Transcript:

[0:04]

When I was a young boy, my dream was to be a veterinarian, and my love for animals, like many of you listening, was deep. I loved all sorts of animals — from elephants down to whales in the ocean, any of those species you see at zoos or aquariums. At one point I wanted to be a marine biologist, and then as I grew older, that honed into, “Okay, I’m going to be a veterinarian.”

[0:45]

Then it was, what field of veterinary medicine? I really fell in love with large animals. I’m a big guy, and I thought, you know, I love my cats and dogs, but I really want to focus on large animal medicine. When I started to be around horses more, that became entrenched, and I knew I was going to be an equine veterinarian.

[1:22]

As I went to Cal Poly to earn my undergraduate degree — and as life goes — things came up. I had to put myself through my undergrad and do some other things just to secure my bachelor’s degree. I realized maybe vet school was down the road, so I went off into the military for a while to help pay back school, and then also into the private sector. But that love for horses, that love for learning, was still in me.

[2:02]

I went off to get my master’s degree to bump me into vet school, to help improve my grades, and finish off a couple of prerequisite courses I didn’t get in my undergraduate to get into UC Davis. But then, when I was in graduate school, I realized there were other things I could do to be around horses. Being a veterinarian day in and day out — yes, you are saving horses’ lives — but you’re not getting to do a lot of the fun stuff: training, riding, breeding all the time. That’s really where my passion developed, and I decided to go get my PhD instead.

[2:44]

Then, as a professor at Clemson University and the University of Florida, seeing these young, eager students come through my doors, mentoring them on the many jobs in the equine industry — because a lot of them were like, “Well, if I want to work with horses, I have to be a vet, right?” And I’d say, “No, there are multiple jobs. There are multiple things you can do that make a good living.”

[3:16]

In preparing for this podcast, I didn’t quite realize how many of those jobs there are. When you look at the equine industry as a whole, there are so many jobs. I know just a few weeks ago we talked about the impact of the equine industry — is it still relevant in the world? And yes, it’s huge. It’s massive. You’ve got 60 million horses, 40 million donkeys, and then all the other equids — so close to over 100 million equids walking this planet that need feed, health care, farriers, and all the different things these animals require. I’ll put donkeys in there too. You need the trainers; you need all of this. There are quite a few opportunities out there for anybody to get involved — and some I haven’t even thought of.

[4:19]

Looking at this from different angles: your standard veterinarian — well, we’re going to talk about these jobs — the farrier, the barn manager, the trainer. We’re going to look at their salary ranges (in US dollars) and the qualifications to do those jobs. But there are multiple roles, and I’m just going to cover some of them today. There are other aspects I can’t even cover — like transport. Transporting horses is a job in itself: a truck driver or driving a trailer rig to move horses around wherever you are. There are so many jobs, and it’s pretty exciting when you look at all the different people supporting the horse industry.

[5:02]

Right now, as I’m recording this, in a few weeks the Paris Olympics in 2024 are to begin. I was thinking about all of those people — and one of my good friends, she’s part of that with Team Canada, there to support them — but all those people that go into preparing that horse for the Olympic Games. There are multiple people from multiple disciplines. I’m not even talking about the rider — that’s part of it — but just the horse itself. What goes into preparing that horse for the Olympics?

[5:42]

Then we can go to a therapeutic riding center and think about everything that needs to go into supporting that horse — not just the trainers and the barn manager or the daily care of those horses. What about the feed? Where’s that coming from? Who’s preparing that feed before it even gets to the barn — cutting hay, curing hay, or, if you’re feeding supplements or bagged feed, that’s a whole industry in itself. So you can see, there are a lot of jobs.

[6:19]

In the industry podcast, I talked about how globally the horse industry contributes about 300 billion US dollars to the global economy — and that’s probably an underestimate. I think it’s closer to maybe 400 billion. Big players. But again, a lot of that is people not only producing feed but also making equipment — saddles, saddle pads, hoof picks, even the simple stuff. There’s an industry there. When you think about it, you’re like, “Wow, okay — there are a lot of people supporting this one animal.”

