Please tell me about arrangements for “working student”.
Was it a paid or “volunteer” position?
Full or part time?
Tasks you did/assigned to a working student?
Why did you take on being a working student or why did you choose to have a working student?
What is fair compensation from a student or a teacher perspective?
Feel free to share any other details that can help in establishing fair and useful parameters for both sides.
Would love to hear thoughts from teachers and student perspectives!
Thank you all!
I did a 2 month internship which still working remotely part time for my desk job (I turned 30 while I was doing the WS thing, so not a super young person), so my situation was a bit unique. My trainer provided housing for me, board for my horse and daily lessons. I did not get a paycheck because I was working 22 hours per week for someone else and I was totally OK with that.
I got to the barn by 7, fed horses, blanketed/put boots on and turned out, did stalls, cleaned water buckets, swept the aisle, cleaned tack, cleaned the tack room… basically lots of cleaning! I got daily lessons on my horse and when possible I also got lessons on other horses. I loved it and would do it again.
I chose to become a working student because the opportunity presented itself 
Initially we were supposed to go to FL, but that ended up falling through so we stayed home which was totally fine. My desk job was amazing in their flexibility and when they gave it the OK I figured it would be a wasted opportunity if I didn’t grab it with both hands.
I think as long as everyone is upfront and honest about their needs and requirements, things should go OK.
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Former working student here, for several trainers in FL and the midwest: I was usually paid in lessons/food/housing. I tacked up horses, fed, turned them out, and mucked stalls - all pretty typical responsibilities of a working student. I did it because I thought I wanted to become a dressage rider professionally.
Fair compensation (which I don’t see very often), should be enough to cover a person’s normal expenses: including food, car, cell phone bill, etc. (I would add health insurance to this list, but I’d be laughed out of the room and called an entitled millennial for suggesting such a thing). It is absolutely unreasonable, in my mind, to expect a working student to be taking out loans or depending on outside financial support for cost of living expenses (not including a WS’s personal horse/board in this. that I can understand not covering), because WS positions are almost always a full time commitment of >50 hours a week. Typically 5.5 or 6 days a week, and often expected to be ‘on call’ in some way for emergencies, out of town shows, etc., which eliminates the possibility of a part-time job to supplement income.
That being said, I know a lot of trainers are on a shoestring budget and don’t have the money to compensate their employees fairly, and am not necessarily laying the blame at their feet. Overall. the horse world is like a microcosm of the wealth inequality and problems facing the US today: on one hand, you’ve got owners who are buying horses with six figure price tags, on the other is the working students and barn workers who are barely scraping by.
There’s a reason I’m not doing it anymore - it’s almost impossible to build a dressage career as a GP rider without significant financial backing.
To get off my soapbox and give more specifics:
Working Student Position #1:
USDF Silver Medalist, worked 7:00 - 4:00 5 days a week, paid $100/week, mini-lessons 3-4x week, pasture board for my horse, no housing
- 1 other part time assistant trainer, 2 farm hands who helped with stalls, cared for 30 horses, included feeding/grooming/tacking up for trainer/turnout/mucking, also helped with lunging and breaking young horses to saddle
Working Student Position #2:
USDF Gold Medalist, worked 7:00 - 5:00 6 days a week, no pay, lessons 5x week, additional horse to ride daily, housing included
- 3 other working students on the property, cared for 40 horses in all, included feeding/grooming/turnout/tacking up for trainer (mucking on weekends)
Working Student Position #3
USDF Gold Medalist and S Judge, worked 7:00 - 4:00 6 days a week, $120/week, mini-lessons (20 min) on 1-2 horses almost daily, housing included
- 6 horses on the property, responsible for all care of horses. Would warm-up 1-2 horses each day for the trainer who would give me a mini-lessons while she was riding another horse.
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Was it a paid or “volunteer” position?
“Volunteer” - I was never given money.
It started at 6 or 7am and we would be done by 12pm. I left after all the horses were ridden and lunch was fed.
Full or part time?
Part-time, while in high school I worked on the weekends. When I was in college, I worked on weekends & Monday’s. When time allowed, I would also feed and do stalls after work/classes.
Tasks you did/assigned to a working student?
Stalls, cleaning tack, grooming horses before and after rides.
