I work in network broadcasting. I work 4 to midnight shift, so I get to ride in the mornings and then head into work. I see you’re considering Journalism. I’m not sure how well that pays. If it’s like broadcasting, you might have to work in a very large market to make a good salary. I would assume the downsides are similar to my industry of having to work weekends and holidays since the media never sleeps. Definitely talk to some journalists before proceeding. The other two flexible & good paying “horse” jobs I know are cops and nurses. Again weekends and shift work come into play.
Maybe health care office management/nursing home management? I believe the degree is Health Care Administration. Also, if you do try Social Work again, you could eventually (after a few years) work per diem, which would give you time but not money.
Also Just my opinion, but we can’t say things like, “grad school wasn’t meant to be” or “I hate math” when career-planning a career at, if I may say so, your tender age. You have your whole life ahead of you, without the obligations of spouse and children, and can do anything you want to. If you want to be able to afford to do horses competitively, you need a good job. Maybe you don’t need grad school, or to learn math, but many good jobs require some form of grad school and some exposure to business or health care math. (I’m sure you are a perfectly intelligent person. You can learn the math, with good support. Give yourself more credit. BELIEVVVVVVE… 
).
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Lol, so I know I can competently do math, but it was definitely my weakest point throughout high school and college. When I say I hate math, I meant that a career path that was mathematically based may not be the best fit - you know, like engineering, astronomy, quantum physics, the like. I have a statistics class under my belt, and I will say that while I I pulled a B+ out of it (if my memory serves me correctly), it was a very difficult class for me to sit down and focus in. Perhaps the actual application would be better.
I’m also not necessarily opposed to going to graduate school - however, it is not an option I wish to pursue at this given moment, and if I can avoid it, I will, simply because of the cost of graduate school. If I find a career path I actually like where I may need to go back to school, I would definitely consider it.
Thank you for your suggestions - I hadn’t thought of those.
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I appreciate all the suggestions!! Some of these are extremely helpful and are things I will look into!
To set some things straight, I majored in journalism for a while. In the end, though, I found it wasn’t a good fit, mainly because of the stress of the time crunch to get interviews and how pushy the job required you to be to get interviews. The only aspect I really enjoyed was reporting on the television screen.
Nursing would be a fabulous career, but I already know that I do not have the stomach for what nurses go through. If someone was throwing up, I’d be right there with them. 
I have so much respect for people that go into that field. They deserve every dollar they get and more. That also rules out a lot of medical careers, unfortunately…
For those of you that suggested government and municipality (really awesome suggestions, by the way), I have done some looking into those and will continue to. I really wouldn’t mind a 8-5 or 9-5 job at all. Heck, I’d even work a couple of weekends. At my current job, my schedule is never the same - I could be working 7-4 one day and 4-9 the next, depending on where they need help. So long as I can get some weekends off to go to competitions or clinics and have time to condition my horse during the week, I won’t complain. The one thing that I can’t see myself handling well is overnights or jobs that are constantly draining you of your sleep. I’m not one to operate very well on little sleep.
I’m pretty hesitant about going back into the social work/human services field, referring to the person that brought that up. I felt that it was…well, misleading. Aside from the fact that maybe I will continue to struggle sometimes with my own mental health in the future, I have been applying for jobs in that field, and it seems so difficult to get into! The entry level jobs pay less than my current job (which doesn’t pay much), and the ones that pay around 30-35k a year want you to have so much experience. For a field that needs so many more people, they sure are exclusive. I understand that people need to have the right mindset to be successful in these types of jobs, but it’s like they want you to be overqualified. I wanted to get my master’s of social work or of counseling and be a private practice counselor. They typically make (around here) 50K on up. I knew the other job options in the field would not support much.