[7:01]

Then you get into training and health. The bottom line is: the equine industry is healthy, it’s thriving, and it’s not going anywhere. When you look at some of these jobs we’re going to talk about, you can see where they’re going to be consistent or even keep growing. We’re going to go through these — I’m going to touch upon a bunch. They’re fun: some of the ones you could probably think of off the top of your head, and some maybe you haven’t thought of before. We’ll talk about the salary ranges and qualifications, because if you have children, relatives, or if you are a trainer yourself, or you manage a barn and you have people asking, “How do I get involved in the horse industry?” — here are some things for them to consider.

[7:55]

To start off, I’m going to begin with health, because that’s an obvious one. Like me back in the day, I was going to be a horse veterinarian. I did a whole podcast on this topic — we are short on equine vets. For me, it was more about looking at what the vet does day to day, and then I looked at the salary range — which, at the time, I didn’t quite know the full range of. I know some equine vets who are doing very well financially, and it just depends on your specialty. I was a reproductive specialist, so for me personally, if I had gone to vet school, specialized in equine repro, I could be making six figures easily — if I was still back in Florida or Kentucky, or even here in New Zealand. I could be making that because it’s such a specialty.

[8:49]

Equine vets are a wonderful way to be involved in the horse industry. I’ve sent many students to vet school. I have many friends who are equine vets around the United States, here in New Zealand, a couple in Canada, and a couple in Australia. That’s day-to-day care — your vaccinations, your surgeries — and even then you could be a specialist within that. You could be an equine eye specialist. Just like human medicine, there are specialists in equine veterinary medicine: emergency care, all of that.

[9:31]

We’ve discussed the salary ranges. There are equine vets making $120,000. Some of the big ones — I remember in Kentucky, like Rood & Riddle, the huge hospitals — some of those vets are doing very, very well because they’re handling multi-million-dollar horses and they’re the best of the best. They can do very well. But averages in the US range from $75,000 to $80,000 USD.

[10:00]

Okay, so United States dollars — that was the average when we did that podcast. Now, our veterinarians have to go through quite a bit to become a veterinarian. In the US, Canada, and other countries, they take a lot of prerequisite courses in their undergrad. Many of them go on to earn their bachelor’s degrees; a few get in without finishing their bachelor’s, but most finish it. Then it’s four years of medical school — I mean literally medical school like a human doctor. It’s intense. Again, many friends I went through it with — I used to teach at the vet school — it is… they’re very bright. I’ve seen hundreds of these students come through my classes. They are incredibly bright, incredibly driven, incredible students, and incredible people. So that’s why we’ve got to give a lot of love to our equine vets.

[11:00]

Now, in other countries — because I know this is a global audience I’m speaking to — you have to do a period of undergraduate study at a university, very intense. Then you go and do a postgraduate degree — it’s like a master’s degree — again very intense, very competitive for two years. So it depends on the country. Different countries have different qualifications to become a veterinarian. But again, wonderful field.

[11:32]

So that’s one of the ways, and probably the more difficult. Well, I mean, for some of them — to be a top trainer is very difficult too, and we’ll talk about that a little bit later. But here are other jobs within the equine health industry. You don’t necessarily have to be a veterinarian — you can be an equine veterinary assistant. So it’s like a veterinary nurse; again, depends on what country you are in and what you call it. Or a vet assistant. These jobs are just as important to the health of our horses.

[12:02]

You see them at equine vet hospitals — they’re like equine vet nurses, or again vet assistants, depending on where you live — and they work alongside the equine vets for medical care. They do some of the exams, they assist during surgeries, they help with the treatments, they give medications, help triage horses, handle horses, help maintain records, and maintain the facility. Our larger equine vet hospitals do have equine vet nurses — very talented, very driven to be part of the industry and help these animals.

[12:51]

Now, again, depends on what country you’re in. Like the UK, Australia, New Zealand — it’s like a two-year associate’s degree. It depends on the program — it could be a one-year degree program, like when I was helping teach rural animal technicians that do help veterinarians. In the United States, there are accredited veterinary tech colleges — it’s like two-year programs, associate’s degrees, some four-year programs. Students that get undergraduate animal science or pre-veterinary medicine degrees also go and work in vet hospitals. I’ve had many of my students who didn’t want to go to vet school but wanted to be in equine health, and they got jobs at equine clinics helping.