It eventually led to me riding anywhere between 1 or 3 horses. Some days it was only one, a few times it could have been 3. Sometimes it was a ride in the ring and I was given a lesson or I would hack out with my horse on another horse.
Why did you take on being a working student or why did you choose to have a working student?
I had “free” time in college and wanted to be around the horses. I loved the work, the horses, and my trainer was awesome. There were only 10 horses so I didn’t have to work 14 hour days and my trainer was really laid back about everything.
What is fair compensation from a student or a teacher perspective?
I like to think so. I worked really hard and did a lot of extra work when I could. I don’t ever recall being asked to do something because I had already taken care of it.
I was given a ton of free lessons each week. Even on days when I went out to just ride and not work, I would get a free lesson. I rode some really nice horses too.
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Thank you for responses so far!
On the note about student “not needing to take out loans to live while learning” and medical insurance - I’d be laughed out of vet school and many universities if I suggested that as well. It would have been great to get paid while I was learning what I thought would be my livelihood, instead I DID (as most professional students do) have to take out significant financial aid and spend years paying it back. Most of the funds went to tuition, but I also had to live and eat 
Should horse education be different? There are no universities for the subject. I am quite of two minds on this subject with horse world.
So far sounds like several hours of student work for “lesson” or riding opportunity - is that so? Were you free to observe the trainer’s rides or were you busy with tasks and only “learned” while riding with supervision?
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From the trainer’s perspective: I offer board on 1 horse, accommodation (including meals), at least 1 full lesson a day and usually another ride as well which may or may not be in a lesson. For this I expect stable help (feeding, turnout, mucking stalls, tacking up horses, laundry etc. - maximum of 16 stalls, but we have other help as well) and lawn mowing (riding mower, 4-6 hours/week summer months) 5-6 days a week. There are opportunities to show if that fits the plan. Depending on the candidate, a small stipend may also be offered. I am USDF Gold Medalist, former listed rider (Canada), 25+ years experience training & teaching with success stories to reference.
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I’ll try not to derail your topic too much further, but I’ve heard that argument before, and would say that (1) an educational degree may not guarantee you a job, but it has credibility and gives you access to much better earning potential than a WS position, (2) there are no standards about what a working student position/apprenticeship should be, so whether it was educational/beneficial varies so much from trainer to trainer. Finally, while this doesn’t apply to many professional schools, this doesn’t apply to professional programs like DVM or MD, but the PhD programs I’m familiar with offer a stipend for living expenses, in exchange for being a TA or a research assistant. But perhaps the analogous position in the horse world would be an assistant trainer position.
I certainly never had time to sit and watch a trainer’s rides all the way through, but always tried to catch glimpses here and there, whether it was watching while handwalking another horse, or listening to an ongoing lesson while I was tacking up a horse in the barn aisle. Occasionally a trainer might demonstrate a concept to me and talk through what they were doing in the saddle.
I feel like most trainers do the best they can to provide for their working students and offer fair compensation, since the job of a dressage trainer is truly a labor of love, but it can be incredibly frustrating to see the wealth disparity in the horse world, and there is an attitude ingrained in the culture that you should have to suffer and “pay your dues”. I see some of the most toxic parts of this culture (expecting WS to sacrifice their health and well-being for promises of future “opportunities” that may never come) perpetuated by some of the biggest names in our sport.
Also, all of my critique has been US-specific. I spent about six weeks grooming for a friend in the Netherlands, and was highly impressed with the way they treated their working students at that barn, but can’t say if it was like that everywhere.
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My experience was that one of the trainers I worked for didn’t pay people she depended on, ended up losing good staff because they couldn’t afford to stick around long term, and the horses’ care frequently suffered. I definitely would not have taken out a loan to stay in that program. The assistant trainer there wasn’t even making minimum wage after 5+ years in the WS system with multiple trainers; I don’t know how any of us would have paid even a small loan back on that career track.
As far as observing - we got to watch if we were in the arena setting jumps, or videoing for sales ads, or if we happened to be schooling a horse on our own while the trainer rode. I completely missed probably 95% of the rides, since we were almost always in the back of the barn tacking & untacking or doing other chores.
We also rarely actually got to ride in lessons, honestly. We did get free rides on some of the project horses, but it was pretty much always first thing in the morning before the trainers showed up, or late at night after they’d gone home. During the day we pretty much just scrambled from one place to the next.