Also, I’m from nowhere Iowa, keep my riding horse and my old nag (affectionately called this) at home, still live at home (very thankful for my parents), and pay for all of my horse expenses. I want to be able to move out and become more independent. I really struggle with what people might think about my living arrangement - part of it is pride, part of it is self-inflicted judgment. Someday I would like to relocate, but I’m trying to not make too many major changes at once because change really raises my anxiety. Hopefully, I will move past that and be able to get on the road to where I should be.
Thank you again for all the suggestions! It is nice to be able to have outside opinions!
Social services work does not equate to pay that can afford an equestrian lifestyle without cutting out elsewhere. At least not in my experiences in the Midwest. I just switched from working for the county as a probation officer. I didn’t make terrible money and made more than social workers in the area AND had an extremely flexible schedule. I could leave and go ride and just take vacation time to do it on a whim. However, I felt stuck because there was nowhere to go but the job I had and there was no such thing as a raise and we had plenty of pay/hiring freezes and the threat of being furloughed. Last week I traded in that life for the corporate world. The pay is better (not a ton more right now but there is upward mobility and no pay freezes so here’s to hoping the change will treat me well in the years to come). I can afford 1-2 lessons a week and the rare show on my single income. If I cut out a bunch of other stuff I could probably afford a horse, but I like eating real food (not ramen) and my vet trip loving dogs and I love my home that I own. Home ownership won over horse ownership (life was so much less expensive when I was renting - stay at your parents and save save save that $ while you can!)
I did just pay off all of my student loans (yay) so I’m just putting any money that would have gone there into a savings account. I also have my vacation/sick payout from the job I left which is going into savings. Five year plan - own or full lease and do at least one show a month. That was my five year plan straight out of college 
Whatever you do, pick something that you’ll actually WANT to do. There is nothing worse than being paid beans for a job you absolutely can’t stand going to - luckily I’ve only had one job like that. Talk to people in the field(s) you are interested in. Sure, you can research it online… but many websites are guestimates at best and job searches don’t always yield results with salary information.
And as a side note… my friend who never stepped foot into a college classroom makes 30k more than me a year. He is in sales. If you are great at public speaking and can sell an ice cube to an eskimo then maybe look at that.
What about something like a radiology technician? I think that pays well and has flexible hours depending on where you work.
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You say you can think logically and creatively? Have you considered IT career? Take programmer as an example, you need to think very logically just by its nature, but a good programmer also need to think outside of the box. For every IT problem, there might be a hundred solutions. A good programmer will use their creative head to figure out the best solution for the time constraint and budget. And if you happen to be one of the rare gem to be able to communicate with a human efficiently, you will be in fairly high demand. In this path, nobody will frown at you if you want to sit at your computer all day long in your own little happy world. If you want to be a manager down the road, fine; if you want to manage yourself, fine too. None of my managers ever complain if I tell them to just leave me alone to my tasks. Most IT career offer very good flexible time. They pay relatively well too, especially for those gems I mention, that can communicate with a human.
As to whether you can afford your horse habit, I think location plays an important role, probably more so than any other hobbies. For example, my equivalent salary will probably be 1.5 times of what I am making now in California, but I will need to make at least twice as much to afford my life style with horses there.
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a few even work 
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I’m in the same boat as you are. My degree is a liberal studies degree in business administration and journalism. I did not know what I wanted to do and wish I could go back and start all over again. It took me 5 years to graduate after starting in Equine business management and transferring schools and changing majors. I still don’t know what I want to be “when I grow up” but I’ve been looking into what I can do to get me out of where I am. Ideally, I’d love to work for a magazine but without commuting to NYC (3.5 hour commute by train each day) I would probably not make much money. Getting into publishing is something that also interests me but no luck there so far.
I work in market research now. I work with vendors to get sample for digital surveys. My job is repetitive and a little annoying - I’m really bored most of the time. As my mother says, this job is a little beneath me but I couldn’t find a job after college and working at a tack store full time wasn’t cutting it. I want to take courses in graphic design but don’t have the money/time currently.