[13:36]

Salary is going to vary — can make up to $40,000 USD annually. So not quite as much as our vets, obviously, but again it’s going to vary on where you live, how many hours you put in, if you do overtime, your experience, and all of that. Starting salary may be $25,000, maybe $30,000, which is kind of a standard job for many of these days. But again, like our equine vets, these are specialists — they’re in demand, and they’re very much needed throughout the industry. They’re a critical piece of our industry.

[14:17]

So with our vets and our vet technicians or assistants, now the next part of health I thought of was the dentist. And the equine dentist role has changed quite a bit in my lifetime. When I was young, you had equine dental specialists — these were not veterinarians; these were specialists that had been floating horse teeth for many years, had the qualifications, the experience, and the education.

[14:53]

There was a shift maybe 10–15 years ago, where a lot of laws were changing — and by country too — where some of these procedures the dentists were doing were deemed medical in nature, meaning you had to be a veterinary doctor. Not going to get into the politics of it, but it’s a frustrating issue because I’ve known many wonderful equine dentists — a few, not many, but a few — who lost their business because the laws changed in the state they lived in, and they had to move.

[15:38]

What’s also unfortunate is that, in trying to protect our equine vets and their livelihood — and that’s something they should be doing — we know our equine vets are overworked. We know their quality of life is very difficult because of all the colic calls during foaling season — they never sleep. It’s a very rigorous career. We’ve talked about how that’s changing, with the industry recognizing it, but now it’s like, okay, you have to be an equine dentist as part of your profession. The laws have changed — there are some states that allow non-vets to perform equine dental work. The list I have — I don’t know if this has changed recently — but states like Arizona, Arkansas, Florida (that was always a debate), Maryland, South Carolina, Texas, a few others. There’s a bunch where you don’t need to be a DVM to do dental work.

[16:36]

Again, it’s going to be dependent on the country. Certain countries, like New Zealand, have laws where you have to be a veterinarian to do some of the work they do. Now, the equine dental technicians — they can make $40,000 to $70,000 a year, just under what our vets would make. All the dental care: floating teeth, filing sharp points, extracting teeth, addressing any dental issues. Most are certified from an accredited equine dental program, and then obviously have experience and hands-on training. In those areas where they don’t need to be a DVM, they should have some certification. Some of you listening have been with an equine dentist who’s not a DVM, and they do wonderful work — but again, the laws have changed and they’re still changing.

[17:32]

Then, when we’re looking at health, there’s one more: the reproductive specialist. When I was doing my PhD training, it was not a DVM — it was a PhD versus DVM. The DVM degree is a very technical degree: here’s how you assess an animal, here’s the disease, here’s how you treat the disease — step one, step two, step three. They’re very talented. I always laugh about all the chemistry I had to take in my pre-vet classes — they are pharmacists. Especially in the equine field, you’ve got to know your medications, the chemistry of those medications, what you’re putting in, body chemistry. Like I said, these vets are brilliant — they have to master all of these fields.

[18:30]

It’s a very technical degree, where a PhD was very philosophical. We’re scientists — “Let’s think about the world. How does this work? Well, we don’t know this.” And we would propose a hypothesis and then learn how to test it. But I did get technical training: how to collect stallions, no problem; analyze everything; breed mares. I was specifically doing embryo transfers, working with genetics in early embryos and oocytes — all of that. So I was getting a lot of technical training while still sitting in the corner wondering about life, looking at the stars, but really thinking about the biology of reproduction from the cells all the way up.

[19:19]

In my technical training, I did thousands of hours of ultrasounds. I did a couple hundred embryo collections; I was very skilled at that and could easily go in and ultrasound a mare all day long safely. I was very well-trained, and knock on wood, never had an issue — never a perforated rectum or anything like that. I was very lucky, very slow, and just cautious. But with all that training, I could not go and assess a pregnancy in Florida. If I was doing private work on the side with a PhD, I couldn’t say, “Yeah, your mare’s pregnant,” because that is a DVM — that’s a medical diagnosis.

[20:11]

I could go in and ultrasound, have the person look at the screen, and then hold the probe over the pregnancy, not say anything, and then move on. But I never did that because I was a professor. I’m just saying: as an equine reproductive specialist, you still need some of that DVM in there for some things. Yet you could help manage broodmares, breed horses if you were trained properly, ultrasound to determine when to breed horses, do artificial inseminations, do embryo transfers — you just can’t, depending on where you live, diagnose a horse as pregnant. That was the limitation.

