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What did you do? Money making opportunities for younger riders

Hunter/Jumper
#41

Hmm. A week of full service grooming is around $800, so I think that you are way overpaying. I pay $25/day for stall cleaning/feeding, which is $175 for a full 7 days and I tip in beer/coffee. My husband is a show groom (A show, FEI, etc) so I know the norm up and down the coast.

For context I live in the PNW and it’s my understanding that the only place more expensive to ride in top barns is New England. Saying that because it should not be $600 for grooms AND do your own grooming.

It’s a huge expense, I agree, and I feel like maybe the conversation could be had with your trainer since the relationship is so good? I didn’t mean to imply you should leave, but if there is another program that would allow your daughter to do these things that cut costs, well then…

As far as braiding: if your daughter can get good enough, sorry but it shouldn’t matter that anyone, and I mean anyone, “wants” you to pay a braider. It takes a lot of practice but once she gets the hang of it, she could have pro looking braids in no time. If she connects with the braider for your barn at the beginning, she could braid down for money once she gets good!

If you pay $125/day for braiding like me, that’s a grand total of about $1300 in savings between braiding and grooming.

5 Likes
#42

You are such an inspiration and I bet it feels so good to know that you got to where you are because of your own hard work. My daughter is also always at the barn, which has brought her opportunities. She has worked her way up to being asked to ride boarder’s horses when they couldn’t be there or when a boarder has gotten injured. She has also been riding the barn owners two new green ponies to get them up to speed, learn manners and get them used to smaller people so they can either be sold or brought into the lesson program. The boarders will typically give her a gift card or money when they get back, they really appreciate her but most of the stuff she does there is not paid yet gives her experience. It’s just a fine line between experience building and free labor. She needs to get to a point where she can feel comfortable asking for payment for certain tasks. We recently moved into an area that is a big horse community so I’m hoping as we start meeting people that it will bring more opportunities for her. Being at the barn is such an amazing character building experience. She’s so much more responsible and independent than any of the other kids at school.

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#43

Thank you :blush: being a barn rat really is character building, and I was fortunate to not only have the work given to me but to also be around a lot of very successful adults that helped shape who I am today.

Absolutely! FWIW, I didn’t charge anyone at the first barn I worked at (which had far nicer, show quality horses than anywhere else I worked), except for one owner who went to WEF for the season, and I charged her $5 a ride just to keep the horse doing something. It wasn’t until I started working at other barns with lower level horses that I felt comfortable charging for riding - because the balance had shifted more to me providing a service instead of me learning from the horse.

Being in a horse community is a huge help. I was going to suggest that even if you don’t leave your training barn, most of the services she can provide will probably be more needed at a boarding (not training) barn, or to people who have their horses at home (there’s likely a HUGE need there). Do you have a local bulletin board in your community or at the feed store? I started my putting ads up there (this was pre internet), but you could also post on nextdoor for her or even in a local facebook group. She could offer all of the things people listed above, but also horse sitting for people that have their horses at home. I did a TON of that, first just going to people’s houses daily and then when I was old enough I started staying over. ETA the majority of my clients have always come from word of mouth, so while it may be slow in the beginning, keep at it! Eventually as she gets her name out and does a good job, she’ll get more calls. :blush:

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#44

I agree full time braiding is NOT a job for a minor.

I’ll clarify that I did this as a minor about 25 years ago, but at the larger shows it was mornings, not overnights. I got passed horses from our barn braider that were often last minute day of adds to her list and she wanted to go home and sleep. So I’d come hack my horse in the morning and then braid 1-3 horses while waiting around for my division to start. By no means was I travelling around working alone in the barn overnight for the duration of a show. For the local barns I braided for they were trailering out very small groups to smaller day shows, so either I was at their barn the evening before doing a few manes until 8-9pm, or if they were showing late in the day I’d meet them at the show and braid after they hacked in the rings and were waiting for their divisions to start.

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#45

100% this. When my trainer was told that me doing my own braiding was the difference between us going to 6 shows instead of 8, she got on board quickly. However, my braids also passed muster and looked just like the pro braids. I practiced multiple days a week for months.

100% this. I had a friend’s mom actually pick up the skill and pay for most of her college tuition that way.

I started with the Lucky Braids video back as back in the day Youtube was not a thing. However there’s LOADS of Youtube videos available now with tutorials (John the Braider has short but great videos). After the video I spent lots of time practicing on my own horse. When I worked up the confidence I asked our barn’s regular braider if I could shadow her one night (with parental and trainer permission!) and learned so much about how to handle the difficult ones and unprepped manes. After that she welcomed me shadowing just for morning hours if she was still working once I was done hacking in the ring.

The biggest thing is PRACTICE. Get really good on your own horse and then beg and borrow any friend’s horse you can to get used to different types of manes. It probably took 4 months of practice on my own horse before my braids were show ring ready. But another 6 months to be able to do other peoples’ horses reliably as you have to learn how to handle different personalities and types of manes. A couple of the big tricks - if the mane is poorly pulled the braids will never look that good. And counting matters - the same number of cross overs in every braid is what leads to even braids.

