What jobs fit around horses?

[JCbruce]

What jobs do people have around horses?

Currently I work in an office, it’s nice dry i work 8.30-4.30 however I am not the biggest fan of the sales aspect. I also miss being outside.

I have a BSc in biological sciences and previous experience working in a veterinary lab but the pay in this was very poor. I used to be head girl on a yard but was on about £3 an hour.

I’m trying to understand what jobs people do around horses which suits hours wise and pay wise.

 

[SantaVera]

Postie, dinner lady,cleaner,self employed physio/chiropractor.

 

[Spotherisk]

Driving instructor. Parish clerk (wfh).

 

[BMA2]

Mistress?

 

[JCbruce]

Postie, dinner lady,cleaner,self employed physio/chiropractor.

I’d like to be physio but I already have a BSc and student loan so wouldn’t be able to do another

 

[poiuytrewq]

Postie, dinner lady,cleaner,self employed physio/chiropractor.

And you have time for horses!

 

[Abacus]

Something either with flexible hours, or a good amount of working from home. The flexible hours might enable you to start or finish early and so look after and ride your horse at the start or end of the day. Personally I work from home apart from the odd trip overseas (about once every 2 months) and by having the horses very close to home I can fit them in during the day. And you might find a service industry type job that pays well enough to afford them. What industry are you in now?

 

[Jambarissa]

Do you mean that fit around horses or involve being around horses?

I have an office job but work from home and I control my own hours so it fits well for me. It's probably the holy frail and hard to find but they do exist, I do have a much lower salary than i could have somewhere with less flexibility.

If you mean working around horses, at the 'you don't necessarily need qualifications end' you have massage therapists, willy washers, plenty of instructors (particularly in natural horsemanship), sports coaches, clipping, groom, schooling or remedial riding, dealing and lots of people who will take your money to speak to your horse or read his aura.

Then professions which will need varying levels of training including saddle fitter, physio, dentist, farrier, vet.

 

[poiuytrewq]

I do office work from home for a small one man band business. I book and invoice his work, liaise with estate agents. Apart obviously the estate agencies are only office hours I can mostly do it as and when so I work loads of it’s raining and ride or poo pick quickly whilst it’s dry. It is absolutely perfect. Sadly just not really enough hours so I also do hours on a small livery yard a few times a week and a racing yard at weekends

 

[JCbruce]

Something either with flexible hours, or a good amount of working from home. The flexible hours might enable you to start or finish early and so look after and ride your horse at the start or end of the day. Personally I work from home apart from the odd trip overseas (about once every 2 months) and by having the horses very close to home I can fit them in during the day. And you might find a service industry type job that pays well enough to afford them. What industry are you in now?

Life sciences recruitment

 

[BMA2]

Would be a shame to not use your qualifications...

When you did your degree was there a particular job/career you had in mind

 

[JCbruce]

Would be a shame to not use your qualifications...

When you did your degree was there a particular job/career you had in minds

A teacher but now I couldn’t think of anything worse

 

[HappyHollyDays]

A teacher but now I couldn’t think of anything worse

How about tutoring? There are plenty of kids who need extra chemistry, maths, biology and physics in the year before exams. None of the red tape apart from getting your vetting and it would be evening and holiday times to suit you.

 

[LEC]

Civil service is great. I start at 7:30am and finish at 3:30/4pm as that’s my choice but will work later in winter to ride etc. Use flexi time for horse appointments or my lunch hour. Work at home 2 days a week. I often use flexi for leaving early to go off and have lessons. It’s probably the best job I have had round horses and had a fair few.

 

[JCbruce]

How about tutoring? There are plenty of kids who need extra chemistry, maths, biology and physics in the year before exams. None of the red tape apart from getting your vetting and it would be evening and holiday times to suit you.

Not reliable enough for a mortgage unfortunately

 

[Ahrena]

I’m a police officer. Currently work either 7-4 or 12-9 but we usually get sent home about half an hour early. Obviously need someone to bring in on lates but gives me mornings to ride in winter and for appointments. Also work a couple of weekends a month which gives me weekdays for appointments.

Looking to move into a new department in the next couple of years which will be 7-3 mon-fri or 7-4 but 9 day fortnight.

It was hard when I was new as worked a full range of shifts with a lot of overtime. Now I rarely work overtime, it’s much easier and my salary has increased significantly so we’re relatively comfortable.

I have scope to do probably up to a day from home a week but I don’t as I only live 10 minutes away and it’s a nice atmosphere to work in.