[21:06]

But again, when I talked about, you know, Dr. Martha Velez, my mentor — her husband, Steven Velez, managed a massive ranch in Texas. He was one of probably the best in the world for embryo transfer at the time, and he was doing this work every single day. He loved it, and he helped train me. Salary range is $50,000 to $80,000, and again, this is where some places you might make more. I imagine those breeding managers on some of these top and Thoroughbred farms probably make a lot more money than that because they’re some of the best in the business. If you are a DVM and then specialize in equine repro, I can guarantee you you’re probably going to make over six figures if you’re in the right place in the country where there’s a lot of breeding, a lot of embryo technologies, where you’re doing embryo transfer or some of these really advanced techniques we learn.

[22:08]

If you’re a DVM, you’re probably going to make a lot more than that in this field. But just for the layman who gets a bachelor’s degree, say in animal science or veterinary medicine, and then gets specialized in equine repro — which could be a master’s degree — I’ve trained students in my master’s program who have gone off and managed breeding farms. It’s fun. I love it. It’s amazing to have a mare pregnant and then, when she gives birth 11 months later, to be part of helping foal — I just loved it. I lit up. That’s why I studied what I did and did all the research I did. I can’t recommend that field enough.

[22:52]

Okay, keeping it along in health — here’s another one: chiropractor. Now, there is acupuncture and some others. I didn’t cover acupuncture in this one, but chiropractor — I remember I was exposed to this as an undergrad many decades ago (not many, just a few decades ago), where they brought in a chiropractor in one of our classes. They showed the horse and then showed the horse licking his lips, relieving stress and back pain and stuff like that.

[23:28]

There are many schools around the world for chiropractic to get a degree and then specialize in horses. In the US, you can actually earn a Doctor of Chiropractic from multiple schools — but a lot of that is human. Human chiros can make up to $150,000 a year; horse chiros make up to $80,000 a year. There are certification programs around the country and around the world. That is one area. And like I said, acupuncture is another one some people have studied in horses.

[24:04]

Then, with health, you have massage therapists. Again, getting those horses ready for the Olympics — I wonder if they have massage therapists, maybe that’s a secret, I don’t know. They can give massages to horses that are sore, help improve circulation, enhance performance. There are certification programs around the world, again depending on where you live, from accredited equine massage therapy programs. They can make up to $50,000 a year.

[24:47]

Let’s talk about the farrier — probably one of the most important jobs around in the industry, next to our veterinarians. Your farrier is golden. They are worth so much to our horses. They do so much for our horses, and when you find a good farrier, you better take care of them because there aren’t a lot of them out there. They work incredibly, incredibly hard. Any of you that have ever tried to trim feet know what a demanding job that is. It is so tough.

[25:25]

I’ve taught students for years on hoof care, and I’d get under there and we would lightly trim a hoof — and just holding it is back-breaking and physically demanding. When your farrier comes, I just loved it — I was holding horses since I was a young kid for my farrier, all the way up to being a professor. They just love to talk; I’ve always been blessed with really wonderful farriers. As hard as the work is, they’re people people — they love talking. Take care of them, please, because we need them and we need more of them.

[26:12]

This is the one taking care of the horses’ hooves — trimming, shoeing, handling any hoof health issues. And they know — if you’ve got a good farrier, they know: “Okay, you’ve got this hoof abscess, you need to speak to your veterinarian; you’ve got this problem going on, a little laminitis, whatever — you need your vet involved too.” Like I said, the good farriers are brilliant, smart people. Salary range is as low as $30,000 up to $70,000 annually. Again, going to depend on the area. If they’re really rural, they’re probably not making as much, but I imagine farriers in Lexington, Kentucky, Ocala, Florida, parts of New York, or wherever, are probably doing okay — and they deserve it. It’s a very difficult job, but they love it. You can see it — they love their jobs. Qualifications are generally an apprenticeship and certification from a farrier school, and then that lifelong experience. The farrier that’s been out there for a while and has seen it all — those are the ones you really want to take care of.