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#46

I concur with all of this.

It’s better to learn the correct braiding method right off the bat rather than having to correct your bad habits down the road.

And it does take a lot of practice, but that’s easy enough to do, even if you only put in and take out 10 braids a day, every day. Doing that for a couple of months should definitely be a very good start.

A young teenager might not be able to do a full workload of standing on a ladder all night, twisting the night away. But if she can help a professional braider by just doing a few in the morning, that’s still going to add up to a good chunk of change at the current rates.

I would also highly recommend getting proficient at tails as well. It takes some practice, but with a little experience, you can crank out a tail much faster than a mane.

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#47

Yes absolutely. I started braiding my own horse’s tail at shows way before I was good enough to do his mane. It helped to start cutting down the braiding bill faster. And more than once I was asked to re-do a barn mates tail in the middle of the day after they rubbed theirs out.

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#48

In the OP’s current scenario, you’re probably correct. Hacking a 5 or 6 figure hunter is certainly well within the scope of building experience.

However, I think OP should try to get her daughter to other (usually straight boarding) barns with lower level horses where she can actually provide a service because Susie is going to Hawaii for 2 weeks or Maria is pregnant and the horse needs rides.

I also think riding green (not talking freshly started, but good brained 4-6yos) horses is well within the scope of providing a service. If OP’s daughter is competent and has adult supervision (not necessarily a trainer, could be an owner or fellow boarder), green horses need saddle time and that’s both something you can charge for and something that teaches you a lot. Of course each horse has to be considered on a case by case basis.

At the end of the day, it does take skill, discipline, and attention to detail to be trusted to ride other people’s horses and charge for the service as a junior, but it sounds like OP’s daughter possesses these traits.

1 Like
#49

This is why I would really consider pursuing non-horsey options for making money. Free labor is so deeply engrained in the horse industry and those dynamics are likely to put your daughter in a lose-lose situation. There will ALWAYS be someone else willing to ride for free in exchange for saddle time - other juniors, boarders with injured horses, working students, etc. Unless your daughter develops pro-level skills that set her apart as a value-add worth charging for, she’ll lose out to cheaper options and probably irritate some of her network in the process.

You guys have two separate goals: build experience, and get paid. You probably won’t get both out of the same situation, at least not without somebody feeling like they’re getting ripped off. Even things like clipping or tack cleaning can be tricky - if your daughter asks for too much she risks looking entitled or out of touch, but if she asks for too little she gets taken advantage of. If she wants to really focus on her riding she’ll need these people in her corner, I wouldn’t try to mix that with a paycheck.

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#50

Of course, but only if someone can actually improve the horses they ride. Learning to train green horses is a skill, which it sounds like OP’s daughter is being given the opportunity to develop now under current trainer’s supervision but doesn’t fully have yet. She may not be getting paid to ride but she’s being given valuable training that could be marketable once she gets good at it. She’d still need trainer’s help to catch ride elsewhere anyway - I can’t imagine any reputable barn welcoming an unknown teenager in to charge for “training” rides. Those opportunities develop organically through existing networks, for people with proven skills to offer.

I think your suggestion is a good one for a few years from now, but isn’t safe or practical right now. If OP is worried about daughter getting taken advantage of now with a trusted program, that only multiplies when you start adding strangers and money into the mix.

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#51

I agree with most of your post - but this just isn’t true. I’m not saying she should go to other training programs to sell herself as a catch rider. I have no idea where OP lives, but where I grew up the vast majority of horses lived in owner’s back yards or at boarding barns. I started out riding horses to give them exercise and started at $5/ride (back in the late 90s). If OP’s area has a large population of horses that aren’t in training programs, and probably lower level, schooling show or trail horse types, then that’s the market she should be targeting.

Totally agree that being taken advantage of is a risk, but I was always checking in with my parents and other trusted barn friends (adults) about how to manage situations until I had it figured out. It’s not easy and I definitely had help along the way, but it’s certainly doable.

1 Like
#52

This is true and this is why we all need to start charging for services rendered. If you(g) clean tack for someone, hand graze their horse for 30 min, treat an abscess, etc, you get paid.

Maybe in a training barn but probably not at the owner’s house. Also, people value the things they pay for. Do a better job than people that are doing it for free. Go over and above - when you are being paid to ride someone’s horse, leave the tack and the horse sparkling when you’re done. Clean up the barn aisle after you groom. Take an extra minute to scrub off the manure stains or treat the rain rot, or fold the blanket properly to put it away. People will keep coming back because you do a better job and leave things better than you found them.

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#53

Training program or not, there’s zero chance I would let a strange kid get on my horse, let alone pay them for it. If I needed a horse exercised I’d be working my network for someone I know or at least a word-of-mouth recommendation, preferably an adult, and I have no doubt I could find a friend or connection willing to do it for free. I see Facebook posts almost every week of people looking to trade for ride time and they don’t get much response. I’m just not sure how you expect OP’s daughter to develop a paying client base if she’s not doing it through her existing network who can vouch for her.

