Horse Career?

Question

My best friend is in need of a job, she got out of college and it wasnt what she wanted. Her true passion is horses, she already works at a stable and lives with the family there but its only enough for room and bored. I'm trying to help her find a job with an open door to possibilities and advancement. Where she can do what she loves but also afford her college loans and a decent living. Unfortunatly I am very clueless on matters with the horse world and about all I can do is wander around google and get lucky. Could anyone offer some advice or list of stables, breeding farms, training stables or such that might be helpful. Thank you.

Answer 1

Hmmm... lots of cracks or not enough info.

it would be nice to know, where she lives, how long has she been around horses, does she want to relocate, can she ride and then what style of riding does she like.

With what info. provided I would say google ocala, Fl., then keeneland, Ky. There are large concentrations of many types of horses and horse people, thoroughbreds, hunter jumpers, Arabians (Ocala, not sure about Keeneland), polo, etc. find their newspapers, look in the classifieds, chamber of commerce has lists of farms, yellow pages, for starts. And get on the phone or e-mail or beat the pavement farm to farm.

It is not easy starting at the bottom, pay has a wide range.

Well, I hope some other people can give you some better answers.

It would help if you edit your question and provide more info.

Thanks for the help starlite, I just didn't have the time or energy to express what you were able to convey.

ASKER: read her answer carefully it is full of good advice.

Answer 2

Your friend needs to try going to the Equimax website, and posting a listing there- and she also needs to subscribe to their list of jobs. I agree with the first poster- you need to edit your question a bit. It would be nice to know how much experience with horses your friend has, whether or not she has any specialties ( such as in different disciplines, for example, like polo, dressage, hunter/jumper, Western disciplines, or if she's had experience and been trained for the racing or harness racing industries) as well as what her salary and other requirements are. Is she willing and able to relocate? If so, is there a particular area or region of the country that she wants to work or live in? Is she interested in working and living abroad or in Europe or Asia, by chance? Equimax does get ads from people overseas, which is why I am asking this. Can your friend travel as part of her work? What types of skills does she have in terms of not only horse care, but also farm and property management? Can she drive a tractor and operate farm machinery? Does she know how to fix fences? Is she comfortable driving a truck and trailer?

What about specific horse related skill sets, such as experience with breeding, and with handling stallions? Has she ever done any work with broodmares, including attending foalings? Has she worked with foals and young stock? Can she do foal watch on a mare? Does your friend know first aid and is she familiar with how to help a horse who is sick with colic, founder, or the different diseases horses can get? Has your friend ever been through the experience of losing a horse to death, or having to be present while one was put down? These are all examples of the types of questions your friend will get asked by the Equimax staff while they help her put a resume together for the list of candidates which they show to potential employers.

Still other questions can include ones about things like teaching experience- is your friend an instructor? If so, how long has she been teaching, and which organization does she hold teaching credentials from? Does she work well with kids, with adults only, or with mixed groups? Is your friend familiar with office or bookwork, including ordering of supplies, scheduling vet and farrier appointments, and keeping clients' accounts up to date? Is she computer literate?

I could go on with this list, but I think you are begining to get the picture- there is much more to finding a job in the horse business than simply walking or driving down to the local barn and saying "Here I am !!" That almost never works, especially not these days. Another thing you need to be aware of, and your friend also needs to realize, is that the horse business is one of the most cutthroat businesses out there- and to make matters worse, there really is no such thing as job security or real advancement in it. Most people who go into the business do so because they love the animals and the sports, not so they can get rich, because that only RARELY, IF EVER, happens to anyone. Your friend is going to have to be willing to put up with a lot of long hours, hard physical labor in all kinds of weather conditions, low pay, ( sometimes, not even a living wage) and a LOT of emotional and verbal abuse if she expects to be able to get anywhere. Trust me on this one- I know what I am talking about, because I WAS a horse industry professional for over 20 years myself, and during that time, I saw a lot of things which I HAVE NEVER seen in any other business- including a lot of inappropriate and often cruel behavior. I finally left the business for good eight years ago, when I went into the health information management field and became a medical coder. The REASON I left was because I got so fed up with being treated like DIRT, and like the scum of the EARTH, by my employers- and I was also tired of the long hours, low pay,  no real job security to speak of ( I have seen people get FIRED, that's right, FIRED, for something as simple as forgetting to turn off a light switch in the barn) and no real future. I was also getting tired of having people say things about me which were real put downs, including comments about how I was making a living by shoveling s**+*t. It's sad that I was eventually forced out of the business by the abuse I was getting, but I haven't found cause to regret my decision. I still own a horse, and I still ride, but this is no longer how I make a living any more.

I am not saying any of this to scare your friend off, but I do want to give her and you the benefit of my experience. I am not joking or making up the part about people being fired for inconsequential things- it's the truth. I have had experiences like that happen to me. I have also seen the ugly side of a lot of the horse business, and how exploitative it can be, especially for young women. I hope that one day, eventually enough people in the business will wake up and start demanding their rights, not only as workers, but as people, but that time is still quite a ways off, from the looks of things.

Equimax's web address is www.equimax.com. I wish your friend luck in her endeavours.

Answer 3

If she's willing to go back to school, the University of Arizona in Tucson has a racetrack industry program she could apply to.