A Horse, Of Course
Rich isn’t good enough…so besides being financially successful you’ve also got to be happy.
For you, that means making a lot of money while you enjoy your horses.
To be rich and happy, the advice is always “do what you love doing.” I totally agree…but I like to add two other things. 1. Do meaningful work. 2. Do what others don’t want to do.
Doing “meaningful work” doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice yourself and dedicate your life to caring for the downtrodden, poor or sick. It means providing a service or product that is needed to improve the lives of others…human and/or animal.
Training horses is meaningful work. A well-trained, obedient horse has a much better chance of being loved, appreciated and taken care of for all the years of his life. A well-trained horse seldom if ever knows abuse or neglect.
Designing clothes for show pen riders, can be meaningful work…so can operating a boarding stable, giving riding lessons, or building fences. Don’t be fooled into thinking the images and perceptions so often projected as success are truly success. What good is a brain surgeon or rocket scientist when a horse has a foot abscess, needs the saddle cinched correctly, or needs an increase in digestible energy?
You have a role in this universe…it is what you do best, your unique talent, what you love doing. Follow your heart and you’ll do meaningful work.
No matter what your do within the horse industry, you’ll find someone else is also doing it. There are thousands of trainers, boarding stables and riding instructors.
One of the easiest ways to find your niche, to be ahead of the competition, to make a lot of money is to do what others don’t want to do.
You want to train horses and make a lot of money at it, so do what other trainers don’t want to do. Train yearlings for lunge line classes; most trainers don’t want to fool with yearlings. Yearlings for most trainers are too much basic work…learning to stand still and have their feet handled, learning to lead properly, learning to load in a horse trailer, learning to have a bath and be sensible in the grooming stall.
You’d be amazed at how unruly and poorly cared for a lot of yearlings are when they are in the care of a “big-name, show horse trainer.” Yearlings are often left to the hired help, or left out on their own until time for saddle training. By that time their feet are out of balance, they panic when restricted, and have more bangs, bumps, lumps and scrapes than you can put salve on. And because of this, their early training is usually, slam, bam, and a behavior technique known as “flooding.” “Flooding” is also known as “sacking out,” and generally there is no need for it if a young horse gets all the attention he or she needs daily.
You could specialize in getting yearlings ready for lunge line classes, or ready to go to a sale, or ready to go to the trainer for saddle training. Sell your service on the idea of how much healthier, sounder and quicker a yearling prepared by you will do when he goes to town.
Once you’ve had the yearling, you can tell your customer, there’ll never be a reason for the excuse, “He’s not too well behaved, or he doesn’t have his Sunday best look because this is his first time to town.” He’ll be well behaved and he “look sensational” because you’ve done the job others don’t want to do.
Being successful in the horse business and making a lot of money isn’t really that hard. But it does require you to find a niche, be different, and often do the things others don’t want to do—like change your thinking from “it can’t be done” to “it can be done really well”!
Visit www.horsecoursesonline.com to earn certification as a horse trainer, riding instructor or stable manager, or work toward a Bachelor of Science degree in Equine Studies. All courses online.