[27:21]

Okay, I’m going to switch it up a bit because that’s health, right? Those are some you’re like, “Oh yeah, I know those jobs,” and maybe you didn’t know the salary ranges or whatnot. But I’m going to switch it up because here are some jobs you might not have thought about. You’ve probably used some of these people in the past, or you didn’t think you could actually make a career out of it — but people do.

[27:44]

To start that off is equine photographer. If you love horses, you love photography, you can do this on the side to make some extra money, or you can do it professionally. As a photographer, you could do weddings — those are really expensive to get a good wedding photographer — and then you could do horse photography, go out to events, get with some of these clubs, and set it up. For advertising, you can do portraits, action shots, promotional material for businesses. They can make up to $50,000 a year annually, just for horse photographers. But you’ve got to be good — you’ve got to know your photography skills, maybe get some specialized training, and know horses. You know when to take that snap, or with digital cameras now, you can just hold it like shooting a video and then pick the best ones. You also need post-editing skills. Develop a portfolio, then go drum up some business. If you love photography and you love horses, start doing it as a hobby, get good at it, then build a website and start charging people to shoot them and their horses. Soon you’ve got a whole portfolio of beautiful photographs and now you have a career. Maybe you’re going to the Olympics to take photos in the arena. That one was fun — I never really thought about it as a career, but seeing it pop up, I thought it would be a fun career.

[29:33]

Here’s one: equine event coordinator. This made me smile because I realized, yeah, all these events we go to — someone’s got to coordinate them. If you’re going to a polo match, an arena competition, AQHA events in the United States, Australia, or Europe — all these different horse events — people have to coordinate that with the staff. These coordinators manage the equine events — horse shows, clinics, even clinics — and they have to handle logistics, marketing to get people there, coordinating all the horses coming, managing participants and vendors. You see all those vendors around the arenas — feed companies, tack companies all set up — somebody has to coordinate that. That’s a career, a job. They can make up to $60,000 annually; maybe some of the bigger ones make more. You need experience in event planning and management, with a background in the equine industry. I bet some have bachelor’s degrees, because you can get a degree in something like that, or just an associate’s degree to get started. Then get involved — you’ve got an event coordinator, but they have staff helping, and that’s how you get your foot in the door, get experience, and then you can run it yourself.

[31:03]

Okay, another one is equine journalist. It’s still relevant — I have some friends and acquaintances who are doing this. They still write for TheHorse.com and some of these other websites. Magazines are still being published, not quite as often as in yesteryear, but this is probably a field that’s fluid right now — it’s moving, it’s changing. I think there’s social media, or you could be a content creator with that. So this is a field where I think it’s still changing, but an equine journalist is still out there. They’re still writing articles, reports, or features about the industry — websites are the big one, but even media too, just for press releases and things, or magazines like I said. They make $30,000 to $50,000 annually, but this is where you have that degree in journalism, communications, or a related field, and then a strong knowledge of the equine industry. So that is still a career out there.

[32:09]

All right, here’s one — not to bore you — but equine insurance agent or an appraiser. I’ve talked about equine insurance — it’s important, and you need agents to sell it, right? You need somebody to know what is in that insurance policy so you can call them and speak to them. We talked about, just a few weeks ago, owner’s liability — you need insurance, especially if you’re a trainer, riding instructor, or any of that. You need liability insurance, and then also equine health insurance. People need to be selling those policies and know what those policies entail. You can sell insurance policies to horse owners or companies or all sorts of things — mortality insurance, medical, liability. Insurance agents can make anywhere from $40,000 to $70,000 per year. You need a license in insurance sales — again, depends on the country you’re in and the rules — but you also need knowledge of the equine industry and its risks.

[33:26]

I threw an appraiser in here because it doesn’t quite go with insurance but it’s a similar vein. These are the ones that assess the horse for insurance, sales, any legal cases, or estate settlements. They need to be certified from an equine appraisal program and have experience in the horse industry. They can make $40,000 to $80,000 a year — so, not bad, to look at a horse, know your horses, and make a living from it.

[34:03]

And then just general sales — equine product sales representative. Multiple avenues here: you’re looking at the feed industry, the tack industry — everything involved with horses has sales behind it. They can make $30,000 to $60,000 annually, but they need some sales experience or a strong knowledge of the equine industry and customer needs. If that’s something you want to get involved with, probably start by getting a job at a tack shop, seeing all the products, and meeting the sales reps who travel around the country or region. They check stock, speak to tack shop owners, and are often the vendors at these shows we just talked about. There’s also medical sales — very difficult to get into, but they are out there and pay well. You go and talk to veterinarians about recent medications and such. Sales is huge — everything’s in sales — so sales and marketing go hand in hand.

