I’m a 16 year old equestrian with from a middle class family. With my parents having 4 kids and agreeing to pay for 4 years of college for all of us, there’s no way we can afford a horse. I’ve spent the last 5 years riding any horse I could get my hands on and have finally settled in a barn where I can do barn work to “lease” one of the few lesson horses and get money off when showing him.
My dream is to be a horse trainer, training horses to be either eventers or hunter/jumpers. The horse I have access to is a 17.1 hand lazy as all heck Holsteiner that is 18 years old, but used to do 3’ hunters. I’m trying to show him at 2’6’’ this season, which is his limit on height. There are no dressage or eventing barns in my area, so I’m striving to find ways to get more experience from different trainers with different horses, and a way to make money.
I work at the barn 4 days a week and still struggle with homework, so I don’t think I can get a job like normal teenagers do. I’m currently learning to braid.
So what I need tips on is how can I get more experience without emptying my parent’s wallet?
How much can I charge for braiding manes and tails at an A rated show?
What kind of job should I be aiming for after college?
I was looking into being an Equine Vet because I love biology and it would make some money for me to spend on horses and property to keep horses on, but people say it takes up too much time and they don’t have time to train horses anyways as a vet.
There are jumpers at the barn that I could show, but I usually don’t feel comfortable riding them because they’re 15 hand short-backed horses and I’m 5’8’’.
I’m just looking for any tips from experienced equestrians on what I should do to make the most out of a situation.
Continue riding anything you can get your hands on. Continue learning to braid and start trying to do that at shows. Take all the lessons you can get. Go to college. Get a degree in a marketable field. STEM are certainly marketable. Get a good job, preferably something with normal hours. Have a nice horse. Have a nice life. Have health insurance. Maybe later you’ll decide you want to develop a horse, and by then you’ll have a lot of rides and lessons under your belt and the skills and the time and the money and the health insurance.
I would think about doing a year or two as a working student before going to college, and discuss the idea with your parents.
I did about two years, working for a couple different trainers, and I think it was a really valuable experience. I ended up realizing that I was getting hurt too often and that I really wasn’t all that interested in risking my safety to work with some of the genuinely dangerous horses that came in for training - but I think that knowing this for sure was a solid takeaway, and has helped me walk away from that side of the industry without too much regret or “what-ifing.”
Either way, working for a good trainer will give you an honest view of the day-to-day lifestyle - both the good parts and the terrible parts- a lot of solid skills, and relationships with good people who’ll be a huge help as you navigate the industry. You also get a chance to meet a lot of people in different jobs around the industry & see a little bit of how they live. Even though I decided to leave, just being a more competent rider with some experience around the barn has helped me get more opportunities to ride in college.
Agree with getting some working student time in - having worked at a barn during a polar vortex, knew I was on the right path with getting my advanced degree and doing horses for fun. My trainer during grad school graduated from Findlay, and she was one of the few left from her class that were still actually doing the trainer job 10 years later. Especially if you already haven’t worked with greenies or OTTBs, and really experienced what a fractious baby or temperamental mare can pull, it can be a real eye opener. I’d never been scared of a horse until I was in my mid-twenties, and at that point I was grateful I could let the trainer deal with it.
I work as a research scientist, know a lot of health and nursing type people who find that these jobs that aren’t 9-5 allow for a lot of flexibility in job hours while providing good security and benefits. Try IHSA in college, ride a lot of lesson horses and get a real feel for all different types. It’s likely you’d have to ride those 15hh jumpers for your clients - my 5’10 trainer got on medium ponies from time to time if no one else was around who could school it. Really, at this point you don’t know what you don’t know. Try to give yourself a lot of education and experiences before you really commit to this path. If you realize you appreciate a climate controlled office and the ability to do horses your own way, there’s no shame in that at all.
ETA: I work at a vet school right now, and let me tell you getting into vet school is HARD and EXPENSIVE. We get students all the time coming to do lab work to pad their CVs, end up working another year when they don’t get in the first year, and many give up. All the vets I know are also carrying a lot of debt and their practices do not pay out in big money, unless you’re talking high end lameness practices or on call emergency services. Please look very hard on the return on investment there.
You’ve received some great advice that is really worth considering. A lot of us have been in your shoes. Breaking into the industry as a trainer at a level where you can command a reasonable salary that allows you to put a roof over your head, food on the table, clothes on your back, purchase health insurance and squirrel away some retirement savings every week is difficult.
Seize every opportunity to learn as much as you can about horses. Ride and lesson whenever possible, but keep your grades up. A college degree from a good school will open many doors. Those doors can lead to lucrative jobs that can afford you the opportunity to own your own horse(s) and perhaps a small farm if that is a goal.
If you look around in H/J land, the trainers that can support themselves in the vocation generally have a decade or more of “A” show experience by the time they age out and 15-20 years of experience by the time they go “pro”. It is hard to compete with that if your circumstances didn’t afford you similar opportunities.
