zero regrets.
Heck, if the OP wants to just do this for fun, so long as she has the funding, I say go for it. It sounds like an excellent learning opportunity. I would not be surprised if she found a connection to a future job.
OP - good for you. If you don’t have a clue as to what to do in college, don’t feel pressured to go right now. The institution will always be there when or if you feel ready. I wish I had the bravery to step outside society’s boundaries and do something like this. In the end, I think you will find your greatest memories to be all the different adventures you took, not the money you made or the means it took to do so. I’ve always said that you can’t take money with you, but you can take wonderful memories and give them to people all around the world.
Start networking. Find out what type of program would best suit you and your horse. Make a budget and decide what you want to get out of this experience. That’s my best advice.
I see a lot of Big Eq kids taking off the first semester to show finals in the Fall. But delaying further for the sake of riding seems a waste. I am a firm believer in higher education. Too many young “trainers” coaching college grads reach an impasse eventually and those trainers become bitter. Then you have too many young, struggling trainers trying to compete with the BNT’s who eventually go broke, or are disheartened, and have no other formal training to fall back on.
I agree with several posters, on NOT doing a gap year. I wanted to, and my parents pushed me not to. That’s an entire year that puts you behind to eventually starting your career, being able to start shaping your life, and beginning to save. Jmho, I have never regretted not starting college, and has helped me get ahead. At 33, I have a paid off mortgage, 3 paid off vehicles, and able to upkeep my horses and that is with 5 kids. Good luck to you whatever you decide!
Yeah, I have a bunch of degrees. Take the year. College isn’t going anywhere and you are stupid young. A gap year is standard in many countries (Ireland, UK, NZ, etc).
That said, don’t waste the time. Find a good trainer. Really train and ride hard. Not because you’re building a career as a rider, but because it’s a real gift and a rarity to have that time and support to do something you love.
I have taken the last two years to coast at a job that pays the bills but isn’t in my degree area and isn’t a career for me so I can focus on showing my horse. I honestly can say that I have not regretted the horse time for a moment. Slugging through a subpar job that doesn’t really challenge me in customer service is worth it - my job allows me the flexibility to take any time off that I need, and I rarely work overtime. I have made other sacrifices too, but to be able to pursue the one thing that I’ve always wanted to, even as an amateur…zero regrets.