Do What You Love - Making a Living in the Horse World
By Sarah Mesa for Equestrian Services, LLC
If your idea of combining horses and careers are limited to training or being sentenced to endless days of cleaning stalls in frigid or sweltering temperatures, think again. Not everyone has the ability to train horses, or the patience to be a riding instructor.
But some of us are brilliant with numbers, natural writers or skilled artists. There are ways to use your strengths to your benefit and find an equestrian-related occupation that is ideal for your particular talents.
The horse industry in America is thriving and any thriving industry needs qualified employees A recent economic impact study done by the Barents Group of Washington, DC, found that the horse industry's $112.1 billion impact on the U.S. gross domestic product is higher than contributions from the motion picture industry.
An industry that produces goods and services worth $25.3 billion and involves 7.1 million people needs employees to keep it running. The 1.4 million full-time jobs provided by the horse industry rank above employment numbers for railroads, radio and television broadcasting and gas and coal product manufacturing, according to the study.
So what are these 1.4 million people with horse industry jobs doing? You name a field and there is probably an equestrian need for it. From hands-on horse care positions to horse-related careers, there is something for everyone.
 Working as a barn manager, instructor or groom will give you daily contact with these amazing creatures we find ourselves drawn to. There are numerous ways to earn a living working directly with horses - teaching young children or adults how to ride, exercising racehorses, grooming for a professional rider, managing breeding operations or becoming an equine vet, for example.
As with any job, lots of experience helps. For a long time, there were few ways to discern those qualified and with an adequate amount of knowledge from those who knew just enough to, at best, get by and, at worst, be dangerous. More and more colleges and universities across the country are developing equine degree programs, offering quality training, experience and validity for students once they graduate.
Having a degree or obtaining certification through a respected organization will set you apart from the pack. There are training and instructor certification programs available through the Certified Horsemanship Association (www.cha-ahse.org), the American Riding Instructors Association (www.riding-instructor.com), and with breed organizations like the United States Dressage Federation (www.usdf.org), for example. Several groups are now offering stable management certifications - a great way to legitimize your horse handling and care abilities.
Preparing yourself for the workforce with qualifications like these is an important step in changing what we refer to as the "emotional slavery" mentality in the horse business.
"People are expected to work with horses because they love horses, not because they make a decent salary that can support themselves and their families," said Libby Dufour in an article for Equestrian Services' December 2005 newsletter.
Doing a job you love should not mean living paycheck to paycheck without basic benefits like health care and vacation that employees in other industries receive.
Changing this attitude is one of the main goals of Equestrian Management, LLC, which is seeking qualified and certified candidates for the equestrian facilities they manage in an effort to end the high turnover rates found in so many equine jobs. This benefits facility owners and staffs equally, as these proud and loyal employees work harder to create a better service for the owners to offer to their customers
Let's not forget the other and equally important side of the horse industry, where your job may not involve touching a horse everyday but your work can be instrumental in the way horses are cared for and viewed.
 There are too many facets of the horse world requiring educated and skilled employees to name. But just scratch the surface and you can see the multitude of opportunities.
If you never go anywhere without your camera, maybe a career as an equine photographer is up your alley. Are you a whiz with numbers? Large breeding farms and equine product manufacturers need accountants. Scientists can do genetic research and nutrition management. There is a need for lawyers to specialize in equine law.
If you are an equestrian and a landscape architect or land planner, you would be ideal for a position here at Equestrian Services, LLC. Spend your days planning and designing equestrian facilities, communities and resorts. This is just one example of an unusual way to put your professional skills to use in the equestrian world.
Whether it's as a marketing director for a breed organization or as a hunter/jumper trainer, there is a niche to be filled and an industry to keep expanding, which makes it easier and easier to find a career in it. |
The Equestrian Land Conservation Resource's Trail Trotters Day
June 3, 2006
According to the American Horse Council, equestrians from all venues - Eventing, Dressage, Endurance and many more - enjoy trail riding for relaxation. However, as available open space is either sold off or is no longer accessible to horses, horseback riders are finding fewer and fewer places to ride.
ELCR launched Trail Trotters' Day to promote access to land for horseback riding. Trail Trotters' Day will show our communities how strong the bond is between a horse and rider by becoming stewards of the very land we enjoy.
The Trail Trotters' Day program, launched by ELCR with financial support and cooperation from, among others, the National Forest Foundation and Tread Lightly, gives horse people the chance to be counted for stewardship efforts that previously may have gone unnoticed. ELCR seeks to collect information about stewardship activities performed that day in order to publicize these efforts and activities.
Every month, ELCR receives requests for information about how to preserve land for horses, maintain access to land for equestrian activities, and how to promote these activities. The answers to these requests are not always simple, but have a universal theme: stronger, long-lasting relations, with open communications, which need to be developed with land owners and land managers.
These relationships can be created, developed, and maintained by concentrating on the crucial component in these interactions - the land. Owners and land managers certainly understand the value of their land. Establishing and permitting equestrian activities on those lands will be more successful when the horsemen and their organizations demonstrate their appreciation of the land's value as well.
ELCR is asking you to join in a project for trail maintenance, clean-up, marking, or other general work. You can register your project and the names of those who will provide the labor right here on this website. Registration will ensure that an accurate and detailed "snapshot" of the stewardship efforts made on Trail Trotters' Day is captured, and that your efforts are acknowledged.
ELCR values stewardship efforts of all equestrians across the nation and would like to acknowledge each and every one of them. In the first year (2005), we had 63 projects registered in 29 states. ELCR is calling all equestrians in an effort to boost this number to at least 100 projects in 2006 and to cover every state in the nation.
As an added bonus, your project could be selected as a regional winner, or even be the best Trail Trotters' Day project in the nation and win the Trail Trotters National Stewardship Award, 2006 - and the $1,000 that comes with that title.
Trail Trotters' Day costs only your time and your labor for ONE DAY, not much when you consider the value of using trails the rest of the year. It is quick and easy to become a Trail Trotter by registering for an existing project or to register a new project on ELCR's website, www.elcr.org, or by calling the national office at (815) 858-3501. Please help us make Trail Trotters' Day a success for our riding land across the country.
Equestrian Services Introduces New Associate
 Equestrian Services, LLC and Equestrian Management, LLC are pleased to welcome Sarah Mesa to their team. With her extensive experience handling, riding, training and showing horses in addition to her writing, marketing and management skills, Sarah is uniquely qualified to serve as an Associate for Equestrian Services, LLC and Associate Director for Equestrian Management, LLC.
 Sarah has been involved with riding, caring for and owning horses for more than 15 years. Growing up in Maryland , she participated in 4-H and Pony Club activities. An accomplished dressage rider, Sarah performed high school dressage and airs above the ground with Andalusian stallions for a popular themed dinner theatre and trained many of the horses in the show. She has also handled administrative duties for the lesson program at the University of Maryland, College Park and worked at several training and boarding facilities, including managing a stable of 20 plus horses, including 12 stallions.
These days, Sarah is riding Hanoverian stallions at first and second level dressage, helping condition an Elite Hanoverian stallion imported from Germany for the 2006 show season. Sarah also enjoys trail riding and spoiling her retired Quarter Horse mare, Missy Dee Bar Flower.
 Sarah holds a BA in Journalism from the University of Maryland and has combined her writing skills with her passion for horses to write for publications such as Practical Horseman magazine and Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred magazine and serve as consulting editor for Pony Enthusiast magazine. She also has experience in web site management and development projects, including the revamping of www.preakness.com in 2003. Most recently, Sarah managed web content and micro-site development for Humane Society International, the international arm of the Humane Society of the United States .
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