So you want to become a horse trainer?
I realize that this post may not be as popular as how to start up a business blogging, since virtually anyone could do that. But I thought I would post about it anyway, since I wish I had had this information when I started my business. Even if it only helps one person, that works for me!
I had a high school student ask me recently, what would be the best way to start her journey in the horse training business. I know what I would do if I could do it all over again when I first decided to follow this career path. But first I asked her if she was up for the challenge.
My great-aunt, who is a very successful business woman, once told me, “You either have to go to college for a degree you can work in, or you have to work really, really hard.” You can get a degree for working with horses, and maybe if you get a scholarship or you feel you would learn better that way, then that may work. But if you want to keep from building debt in school loans, you certainly don’t need college for horse training. But it is essential that you work really, really hard.
First you should try to work with or for as many different trainers as possible. Here you will see how it could be one day. Many successful trainers have grooms and their horses already tacked up and in a line ready to go for them. That won’t be you when you start out. You will need to tack up horses and ride them and then clean them up afterwards. And all of this needs to be done quickly so you don’t slow down the trainer you’re riding with. And you’re going to be doing that from sunrise to sunset, no matter what the weather is. As well as any other grunt work they feel needs to be done. When you start out you are doing the bare basics work, over and over and over again. Hours of standing on your feet, starting a horse on groundwork; hours of working through the worst trot in your life because no one else wants to ride it; hours of being the first person to put her foot in the stirrup of an unbroken horse while the trainer watches, letting you make your own mistakes to see if you’ll fall to the ground. You will make plenty of mistakes; an important thing to horse training is making sure you NEVER make the same mistake twice.
If possible, you want to work with as many trainers as you can before you start your business. Your mind is totally open then, you can learn as much as possible. It’s also just easier to do this when you’re younger because you will get rattled around more and it hurts less when you’re nimble. Make as many connections as possible also while you are with each trainer. Even if you don’t agree with everything the trainer says, try not to burn any bridges. Try to take in as much information as you can from each trainer, and then as you start your own program, just use what works best for you. The horse world is very small; you want as many good connections as possible. Be prepared to show each trainer how hard you can work and where your strengths are. A lot of times, if trainers like you, they will send work your way when they are having a busy season.
Not only does working with other people give you the best learning experiences and exposure to the clientele, it also lets you only focus on the training aspect. It’s hard to run a business and find your style of horse training all at the same time. Both the horse training side and the business side are physically and mentally draining. It’s best to make sure you are at least 90% comfortable training a multitude of horse types in a number of disciplines before you attempt to run your own business as well. This way your actual horse training part will already have a system and there will be consistency to it. Just having someone else tell you what to do and where and how to do it takes a lot of the stress off. People may not realize that until they’ve actually managed their own business, but it really does. So as someone else is managing your day, take that extra energy and completely put it toward learning the horses and how to fine tune your training abilities.
The horse training is what everyone will see, so you have to make sure that this part is unvarying and professional. After that you can fumble in the background on how to run every other part of your business!
*Check back next week for Part 2 in this series to get some tips on running a business!*