<p>Become a real estate agent (you can major in anything you like) and settle in an area with large numbers of “horse” people and a racing culture. Become good at it and you can afford any hobby you like.</p>
<p>The idea of marrying for money in this day and age seems beyond ridiculous. Not the least of which, anyone with money these days tends to show up at the altar with a well crafted and hard to break pre-nup.</p>
<p>One of my best friends from college rides, has competed in the past - in Vermont and/or New Hampshire and is not as far as I know independently wealthy. She’s been a part time Episcopalian priest and occasional author and her husband is a choir director. </p>
<p>I would get more experience with horses before I changed my focus to be on them, if as you say, you can’t even sit a trot.
I grew up around local stables & both my kids rode weekly through middle & high school, one taught riding at a residential camp for her summer job.
I’m not getting a clear idea on what you are basing your decision to having horses be a big part of your life on.
What is your experience?</p>
<p>Where did you get the idea the equine vets only make $30K. I think you could make substantially more than that if you specialized in racehorses–or went to work for a feed or supplement manufacturer.</p>
<p>You could also work in one of the many allied industries like–dealers rep for tack or clothing, equine event management </p>
<p>Would second Mathmom’s observation that you don’t need to be independently wealthy to ride horses and compete–close friend of my youngest D is a competitive rider (dressage)/barn manager. She’s not independently wealthy–but is not dirt poor either–she’s from an upper-middle class family. She started riding when she was young and her parents would lease horses for her to ride. She worked in barns (doing grunt work) to pay for lessons. In college, she got a job managing a barn. She finished three years of college and then dropped out. Eventually she started taking courses again part-time and is going to graduate this year. It took her 7 years, but she’s getting an undergraduate degree in business this May. She’s still managing a barn and competing and loves what she’s doing.</p>
<p>What I get out of her experience is that if you want to compete/work/be in the horse business and you don’t have the money to buy your way into it, you need to start networking/getting jobs in that business. Also, if you’re in college, it may mean that you’re going to have to do a juggling act to fit it all in and maybe you won’t be able to do so until later in life.</p>
<p>@blossom I was joking about marrying wealthy…there’s not sarcasm font on the internet.</p>
<p>@mathmom and @Bromfield2 I volunteer at shows (hunter-jumper and Dressage) and worked for a few summers at various show barns in the area, and the ones doing well in competition were all extremely wealthy. I have one friend who shows on the A circuit, and her parents pay tens of thousands for her to be able to compete, and she rides a 200K horse. Perhaps I’ve just bumped into the wrong stables and people, but that’s just been my observation. I also show dogs professionally and many of the trainers and handlers used to show horses. As soon as they learn I enjoy riding, they start talking about how expensive it is/was.That said, thank you for your comments, it gives me hope that perhaps I can afford this later on in life. I do get the idea that how far you go up on a limited budget really depends on the connections you make, so perhaps I can try and build those in college.</p>
<p>@qialah In our area, that seems to be about the average. I talked to several of my friends’ vets (two of my friends are also equine vets) and they really discouraged me from becoming an equine vet if I eventually wanted to compete and own a decent horse. They all said the long hours made it hard to have any substantial hobby. I think one of them made 80K per year, and four others made between 30-45K per year. These weren’t recent graduates either, all of them had been practicing for ten years or more. There seems to be an excess of equine and large animal vets in the area. The one vet that made 80K a year had been practicing here since 1976 and had built up a loyal client base. Like you said, perhaps if I specialized, things would be different as all of them were just general large animal vets. </p>
<p>@emeraldkitty4 I definitely need more experience with English riding. When I was younger (5-10) I did a lot of western riding, some barrel racing on a leased horse, and was your typical barn rat. I also took care of our neighbor’s neglected, crazy Polish Arabian mare for a few years and treated her like my own working to pay off a trainer for her and to get a farrier to fix her messed up feet. We moved too far away from all the barns and horses afterwards and I had to stop taking regular lessons. Soon after I decided I wanted to ride English instead anyways. My parents refused to let me ride after a hunter-jumper accident where I shattered my wrist (age 13) and I had to move on to other hobbies. I now ride occasionally on friend’s horses, but my riding skills have gone down the drain and I’m in dire need of a good trainer to get a solid foundation with. Like I said before, I can’t sit a trot, lost any jumping form, and am just embarrassingly bad right now. At the moment I just have no time to drive out 45 minutes one way to go to the nearest good trainer. I definitely need to get back into it again before I can decide whether or not I want this to be my life, but I do know that horses have been my lifelong passion. </p>
<p>I was an equine vet. Those numbers you throw out for earnings are woefully incorrect if the vet has even a smidgeon of talent. You could easily make several hundred thousand per year. However, it is hard work, dangerous, and as in every profession, you get to work with some whack jobs at times. Also, when you are done with the work, the last thing you want to do is ride one. You can go the more academic route and get board certified in surgery, or internal medicine, or reproduction. You can then teach or work at a specialty clinic. Still, if you work with horses, it is hard to then enjoy them as a hobby. I always tell kids who ask me about becoming a vet because they “love animals” to get a decent job in any other profession and own pets. Go to med school. Own a horse. There are many many levels of shows with the quality of horses varying widely. Show what you can afford. You don’t need the million dollar jumper to enjoy jumping. You will enjoy 2’6 just as well as the million dollar guys enjoy 4’. If you bail on med school, many of the best barns accept “working students”(slaves) which gets your feet wet. Good luck whatever you do!</p>
<p>Thank you @Parent1337 I appreciate your helpful comment. I don’t know anything about their salaries other than what they told me, I don’t see why they would lie, but who knows. Still it does seem like it would be easier to enjoy them as a hobby if I went to med school instead. They all seemed to agree on the long hours. Also thank you for the sensible advice about doing what I can with a horse I can afford. I guess I certainly don’t need a million dollar horse to compete at the FEI world games with. I would just as happy competing at 2’6 with a decent horse. Thanks again, my perspective needed a bit of correcting there.</p>
<p>You sound very bright and motivated. Med school, vet school are both good options – but there are many many opportunities for bright STEM sorts of people in the animal industries. From your description, you will probably never be a professional rider, but that is not the only way to enjoy horses and even have a career with them. What about working at a Thoroughbred breeding farm? Either as a vet or a tech? </p>
<p>I was a very good rider in the mid 70s, and taught riding after college graduation with an animal science major. If I had to do it again, I might have concentrated on other aspects of the horse industry besides riding and training. If I could wave the magic wand, I would have gone to vet school. (Waving magic wand to get vet school in my state <em>and</em> the financial backing to pay for it.)</p>
<p>Thank you @cnp55 it’s nice to hear from someone with personal experience in riding and training. I think it’s too late for me to ride professionally, but I would love to work with a Thoroughbred breeding farm or do something along those lines. I don’t know of any nearby, but I’ll ask around. </p>
<p>I think what I need to do is shadow some equestrian vets and get some firsthand experience on what that’s really like. Right now I think I have a skewed perception of the field as I’m only going on a bad small animal vet experience and the say of some random large animal vets I don’t even know. I’ll also talk with Rhode’s equestrian team and see if I can’t join, or just take lessons on my own to get back into it and gain more experience. Academic-wise, I might add a business management minor or something similar just to gain some business knowledge should I decide to go completely off the medicine path. I think if nothing else, going into medicine and playing around with horses once I retire is always an option. We shall see. Thank you to everyone who took the time to offer their input and advice. It was very helpful and I appreciate ya’ll so much 
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