Ultimately I think it comes down to what their main goal is. If the goal is to gain saddle time and build experience, this kind of thing might work in the long-run but is unlikely to pay. If the goal is to make money, there are much better options than trying to convince strangers to pay a non-pro for rides.

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#54

Going to echo this because it’s truly genius. Grooms are expected to take horses for hand walks, but they typically won’t graze them. This is also a service I would pay extra for for an older kiddo to do! As far as I know, no one offers this service at any West Coast shows…an untapped market!

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#55

Also part of growing up is meeting people and building a network.
At 14 the young lady has few references to show. In a couple of years that might be different.

I would not employ some unknown entity either, but a barn kid with good record, why not.

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#56

Ya I guess my point is, you have to start somewhere. Sure, OP’s daughter isn’t going to be able to charge people that don’t know her right off the bat. But you yourself said you’d be asking your network. You’re saying that if 3 people told you “this girl came out to hack/longe my horse while I was on vacation and she did a fantastic job,” that you wouldn’t call her? Starting out by longeing for someone or doing a couple of rides under their supervision will get your foot in the door. Even 25 years later, I still get clients because of word of mouth, and I’ve had to interview for every riding job (working for a trainer) I’ve ever had. No one gives me horses to ride without knowing me/having already seen me ride, or getting a referral, and I’ve built a pretty bustling business that way. 🤷

I still disagree that doing it for free is the way to go. That idea is just perpetuating the problem we already have of workers not getting paid appropriately for their time. If someone is asking YOU for time on your horse, then sure, you’re providing them an opportunity. But if you’re seeking out help because you’re injured/on vacation/whatever, because your horse needs work, then you should pay. This goes for everything from grooming/hand grazing/tack cleaning all the way up to riding.

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#57

A couple of things I thought of:
We used to recycle old hooks and braid new lead ropes from bailing twine. That is were I learned to braid. Not necessarily a huge product for a fancy show barn, but a money saver for the barn.

She could offer treats for Valentine’s. Sell preorders for Feb 14th.

Or make bracelets. Friendship bracelets are so easy to make when one has a few minutes.
or ‘survival’ bracelets from paracord. Perhaps in the barn colors.(a while back the neighbor’s girls caught me in the drive. Their bracelets were not even handmade, but I am all about supporting budding entrepreneurs) Maybe practice with horse hair as well.
Easter is also around the corner.
Those things won’t pay for much, but an extra class or so, that would be a good start!

1 Like
#58

Definitely not suggesting a teenager tries to break into the full braiding gig business…I’m pretty sure the braiding mafia would sort that out pretty quick :joy: But yes, individual braid jobs for in-barn folks or picking up the extras the braiders don’t have time for is a relatively quick way to pick up money AT shows.

And yes, times have changed. Rarely do the trainers own the farms they’re on these days, so trading board for riding is not nearly as common as it was when I was a kid. But the reason I mention working off training, is that it’s often an easy trade for a trainer to make. “I won’t charge you training fees at shows for your time/effort riding horses.” It requires the kid to be good enough to do so, but a motivated kid can certainly put themselves in that situation.

But again, my kid makes more money bussing and waiting tables 3-4 nights a week than doing anything even remotely related to horses. So, if the point is to do something related to horses then there are a lot of great ideas here (I, too, would pay for someone to come handwalk my horses at horseshows, BTW - though as a parent, I wouldn’t be thrilled at the idea of my kid taking strange horses on handwalks around a show), but if the point is to offset expenses, then I’d go with a job independent of horses that pays decently and has tips.

To Demerara’s point - my rule of thumb is that if I need a horse ridden, I’m happy to pay for it (e.g. I’m traveling for work and need horse(s) ridden T, W, Th). If a kid comes to me and wants to ride, zero chance I’m paying for it. Different expectations in the two scenarios, also different requirements of competency. To dmveventer’s point - I have reached out to random people who have posted “ISO rides” posts on social media over the years and never considered hiring any of them. Word of mouth is the only way I have found people who might ride more often.

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#59

This :point_up_2: One thing I want to expand on a bit, is coming in and undercutting a trainer’s program can have very negative consequences. For example, someone gets hurt and your daughter approaches that someone to ride their horse for cheaper than their trainer would charge. I would absolutely expect that trainer to call your daughter’s trainer and have a chat. Having said that, it is not uncommon for a trainer to allow a student riding time in exchange for lessons on a client’s horse in certain situations. Certain situations definitely includes that the client has signed off on it. Also, sometimes a trainer wants a good JR rider to ride a horse for a sales video. Scenarios can go on and on.

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#60

Bake horse cookies and sell them!!

My human buys me these from the “cookie” lady and I have been waiting for three months for the bakery to open up again.
They sell for $15.00 for a bag of six and they are normal looking sized like chocolate chip cookies that I have spied little humans eating around the barn.

Sale them at a horse show, advertise them on the local equestrian FB page and on and on.

Not only will she earn money but look at it this way she will learn to manage inventory, bake, market and sell.

I prefer the ones with shredded carrots and cheerios in them, but I as some know me around here, I am just a horse of course.

:horse::cookie:

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