I received housing, pasture board for my horse, and $400/week. The idea was for me to groom horses for the head trainer in the morning and then work the rest of the horses in the afternoon (anywhere from 3-6 horses). I also did night check and groomed at shows. Sounds pretty great, right? Unfortunately the head trainer had a temper and the owner of the facility was too afraid to lose the trainer and went as far as to try and enlist me to secretly video the trainer. Oh, and then a few employees quit shortly after I started because they were tired of being treated like crap so I began cleaning stalls, feeding, holding for the farrier and vet on top of my normal duties. This facility had more than 40 horses so needless to say that wasn’t sustainable and I gave notice.
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Working students at the barn where I board / work receive accommodations, all meals, a daily riding lesson on one of our horses, ongoing instruction throughout the day regarding handling, lungeing, training, first aid, etc. They get to participate in in house clinics and schooling shows with their fees covered, and often have show opportunities at real shows. There is no salary or stipend.
They help with feed, turnout, and night check 5-6 days a week. 4 days a week they also help with stalls (18 total in the barn, shared with at least one other person). Usually ride 2 horses per day, including their lesson, and may lunge or otherwise work with 1-2 more. Our trainer generally grooms and tacks up her own horses but on a very busy day the WS may be asked to help with this, or to warm up a horse while trainer is riding another one. They may also be asked to hold horses for vet and farrier, etc.
Students are encouraged to watch training rides and lessons, particularly our head trainer’s lessons with her coach. As long as turn out and feed are done on time the students have flexibility as to how they manage their time and complete their other tasks each day, so they can fit watching lessons in to the schedule if they want.
They work 6 days a week with one full day off and one additional evening off.
I, thankfully, had a great experience as a working student… I’ve heard some horror stories!
I was a working student for a year.
Included housing for myself and board for one horse. There was no stipend (I had some savings, and had a very gracious & supportive mother who helped out when needed). I would often go to my trainers house for dinner though which was fun and helped with the food budget.
There were two working students, we shared a small apartment like thing with our own rooms but shared living areas.
Included multiple lessons a week either on my own horse or a schoolmaster.
I did not take advantage of the show opportunities. If I had chosen to show my own horse, my trainer would have paid the fees. (I regret not taking advantage of this looking back!)
We also had a lot of clinicians come to the facility. I was able to participate on my own horse or a horse in training (owner approved) or a schoolmaster, and my trainer paid my clinic fees.
Day to day duties included working with the youngsters, hacking out sale horses, prepping in-training horses for trainer and assistant trainer (I usually hacked these horses out as well). Overall it was extremely hands on and a lot of riding. Only mucking was on holidays when the (amazing!) guys who normally did mucking/turnout/feeding got the days off. Also attended a lot of shows (all local), so did braiding, grooming, horse care, etc at those.
I got one day off a week and it was A LOT of work. Most work days were from about 7 or 8 to 6pm, and then me and the other working student each did one night check at night.
For me, it was worth it… sleep, eat and breathe horses 24/7. Great opportunity.
I’ve been a working student too! That was great opportunity to earn some money I couldn’t allow myself to lose. I was taking care of the horses usually in the evenings and held training with teens on weekends. I loved this job but I noticed I have no time write my papers very soon. Lack of time for college made me quit…
A couple of observations.
When I was a WS, a hundred years ago, the expectation was that it was something of an apprenticeship. In other words, I worked not only for lessons, but for the experience of learning how a proper professional training/ boarding/ sales operation was run. So for example, grooming was work, yes, but also the opportunity to learn how to turn a horse out to a very high standard. (To this day I am amazed at people who just knock horses off with a medium brush and call it groomed, sigh. In addition to improving our riding skills, we learned about feed, veterinary care, farrier stuff, how to create programs that worked for individual horses, from turnout to exercise to training and showing.
I got a small stipend - enough to buy food and put gas in the car. No one had cellphones back then, LOL. I got housing, a stall for my horse, and pretty regular lessons. In exchange I worked 6 days a week doing the normal chores expected of a show groom. I absolutely loved the time I spent as a WS and to this day, I use what I learned to run my own little private farm. But it also helped me figure out that I did not want to do horses as a profession. I saw the precarious nature of the business, the physical hardships and lack of health insurance, retirement planning etc… and decided I wanted to remain an amateur and be a customer! Which is what I have done. But the education was absolutely priceless and I am grateful for it every day.
