Can you make a living from Freelance Grooming

[sjdress]

Hi All,

As title really. Can you make a living from being a Freelance groom? Is anyone doing it or have experience of it?
What do potential customers expect of you?
Any advise/Experience appriciated.

 

[becca1305]

It depends what you include in grooming; if schooling and teaching too you would be more likely to be able to make more money. Theoretically could you make a living from it? probably. I would recommend finding livery yards or riding schools or competition yards to freelance to as unfortunately in my experience (teaching) individuals let you down on a regular basis. Can you make a good living out of it? realistically probably not so it really depends what your priorities are. The issue you will also be facing as a freelance groom is the never ending hordes of NVQ equine students who emerge from college desperate for work and consequentially available at a low wage to those who do not need vast experience for the job they are offering. The other issue is that many of these younger applicants are supported by the government who will pay part of their wage making them even more desirable to the employer. Sorry if its a little negative but I hope this helps it really is very difficult to make a good living out of horses!

 

[planete]

You can. But you need to be highly skilled and to build a reputation for being top-notch at the job. The private owners of high class horses who keep them at home often only want help for a few hours a week and for competition days. It helps if you are in a wealthy area as well. I used to do it around Liphook in Hampshire. Work varied from show jumpers to dressage and show horses. I also used to house sit. I did ok and it was fun but it is not a way to get rich.