[35:30]

Okay, so those are some other ones. Now let’s get to training. I’m sure when you thought “equine jobs,” you thought “equine training.” Okay, a horse trainer — that’s a big one. Some horse trainers can make multi-millions. I worked for — I’ve said it in a previous podcast — D. Wayne Lucas, Hall of Fame Thoroughbred trainer, and I’m sure he was quite wealthy. He’s won many, many races in the decades he’s trained horses. He got started as an assistant trainer, and the way I got that job, long story short, was my neighbor in San Diego was his assistant trainer. He got me the job. That assistant trainer later broke off from him, started training his own horses, and had horses in the Kentucky Derby and other big races. They can do very, very well.

[36:27]

But then you have the other side, where you just train some horses for local shows or clients. I had students at the university wanting to be horse trainers, and I don’t think a college degree is really the way to go for that — they’re so expensive these days. I had a lot of students who ended up being horse trainers, but they spent $60,000 to $100,000 getting that undergraduate degree, and I’d say, “You don’t need that to be a horse trainer, really.” A lot of you listening probably train horses and know that. You really just need extensive experience — different training techniques, going to clinics, working with somebody. There are certificates from different training organizations you can go after. And it’s not just racing — it’s show jumping, dressage, general riding — training horses to be ridden and compete.

[37:27]

General salary line is $30,000 to $60,000 a year, on average, but again, some of these trainers do really, really well. You start under somebody else, getting experience. You start mucking stalls — that’s where we all started — getting that basic handling and care down, then work your way up to training your own horses.

[37:58]

Then you have a riding instructor — that could be different, but I know people who do both. A riding instructor gives lessons, from beginners to advanced riders. We all started somewhere; we all had our coaches or teachers when we first got on a horse — those were our riding instructors. They can make $25,000 to $50,000 a year. That’s why people do both — they give lessons while training horses on the side. Again, you need extensive riding experience, usually under another riding instructor, and there are some certificate programs too.

[38:41]

That leads me to therapy, which is one of my favorites. I love the idea of therapeutic riding. There are certificates — this is where you want to be certified, and most people working there are — in equine-assisted therapy, with a background in psychology, counseling, or social work. If you’ve got troubled teens coming to your property for therapeutic riding, you have to recognize certain things. Again, it’s going to depend on where you live in the world, but in physiotherapy, you might not need psychology. This is where you’re using horses as therapy, and you can make $30,000 to $60,000 annually. You can combine jobs — maybe you’re a riding instructor but you love photography, so you do photography on the side, and now you’re making six figures by combining them.

[39:42]

Then this one I thought was interesting — behaviorist, a specialist modifying behavior with horses. It’s not quite training per se; it’s more for troubled horses with anxiety, stress, or aggression. You bring in a specialist to help rehabilitate them with proper behavioral modification techniques. Generally they have degrees in animal behavior or animal psychology, plus experience working with troubled horses. They can make upwards of $70,000 to $80,000 a year.

[40:19]

Then you have your stable manager. Many friends and students I knew at the universities worked as stable managers to help fund their education. I helped friends feed out horses left, right, and center while they were finishing school. Stable managers oversee the daily operations of a stable — horse care, feeding, any staff they supervise, and client relationships with the farm owner.

[40:55]

And then maintenance — you know, fence maintenance — that’s a daily thing, plus everything else. Generally, you want to have experience in horse care and management — you definitely do, because I wouldn’t want a stable manager who didn’t know anything about horses. But also maybe some business management skills, especially if you’re going to own your own stable: charging, taxes, and all that fun stuff. Just some basic business, and then marketing and making sure your name’s out there — your stable manager can do that. At every university I worked at, we always had wonderful stable managers. They can make up to $55,000 a year. At universities, they were doing a little better than that because they were teaching, so if you’re a stable manager, maybe look at a university — if that spot opens up, you can do some teaching on the side and boost that salary.