The sport has many participants with differing roles. Consider each role and be open to the idea of being an owner or a client that has a good job that can support their “horse habit”.
ETA, in our area, professional braiders get $50-$65 for a mane and $25-$35 for a tail, but it really depends on your geography and the quality of your braiding job. Ask your trainer what is a fair rate to charge for your work.
In high school I used to drive around with my vet. Best advice he gave me was to keep horses as a hobby. There are colleges that have equestrian program. I loved taking riding classes at the same time I was earning my degree. I also wanted to do something in the horse profession, but now just enjoy them as a hobby.
Concentrate on your homework, go to college, get a good job and enjoy horses for fun.
Be thankful for what you have, I would love to have your horse! Thankfully there are an array of horses I can catch ride so I have got some experience. Don’t get too serious! The best professionals are silly and happy. I am a lot like you and it gets hard when you are to busy focusing on the goal and don’t stop to be silly. Take a note from the clinician Daniel Stewart, he encourages equestrians to “stay young” and utilize what makes them happy to be successful. I know its super super hard at your age (I’m barely older, but I’m aged out) to realize that their is life beyond the Junior years especially when you hear that so-and-so won this middle and that Junior Hunter Finals, but there is life after you age out, and dedication, and excitement! If I were you I’d get a couple partnerships you still have two years left to do that. Do what you can if thats HQC challenge or reading your heart out!
Jobs that pay well do generally require a lot of time. I have several friends who are nurses and seem to have good schedules for riding.
As for for the rest…take a breath. You are 16. Many of us are still riding at a high level for a very long time. You don’t need to get there in the next couple of years to ultimately be very successful.
Horses are always there. I couldn’t afford my own horse at your age. I didn’t own my own until after college. And I’m a far better rider now having spent years riding and learning from many different horses and many trainers. Read. Study videos. Watch clinics and lessons. You can learn a lot even not in the saddle. I didn’t event until after college. And I took two years off after college to just do horses before going back to law school. Got my first OTTB in law school. Brought two OTTBs in law school up through training level and one up through Prelim. But that isn’t typical. School came very very easy for me and by that point I was a very experienced rider with green horses and Good jump rider…Dressage was my weaker area.
Working outside of horses is harder but very rewarding. I now own two farms and over 20 horses. I would NOT have all that I do had I stayed working in the horse industry. But that is what being smart, doing well at school and working my a$$ off for 20 years in the right industry…and being a bit lucky. I can train a horse better than most professionals…but I choose not to make that my living. But still horses are a huge part of my life.
There are a lot of roads to Rome. Take your time. You will get there.
If you’re barn let’s you work to lease that’s a really good deal! Not all barns will do that! Ride any and all horses, when I started I would go to the barn everyday and hack the “troubled” horses, basically the horses no one else would ride. Eventually my trainer started paying me to ride the ponies (I was the only one small enough to ride them!)
it’s really hard to learn without a push from a good trainer but read some books about dressage. Read, apply. Make sure to take videos and watch yourself ride. Even your old lazy horse can do this! (Most of the time horses aren’t “lazy” it’s the association made with riding but you can do your own research on that if you’re interested) push yourself and you will be better! A book o like is Dressage 101.
My parents were actually really supportive about me being an apprentice for a few years out of highschool. My trainer is well known with grand prix trainers and riders around the Midwest, so I might be able to learn from some of the best. I’ve been working as a barn manager while my trainer is away, making sure all 18 horses are taken care of and exercising the horses I need to. At this point, I’m ok with not owning a barn and lesson program myself, but just being a lesson instructor at a barn. Thanks for the advice!
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Read books written by George Morris, Ann Kursinski, Col. Alois Podjasky (“My Horses, My Teachers”), Paul Belasik (“Riding Towards the Light”), Christian Schacht (“Sporthorse Conformation: Evaluating Athletic Potential in Dressage, Jumping, and Eventing Prospects”).
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Audit clinics (dressage or jumping) in your area. Go even if you think you won’t learn anything that will apply to you. Remember that “Dressage is the basis.If there is something off here, there will be something off with the jumping”. (George Morris)
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Volunteer at an equine hospital, or vet clinic. Ask your vet if you can go with him as he does his rounds to different barns. Tell him you want to learn as much as possible.
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Watch the farrier do one or two horses. Ask if he minds you watching and asking a few questions.
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Observe the horses. At shows, at the barn, in the turnouts, in the cross ties. Learn what time they eat, when they nap. Horses have no ulterior motives, and never lie.
In short, take advantage of the educational opportunities that are all around you.
Braiding is a great skill to make extra money. Same with sheath cleaning if you are up for it. If you are skilled and experienced you can charge $40 a horse in my area, and it doesn’t take the pros long to do. They can do multiple horses in an hour and make much more money than someone doing manual labor type barn work.
And you will sure get an education…
