Hi,

     I really want to work with horses as a career after I graduate high school and I am really confused about what to do. I have looked at several colleges and am thinking about an Equine college degree but is it worth it? Another option I have been thinking about is just start working with horses as soon as I graduate by working for someone then working my way up until I have my own stable and business. Has this worked for anyone? I heard I need a lot of money to start my own horse business. Do stable managers and such really prefer if I had a college degree or do they even look?

      I graduate this May and I am so confused as to what is better to do. Can someone help me?

 Agreed, check the thread in this folder that is about this exact same topic, very recently.

Here is a website with several universities listed with equine science degree programs.

http://www.equusite.com/articles/other/otherEducationCollege.shtml

A friend of mine has an accounting degree but many, many years of experience with training horses. She is the BO of a 40 stall equestrain center and head trainer.

If you are only going to stay working with horses, I would suggest getting an equine degree. If you want more options outside of horses, I would suggest a business major with a minor in equine science. 

 i agree with everyone else as well. an equine degree will be a huge waste of your time and money. you are better off to get a business degree or psychology degree  that way if  you need a plan b you already have one in place. the horse business is tenuous at best and typically does not pay all that well. if you want a career as a trainer or barn manager you need to work your way up from the bottom. even if you are a great rider that doesn't always translate into being a good trainer. so really take a realistic look at what you want to do and why. my advise is to go to school and do something where you can make a ton of money and be able to really enjoy your horses. something like nursing or physician assistant which make anywhere from $75,000 and up in our area. i also  remember asking my vet when i was considering vet school what he thought and his reply was i love horses but the last thing i want to do at the end of a busy day of work (as an equine vet) is see another g.d. horse! that really stuck with me! so keep that in mind as well. good luck with school!

sorry honey reality is harsh. id rather be brutally honest than stroke someone's ego and say sure go to school to study equine management for a feel good degree, that won't get you a job other than one you could have got without the degree.. there is a school here in ct that has an equine program that used to ride out of our barn and let me tell you some of the poor souls didn't know their way around a horse, never mind  how to feed or care for them or know when to call the vet, it was sad and yet frightening at the same time. nobody will hire these people except maybe to be a groom which doesn't pay well unless you have years of experience and work for a large show barn. you don't need a degree in equine science to own a barn or be a barn manager so i'd respectfully have to disagree with you that yes it is a waste of time, if you want to "spend" time with horses then volunteer at an equine rescue or help out at your barn. i ride in new england with some of the top trainers in the country and none of them have an "equine" degree. psychology, yes, business, yes, accounting, yes, you get the idea. nobody really cares if you have an equine management degree, that's not what will get you a job. experience and common sense are what matter and you can't learn those in a classroom. i'll stick with my initial advise, go to school and do something where you can make lots of money, you will be able to have a nice life, afford beautiful horses, vacations and whatever else you want! besides tuition is expensive so you want to make a good first choice and not find 5 or 10 years down the road you wish you made more money, because we all know our horsey habit costs a small fortune!!

 I still think that in being realistic but not overly-critical, you can get a degree in Equine Studies/Sciences and STILL lead a good life.

 Let's be honest, how many people graduate school and start making tons of money right off the bat? NO ONE. It just doesn't happen. Unless you're a trust fund baby, you have to work your way up to making the kind of money you're talking about.

 I'm an Equine major in a very good program that has a strong business background: have I thought about where this will take me? Hell yeah. I KNOW that my chances of being hired with just a degree are slim. But I also have a lot of knowledge about the industry, and have worked in many barns, done internships with big trainers/organizations, etc. That will get me farther than a degree. But the degree is still important to get the informational background you need, if horses are something you're serious about.

 You don't need to "stroke someone's ego" to be realistic about the equine job market. I think everyone here recognizes the expense that horses are. It's just a matter of pairing information based education with real life experience; THAT will make you more successful than any degree.