[41:44]

Then the good old barn and groom. Before I started off my career, this is where I learned a lot. I started off as a barn and stable groom. I was hot-walking horses, feeding horses, holding horses for the farrier, holding horses for the veterinarian, getting horses off and on trailers, and then taking them to the races. Helping them after race care. This is where I learned a lot — and a lot of us start there. It’s daily care for the horses: making sure they’re fed, they have water, they’re groomed, stalls are clean, and general maintenance.

[42:32]

Like I said, with Wayne Lucas, our barn was immaculate. We had a sand mound that we would walk our horses by hand on every day for 45 minutes to an hour each horse. We didn’t use automatic or mechanical walkers — we hand-walked every single horse in that barn. At the end of the day, we raked it up in a certain pattern — I still remember my pattern and still rake the same way all these years later — and then we’d water it down so it looked beautiful. It was just a beautiful, beautiful barn. Salary range is $20,000 to $35,000 annually. For me, it was a summer job — I think I was making minimum wage, but I didn’t care. I was working for an incredible trainer, having incredible experiences, and I learned a lot about horses in that time. This is where you get hands-on experience: you start there, then learn, and move your way up.

[43:40]

Okay, final one — because I could be here all day listing jobs — but I wanted to save this one for last: equine nutritionist. Obviously, Mad Barn is producing this podcast, and we have an incredibly talented team of qualified equine nutritionists, so I want to tip my hat to them. This is a very important job, especially in today’s world. You really need a specialized area of knowledge — not anybody can just go be an equine nutritionist. There’s a lot to consider. And — I love my DVMs, I’ve got to protect them — but many of them do not get general equine nutrition in vet school. Some might get it in undergrad — because we taught them, and I had students in our nutrition courses who later became veterinarians. But equine vets will admit to you — or should admit — how much nutrition research or knowledge they have, because it’s a specialized field that has changed a lot.

[44:55]

Now, a lot of DVMs do go on and get that knowledge — one is Dr. Eleanor Kellon, who works with Mad Barn. We have wonderful DVMs on our team who are equine nutritionists. But then you get nutritionists with master’s degrees or PhDs — these are the ones who have done research or are doing research in equine nutrition. I’m thinking of the Dr. Lori Warrens of the world, and many of my students who came through our programs and went on to do wonderful things. Some became veterinarians after first earning an equine nutrition master’s.

[45:40]

Generally, a bachelor’s — maybe, if they’ve been in the field for a while — but usually it’s a master’s degree or higher in animal science and nutrition, with a focus on equine nutrition. Horses are different from cows and other species, even though there is some overlap. Salary can be $50,000 to $90,000 annually. It’s an excellent field, and if you really want to get into the science of horses, you want to go get a master’s degree or possibly a PhD. Most of the research at major universities in 2024 is going to be focused on equine nutrition. Some do focus on equine welfare; very few focus on equine reproduction anymore — that’s more of a DVM field now. When I came through, I was probably one of the last students to get a PhD in equine reproduction in the US. There are still a few programs out there, but not many — most are now coming out of vet schools.

[46:51]

If you’re looking in Canada, the United States, Australia, or Europe, and you want to get a master’s or PhD, it will probably be in equine nutrition. It’s an incredible field, with incredible opportunities, and it’s a growing industry. You can make more than $90,000 — some professors make six figures, and if you work for a private company, you can make well over six figures.

[47:14]

Okay, so that’s a summary of all the jobs — about 15 of them here. There are probably 60 more I could list, like trailer driving, specialized grooms for horses traveling by air, and so many others. There are millions of people working in the horse industry worldwide — and donkeys too. In the United States alone, 2.2 million jobs support over 7 million horses — and that’s data from last year.

[47:51]

If you want to get involved in the horse industry, you can. There are employment opportunities that match your skills, expertise, and passions. And just to finish this out — not everybody needs a job in the industry. If you want to be involved, most anybody can own and enjoy a horse. It’s one of those fields that is so rewarding, and I encourage any of you with young people — children, young adults, teens — who are thinking about their careers and love horses: have them listen to this podcast. Let them know they can follow their passion. You absolutely can work with these animals for the rest of your life, and I’m a perfect example of that.

[48:44]

So thank you for watching. Just don’t forget to like and subscribe, and keep monitoring this space for more videos to come. Take care.