I have played the working student game for 2 separate individuals. One being a 5* (still feels weird to say that) eventer and the other was an Olympic dressage rider.
In eventer land I was suppose to be provided housing, a few meals a week, a vehicle I could borrow if needed, a daily lesson with the assistant trainer, and a weekly lesson with said trainer. It did not end as promised. I worked 7 days a week from 7:00 am until about 6:00 pm, usually no lunch break. I was not allowed to drive the vehicle. I was not provided meals. I was fearful of getting fired and being homeless. At one point in time I was eating dried horse oats and milk for meals. At 17 I was too scared to admit I had gotten myself in over my head. Lucky for me I just had to last the summer as I had to go back to my home state to finish high school. The farm had 40ish horses. Only about 20 were stalled. When I started there were 3 working students and a lovely groom who didn’t speak much English. Shortly after I started the other 2 working students were fired. The groom helped my clean stalls, I fed all the horses myself and spent my days taking and untacking horses for the trainers and clients. I rode about 3 babies a day and usually did have my promised lesson. The groom and I were also in charge of all landscaping, farm maintenance, and arena upkeep. I chose to be a working student because my parents didn’t support my passion. I couldn’t afford a horse of my own or lessons. This was my only opportunity to become a better rider. At the time, I had aspirations of becoming a trainer. This was in 2011 so it has been a few years.
Round 2 worked out much much better. I worked full time I had a day off every other week, my hours were generally 7:00 am until 5:00 pm. I was provided with a nice in barn apartment, dinner most nights, and I had a daily lesson usually with the head trainer. I had 2 horses to ride, a young project horse and a schoolmaster. I could choose who I wanted to lesson on each day. The farm up north was large, I was only responsible for the “FEI barn” which was 15 horses, although sometimes we had too many horses in training and I’d help take care of a few client horses in the other barn (boarder barn). I was responsible for feeding, stalls, turnout, and tacking/untacking horses for the trainers (2) and clients. Essentially I provided all the care for my 15-20 horses. I was a part of the family here and although I worked my tail off I loved every minute of it. I spent several summers of my undergraduate career here and still visit often. I learned a lot riding here, I improved leaps and bounds. This allowed me to ride horses and take lessons that I could have NEVER afforded myself. I also gained lots of networking opportunities that have helped me in my current career.
I learned a lot about myself in both positions. The first one helped me find my current career and taught me how to survive. I am grateful for my opportunities and would definitely encourage other people in my position to pursue working student positions.
I’d be happy to answer any additional questions that you have from the perspective of a working student.
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Thank you for responses so far!
On the note about student “not needing to take out loans to live while learning” and medical insurance - I’d be laughed out of vet school and many universities if I suggested that as well. It would have been great to get paid while I was learning what I thought would be my livelihood, instead I DID (as most professional students do) have to take out significant financial aid and spend years paying it back. Most of the funds went to tuition, but I also had to live and eat
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Not fair to compare this to your expenses while in college to working student expensed. In college you are spending full time hours studying for your own benefit, and your teacher is not getting financial benefit from you. The working student is usually spending MOST of their time working for the direct benefit of the teacher. Although they may absorb some knowledge from being in the atmosphere, only an hour or two per day (or less) is actually focused on learning.
IMO the working student should get compensation with $ worth of lessons, board, living quarters etc., equivalent to more than minimum wage pay for the time spent on tasks without educational benefit (mucking, grooming, feeding). Tasks which are not overly strenuous, help the farm and have some educational benefit (i.e. lunging, warmup and exercise riding, assisting vet or farrier, at ringside during training/showing) would be considered neutral - additional compensation not required.
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A million years ago (okay, only 12), here is what I received:
Housing/parking (shared cabin with one other W/S: it had A/C and a functional modern bathroom)
Board for a horse (I didn’t have one at the time)
2-3 lessons per week
$750/month
There were four of us. Our days started at 6:00am and ended at 3:30pm, and we rotated who helped feed and do evening chores from 4-7. Each of us worked directly for one trainer, and our general supervisor was the barn manager. We all ate lunch on the fly. There was night security so we didn’t do night check. We didn’t do stalls, I distinctly remember doing meds because I was the only person who was tenacious enough to get them into the mouths of unwilling horses. We groomed and tacked horses (including stallions), tack-walked, warmed up, rode 2-3 per day, lunged, helped out for exhibitions, rode in exhibitions, swept, cleaned tack, helped with stacking hay 1x per season. We could show if we wanted to. During non-exhibition season, we had half-days on Saturday and Sundays off. During exhibition season, we had Mondays off and rotated Saturday half-days. We rotated evening work.
