Horse Careers
A Look Into Careers With Horses
There are some careers with horses that require specialized training, such as becoming a veterinarian or a veterinarian technician or assistant. Other careers with horses require an apprenticeship to get started, for example if you which to become a farrier, or for that matter a jockey. Others simply require an ability to ride a horse well or the ability to handle horses, things you may have taught yourself. All that is needed is for an opportunity to present itself.
The common denominator for all of this is having a love for horses. There are those that think that may not be necessary, but why would one choose a career with horses if one didn't have a love for the animals or didn't enjoy being around them? It would be a challenge to find anyone who works with or around horses that does not have love and respect for our equine friends, though there always are a few strange cases out there.
For starters, there are careers to be had which primarily involve sitting on the back of a horse and going some place. That some place may be in a show ring or across mountains and valleys, or on a racing oval. There's always the rodeo, whether you prefer saddle bronc or bareback riding, where some careers are sometimes short, or calf roping, where they can be quite a bit longer, or simply being a wrangler, where you get to ride around the arena helping cowboys dismount from bucking broncs, if the bronc hasn't done that already, or shooing calves out of the arena once they've been untied.
If you like working with leather, and like horses as well, you might consider serving an apprenticeship as a saddle or harness maker. Custom saddle making hasn't quite become a lost art, but there are fewer of them around than there used to be, and if you get good at it, you can have a fine and potentially lucrative career. Carriage making is another possibility. There are plenty of horse lovers who are into driving (carriages and carts, not automobiles), and if you don't build carriages, there is always a demand for carriage driving trainers who can teach people how to drive them. It's not as easy as it looks, at least from the standpoint of doing it right and doing it safely.
We don't have too many saddle fitters in the United States, as is the case in the UK, where fitters travel around helping horse owners select saddles that won't result in discomfort to horse or rider, and a poor or disastrous ride. Saddle makers almost by definition have to be expert at saddle fitting as well.
There are many horse lovers who have as an equine career as a trail rider, guest ranch or dude ranch employee, or owner, or someone who just specializes in giving riding lessons, both to beginners as well as to more advanced riders.
There are those whose careers with horses involve writing about them, or photographing them. Many equine magazines are interested in getting quality material from freelance writers and photographers, plus there is always a strong demand for equine art, especially oil paintings.
One can work in a tack and saddle shop, with a goal, after having gained enough experience, of opening a shop of one's own. This would be one example of teaching one's self what one needs to know, in this case combining a knowledge of horses with a knowledge of how to run a business.
Among the more demanding careers for horses are probably breeding for sale, and breeding for racing. The goal of breeding for sale is often that of making a decent income, one that justifies the hard work involved. The goal of the latter might be to produce a foal that eventually wins the Triple Crown.
There are careers that, while they not directly involve coming into contact with horses, come close, such as running a hay service, being a rodeo clown, or serving as a show judge. The list could go on, but the bottom line is there are a many more careers with horses than most people are aware of.