For me, I cannot afford horses + save money + pay off my student loans on top of other bills. I sold my gelding in November and I’m trying to sell my mare but it’s about $1000 a month until I do which really stinks. I can afford that but not much else until she sells. It might get to a point where I need to sell her for next to nothing, but I’m holding out on the good sale price for now. I realized that I just didn’t have the time that I wanted to, to be able to own anymore. I also don’t know if I ever will own again but may lease somewhere down the road. I’m trying to find a new job but it’s been a slow process, even with working with staffing agencies. I want to be happy where I am but there’s no point in leaving my current position unless things are going to be different/better for me. My commute sucks right now too so that plays a huge role in why I want to leave.
Whatever you decide to do - make sure you’re happy doing it.
Good luck!
@CorazonLock Have you considered a trade, such as welding or the like? A lot of trades are in demand and you can make good money right off the bat. My brother-in-law just finished school for welding, immediately got a job making pretty much the same as me (who has a bachelor’s degree and 5+ years experience in marketing), and only works 4 days a week. There’s plenty of other trades besides welding–do a quick internet search to see if any jump out at you. It may be worth a look
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I was just going to suggest this, a trade! It’s still a bit nontraditional for women (I’m assuming you are a woman but don’t know that). In general the trades pay well, and let you be out and about going to different job sites, and don’t have the same kind of interpesonal stress as a human service job, or the same kind of time crunch stress as journalism. You need some math for trades, but it’s not a number crunching job like accounting. If you have decent manual skills, you could train in one of these. In general because the trades are traditionally men’s jobs, they pay a lot more than the equivalent tier of “women’s jobs” like social worker, primary school teacher, etc.
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I agree that this could be a good option. Not “health care” in the sense of nursing, so it might be something you can do even though you couldn’t do nursing, OP. Look into training programs available near you, and also what the need is (sonographers especially seem to be in hot demand pretty much anywhere I’ve been).
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I feel like I’m slightly in the same boat as you are!!
I graduated from my 4 year last winter (Jan 2016) with BA in Political science, and planned on going to law school. Welllll I made the mistake of thinking I could live on my own with my then-SO on a kitchen line cook salary so I hiked up my credit cards and now am stuck with paying down credit cards when I couldn’t make ends meet. I definitely didn’t want to pull an extra loan for school when I owe back $XX,000. He and I broke up about a 1.5 yrs ago and I’m back living with my parents at 24 y.o. I just got into horses and riding again after 12 years of not riding and fell head over heels in love with it. Currently just only taking twice weekly lessons and in a very, veryyyy lucky lease situation. I don’t own a horse but I definitely want to have a career that can support that and still be able to live financially comfortably.
Right now I’m trying to look for a govt job that deals with immigration somewhere in LA or up in Sacramento, and have been applying for internships in human resources or some entry level office assistant/admin assistant positions to gain experience. My pay at my current job (I’m a shift supervisor/“Lead” and a line cook) gives me vacation pay (every 160 hrs I work = 8 hrs of vac pay), sick pay, a 401k, health insurance thru Kaiser, good dental and vision insurance that costs less than $6/week, and guaranteed 30 hours a week (if not more) which helps cover more than making the minimum payments on my credit cards (for example, instead of making a $35 min payment a month, I’m choosing to pay $100 per week towards CC’s), a $210/Mo car payment, a $215/Mo phone payment, putting 10% of my check into my savings every week, my lease & lessons, and occassionally going out to eat. But am I ready to move out and be comfortable paying all of that PLUS rent/utilities?? Haaaill no… And I feel no other jobs (esp entry level) will NOT offer the same perks as my current job unless you are already really up the ladder in the company.
Being a millennial sucks. I know I should try harder to “put myself out there”. My goal is to at least land a part time office job or a HR position by the end of 2017.
Have you thought about project management, product management, or a related field? Your characteristics and prior experience sound like it could be a good fit.