It was fair compensation for the work. They were totally above board on all the business aspects of the work and were kind. I had to apply, send in a video of my riding (that was feat before the iphone era) and go for a grooming/riding audition. They also made me get a doctor’s note asserting that I was healthy and able to to the job at hand (I was epileptic at the time). They picked me up when I crashed my car and gave me a bike to ride while I waited for insurance to kick in. I did feel a little slighted at times because I didn’t have a horse - I guess they thought I wasn’t serious. I’ve heard of some super cushy arrangements (room, stall, daily lessons and hourly pay - equivalent of $4000 monthly compensation) and some that were borderline slavery.
I think it’s important that you have a space you can call your own, a stipend to cover food/phone/car/insurance, and if you have a horse, then board should be included or reduced. At least 2-3 lessons a week. One isn’t enough. If they balk at giving more than one lesson a week, then find someone else or renegotiate - reduced pay for more lessons, or discounted lessons. You are there to learn, not just be labor.
I think this is an interesting perspective.
When I was a WS, the things listed as “tasks without educational benefit” were among the most valuable things I learned. To many here, it seems that the only part of the WS student experience considered compensation is the riding/training aspect of things.
Feeding and grooming horses to the highest standard is an art, IMO. Sure you can throw a commercial feed at a horse and call it good, I suppose. But creating a feeding program that is really tailored to that individual horse’s needs can be a pretty challenging exercise - one that can dramatically improve a horse’s health and performance. And turning a horse out to top standard is something that I really value, even though there are plenty who clearly think it’s overvalued.
Just my $.02 as a curmudgeonly old dinosaur, I guess.
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Was it a paid or “volunteer” position? volunteer. I had a full time job of working 10 hours a day, Mon-Thu so I worked at the barn Friday and Saturday approx 9am - 3pm
Tasks you did/assigned to a working student? grooming, arena maintenance,some landscaping and plumbing, cleaning tack room, bathing, lunging, hand walking, running errands, wrapping legs, cleaning trailer & truck.
Why did you take on being a working student ? I was in my mid 20s and really wanted to learn dressage but didn’t have the $$ for a horse, was new to the area and there were no dressage lessons barns w/ lesson horses nearby.
The fun parts were going along to shows as a groom, and going along on sales horse buying trips. I was paid nothing, and was supposed to get a lesson a week, but that did not always happen. This was a pretty small barn that was rarely run as a business. The owner didn’t have a string of lesson horses, just a retired broodmare who at one point showed 2nd level, some boarders, and some young horses that needed more miles. Sometimes my ‘lesson’ was really just legging up a previously injured horse. Sometimes my task for the day was to accompany the owner on a roadtrip to get more bedding just because she wanted the company.
As far as most WS gigs go, this was really relaxed. In hindsight, I do feel that I would have liked to have been in a more intense program and ridden more or worked with a higher-level person, but I was limited by still needing to keep my main job and support myself.
The current Horse & Hound reporting on the inaugural Equestrian Employers Association conference (held 25 Feb) states that under UK law an employed person is “told what to do, how, where and when to do it” and, as such, is to be paid at least the legal minimum wage. Calling staff “self-employed” or “intern” or “working student” doesn’t cut the mustard with the Inland Revenue (tax man). Moreover, from April this year, all new staff, by law, must have a basic form of contract laying out working terms and conditions - and those currently working can also request one.
There are increasing numbers of “apprenticeships” which are a formal process of practical learning, usually in specific areas such as stud management or showjumping, with a structure and support provided by an external training agency to ensure apprentices do receive what they are promised. Pay is lower than the hourly minimum wage but it is an arrangement with definite boundaries and a set duration.
I suspect the majority of people taking the alternative route of BHS professional qualifications will be working with horses - and be paid - simply because the stages now demand far more skill and knowledge than in the past.