to jamsession, yes you can go to school and graduate and make very good money.no, not with a 4 year degree, which now they say is the "new" high school diploma!  i have a ba with a double major in mass. comm. and political science and a mhs (masters degree) that was a 27 month program and earn an income in the low six figures, that's with one years experience. so if you go to college right after hs, and complete your masters right away you can earn tons of money by the time you are 25/26. forensic nursing  and practitioners are also ma level programs that pay very well. you can certainly go for a job in the horse industry, and from your experience you definately don't need a degree in equine studies to do that, all i'm saying is you should have a back up plan. i would really have a clear understanding of owning farm or working for someone as a trainer. i think most people don't fully appriciate all of the costs and just think of the basics like feed, board, vet and farrier. owning your own place is ridiculously expensive! we have our 3 horses at home and between mortgage, home/farm, and health insurance, taxes, maintainence,and paying for barn help, i don't see how someone could possibly make money doing this! we have our horses for showing and don't need to worry about needing to sell them, but if  it's your business then you would have to make the decision to sell the nice horse in the barn or the baby you bred and raised, i know i couldn't do that..i get way too attached! i hope you are able to find that nice balance, and i would absolutely have a heart to heart talk with your trainer or the barn owner and get their real opinion on the horse business and see what they have to say! best of luck!

to nikelodeon79, please know that no offense was meant towards you. "honey" was meant as a term of endearment, not as a derogatory statement. i am as far from rude as people come, i  work in an er and take care of very sick and injured people, i am very compassionate and kind.  again, im sorry if you took offense to my last post because none was certainly intended! we're all friends here just trying to help one another out and if i can help a kid just starting out with advice on horses, college or life in general, my intentions are good. before i knew what i wanted to do i too thought oh yeah it would be awesome to work with horses. well i worked as a groom/catch rider/ basic barn pee-on at a large show/sales barn making peanuts and basically doing everything from braiding in am before shows going to the shows all day and putting all the horses to bed at night, cleaning all the equipment, and getting ready for the next day. it was ok at first then when i realized i was being taken advantage of it became a real drag! by the time you do all that and warm up horses for someone else to show, you are just spent. it became not fun! you would get a good ride and then just when they were going well they would get sold out from under you.  i got launched from a green baby, ended up needing a ct scan, mind you they had no health insurance for me, so i had to pay all the bills for the er visit! oh and they didn't have workers comp coverage and being a naive kid, i didn't know them paying me cash meant i wasn't "on the books" so i was out of luck and a bunch of money. that visit to the er prompted me to go to school so i guess it turned out to not be such a bad thing. but if i can help spare someone the aggrevation of going through what i did, it makes it all worthwhile. i know too that life is a meandering path and that some lessons we need to learn on our own, it's just advice and people can pick and choose things that might work for them. so once again i'm very sorry!! lets all stay friends because this is fun!!!

 Unfortunately, not everyone can afford to get a Masters or spend that long at school. Granted, it's better to be in school right now than in the job market, but it still isn't exactly a cakewalk paying off loans and tuition. As far as I'm concerned, right now ANY degree means less because the job market is thin. Experience in and out of schools means a heck of a lot more than a piece of paper with a seal. This is just my opinion, keep in mind; I just find it hard to believe that a Masters guarantees big bucks...

I agree, owning your own place, doing your own thing, especially with horses, IS ridiculously expensive. Doesn't mean it can't be done though. To me, making enough to be comfortable an be able to support myself and horse(s) is the main priority; if that means getting a second job or taking a hard look at my expenses and spending, so be it. You don't need to be rich to have horses, just smart.  In the end, my horses needs aren't negotiable, whereas mine are. I board at our school's co-op barn, which we've basically built from the ground up, and having to find your own hay, bedding supplier, buy your own grains, do chores every day and take full responsibility for your animal, vs letting a stable do it for you, is something every student with a horse needs to do. You don't learn the industry by paying full care board, unfortunately. You learn it by surrounding yourself in it every day.

 I think you have good intentions in what you're saying, and I agree with most of it. I just don't think a six figure salary is necessary to be successful and live comfortably with horses. If you are able to do that, more power to you, but so far I've done fine as a working student. :)

Hi foxylover336! First, I just want to say that you should not go into a job just for the money. If you love working with horses, then do that, whether its a weathly job or not. Do what makes you happy. Also, I would go to college and get a degree, because it is difficult to get a job in the horse industry right out of high school that will pay all the bills. Having that degree so that you can get a second job or have something to fall back on when things get tough is a good idea, not to make a ton of money, but to help you get by without taking your focus away from your horses. I am actually going to Lake Erie College right now and I'm majoring in Equine Entrpreneurship. I chose this major because it gives me both business and horse education, and I'm already learning a lot of amazing things, and I'm only in my first year. I really liked this major because, like I said earlier, if my horse life is struggling, I still have enough of a business background to help keep me on my feet during the financially hard times.