Turning your Love of Horses into a Career

by Martha Broadbridge

It’s often said that the person who is able to find a job they love doing is lucky indeed, and many people choose to do this by turning their hobby into their full time job or career choice.

So what happens, then, when horses are your passion?
It’s also often claimed that the only way to make money from horses is to start off with money – but if you genuinely want a rich and rewarding career, but have no money for investment into a stud or professional training enterprise, can you still work with horses? Many do, so what’s to stop you from spending your life with your love?!

What Could You Do?

Working in stables to help care for and exercise horses for owners who require “cover” for when they’re on holiday or unable to care for their horses whilst in a livery yard is a fascinating and rewarding way of working hands-on with horses every day. You may think of it as actually being paid to do the very thing you love to do.

Breeding horses is an extremely prestigious and highly compensated line of work. Professional breeders are highly educated and experienced and know just the right combination of mare and stallion required for a winning steed.

Many animal lovers, including horse enthusiasts, choose to demonstrate that love by working with animals at a level of welfare and care. Whether they work in veterinary medicine, for an animal charity or set up a sanctuary for injured and retired horses, they find their work to be among some of the most challenging but lovable in the animal industry.

Although the use of horses has been phased out of many occupations because of the care and cost involved in employing them, there are still a number of lines of work where horse handlers are a requirement of a certain role. The Police Force, The Military and some Mountain and Country Rescue services still use equestrian help and still require the use of experienced handlers in this regard. This help will normally involve experience with horseboxes, horse trailers, stables and looking after them.

Racing and Training are the toughest fields to break into, but some would say that there is nothing more rewarding than having a horse they reared and trained win a Derby, an afternoon race or (whisper it) the Grand National.

What you’ll need

It goes without saying that interest in horses, their riders and their welfare as well as passion and enthusiasm are key to any equestrian career. With many people wishing to enter the profession and only a few succeeding, it stands to reason that the successful applications are those who demonstrate the most natural passion for their four legged subjects.

Experience and contacts are crucial. Many stable hands start their careers at a very young age, combining part time work in local stables with their studies and building their network of respected professionals in the hope of being offered full time work in the future.

Knowledge is vital to any career and with a variety of equine based qualifications together with hands-on experience available from a number of technical colleges; the smart applicants are the ones who have studied in the “field” (so to speak). Pun intended!

This is a guest post on behalf of Martha Broadbridge, who enjoys horses, equestrian property, and the outdoors.