I’m an account manager/project lead for a software consulting company. It’s my job to communicate with clients about their projects and project status, gather and document requirements for teams, answer questions (or if I can’t answer them, bird-dog it until someone else does), prioritize tasks, manage budgets, and write project proposals.
I make enough to comfortably support myself and 3 horses (2 at home and 1 in training). The flexibility is such that I can work from home when necessary to wait for the vet or observe a colicky horse, or take off early / come in late for farrier appointments, etc. – especially if I can make myself available via phone/text if questions come up while I’m out.
My husband is in IT management, and they’re always looking for people. Both programmers and project managers. That seems like a pretty decent field to be in right now.
Me, I raise sheep. Which is only slightly more lucrative than being in the horse business, but I have a fair bit of flexibility in my schedule, room to keep my horses at home, and my own hay field, so that’s something.
I’m 29 and started my career as an employee benefits consultant - a job you would be perfect for with an HR degree! I worked for a smaller company to start, but then got picked up by one of the big boys and made good money there. Look into ADP, Ceridian, Paychex, etc.
I now work for a start up company that has nothing to do with employee benefits, but it was a good and fairly lucrative industry while I was in it.
The real reason I can afford my horses though is because I married a guy with a horse farm lol. I was able to show and keep my horses in training until I had a kid and day care costs us $1,000/month.
My salary doesn’t necessarily make it easier to have horses, but the nature of my job itself does. I’m an equestrian journalist, and am in this line of work after many years as a working student, then a yard manager, and then a freelance rider and groom, trying to make ends meet and just running into money struggles constantly. Now, I get to think about horses all day, I work 9-5 office hours (with some flexibility to cover competitions, demos, shoots, etc) so after years of ‘horse’ hours I feel as though I have all the time in the world to ride. I also get offered horses to ride fairly frequently so I currently have the ride on a talented, if quirky showjumper, who I’m planning to event this year. The basic pay at my job isn’t anything to write home about, but I pick up freelance writing work on the side, which pays better, and teach the occasional lesson at the yard this horse is at. I also save money on equipment as we get a lot of freebies and ‘tried and tested’ type of things, and so I can budget around that. I won’t necessarily be able to compete every weekend this year, but I’ll be able to affiliate and have a fairly consistent season (and I’m always excited to go into work, which is a huge bonus!)
I am one of those people that took a looooong time to decide what I wanted to be. There was a lot of (unintentional) pressure from my family to do the traditional four year college thing. I made it through the first two years and hated my career path choice, so I started working and taking classes here and there. Finally, at age 26 or so I decided what I wanted to do, and last year I finally graduated with a bachelors in Health Information Management. I now work as a data analyst and I love it. I get out of work every day at 4:30, so can rush home before the real rush hour traffic starts, change, and head to the barn. It also allows me to afford my horse habit comfortably. I am certainly not rolling in the dough, but I am not scraping by like I was when I was working and doing school.
I went to school to be an optometrist. Took a long time for school but well worth it. Bought my own practice after graduating. I’m my own boss so I work as much (or as little) as I want. If there’s a horse event I want to go to, I block my schedule off and I go. While I’m up to my eyeballs in debt right now (practice loan, student loans, home loan, etc) it is GOOD debt, and I’m building equity. Plus I’ve still got plenty of “play money” to go have whatever fun with my horses that I want. I’m married, but I support my horse habit entirely myself.
As you know, horses are expensive and it depends exactly what you want to do with them. But if you want them part of your life, it is a good thing to try to plan your career around it, while also finding a career you are going to ENJOY.
This is excellent advice and I wish I had received it myself out of college (but well, I learned the hard way). I definitely suggest looking at what you are good at, say customer service, and find jobs in those fields that are social, stable, and with good training. I got all of that at my most current job and I’ve been promoted quickly because the expectations are clear, there is good training, and I’m not expected to create my job description out of thin air (which I have done and hated, also hated working alone).
Good luck OP.
