Equestrian Related Careers

Bromfield2
Mon, 28 Apr 2014 18:45:33 +0000

Would second Mathmom’s observation that you don’t need to be independently wealthy to ride horses and compete–close friend of my youngest D is a competitive rider (dressage)/barn manager. She’s not independently wealthy–but is not dirt poor either–she’s from an upper-middle class family. She started riding when she was young and her parents would lease horses for her to ride. She worked in barns (doing grunt work) to pay for lessons. In college, she got a job managing a barn. She finished three years of college and then dropped out. Eventually she started taking courses again part-time and is going to graduate this year. It took her 7 years, but she’s getting an undergraduate degree in business this May. She’s still managing a barn and competing and loves what she’s doing.

What I get out of her experience is that if you want to compete/work/be in the horse business and you don’t have the money to buy your way into it, you need to start networking/getting jobs in that business. Also, if you’re in college, it may mean that you’re going to have to do a juggling act to fit it all in and maybe you won’t be able to do so until later in life.