 

[teapot]

Civil service is great. I start at 7:30am and finish at 3:30/4pm as that’s my choice but will work later in winter to ride etc. Use flexi time for horse appointments or my lunch hour. Work at home 2 days a week. I often use flexi for leaving early to go off and have lessons. It’s probably the best job I have had round horses and had a fair few.

Agree re CS, but I'd always say you need to find the right job/department. Not all are as flexible as others - finishing at 4pm wasn't an option most days in my previous role due to operational demands.

 

[Slightlyconfused]

I work in an office, byr have two days a week i can wfh and they can be split so try and do four afternoons at home and as i work from 8:30 till 4:30pm it means i am not fighting traffic getting to the farm. As when i am in the office leaving at 4:30 means i dont get to yard until about 5:20/5:30 depending on traffic and if the M1 is bad near Hemel. As the traffic will funnel down the road I go.

I also have an understanding manager and can make up time for emergency vets etc

 

[Haphazardhacker]

Civil service , I work 7-3 most days and wfh officially two days a week but the office is only 10 minutes away anyway so no biggie to go in plus office is close to a tack shop so it actually helps me to go in when I need feed etc. In winter whether I am in the office or at home I usually take my lunch a bit later and then use my lunch to get to the yard and bring them in then carry on working for a bit as I have WiFi at the yard. I try build up enough flexi to cover any things that may pop up too. It couldn’t be any more ideal for me to be fair and my manager is very supportive.

 

[Orangehorse]

I've known people become teachers to fit around horses. They were Pony Club instructors too.

Agree that working for the local Council or Civil Service type job means that you can usually arrange some flexibility in the hours worked.

I hesitate to say the NHS, knowing the stresses and strains - but having two relatives working in the NHS, the conditions of employment are pretty good compared to private employers.

I have known nurses and ambulance personnel managed to be very flexible around their horses, competitions, etc.

As for the £3.00 working as a groom, hopefully those days are over.

 

[dorsetladette]

I'm a finance and purchasing manager for a manufacturing company. The workshop is open 7-6 everyday so the offices are the same. I generally work 8-4 and 8-1 on a Fri. But I can start at 7 and finish at 3. Or pop out for vet visits (jabs etc) and make the time up in the week. I don't think it's necessary about finding the right job, more about finding the right boss. Mine does question at all as he trusts we all do our jobs properly. It's taken a while to get to this stage though, he's had some pretty bad staff previous so the trust/respect has been difficult to earn.

 

[superpony]

I am a primary school teacher.. great for fitting around the horses and the holidays are amazing to fit lots of horsey things in!

As mentioned above, I am also a BHS coach and teach at PC in the summer at camp. I enjoy it and get to combine my skills/qualifications in one along with a bit of extra money!

 

[Snow Falcon]

I was going to say teacher but you need a bravery award for entering the teaching profession now I think!!

I'm a LSA and Forest School leader. The hours work brilliantly around horses.

 

[Kaylum]

Whatever career you choose look at the benefits. Pension contributions, sick pay, holidays, pay progression as well as flexible working. You only think about them when you need them.

 

[Spotherisk]

I became a driving instructor to fit around my horse

 

[santas_spotty_pony]

I’m a courier. I really enjoy it and I chose it because of the flexible hours having always worked with horses all my adult life up until two years ago. I was desperately in need of a career change bur was unsure what I wanted to do but my biggest ‘must’ was that I needed to be able to do the horses without restrictions… especially in the winter. I can choose my own hours and work as little or as many days as I want, the pay is quite good and I am never further than half an hour away if I need to get back. I’m living comfortably off working 4 hours 3-4 times per week at the moment to give you an idea. I am lucky that I do not have to pay livery though as horses are at home.

 

[Pearlsacarolsinger]

A teacher but now I couldn’t think of anything worse

I understand your pov but the job does lend itself to owning horses. The salary isn't bad and except for actual school hours you can usually organise your own work around the horses, especially during the school holidays

 

[SO1]

I think there is a lot of luck involved with horse keeping.

It also depends on how much you want to ride in the winter and how you keep your horses and how much help you have.

The main issues revolve around flexibility for equine professional appointments as most equine professionals work normal Monday to Friday hours. Some appointments can be booked in advance to be scheduled with AL.

Any job which requires business travel or a lot of meetings may be more difficult because this makes it harder to get time off at short notice and deal with emergencies. I would also avoid customer service roles as they often require fixed hours and harder to find cover at short notice so more grumpy boss if you suddenly need a day off and they need to get someone to cover you.

Website coding, video editing, graphic design, possibly accountancy are things that might be able to be done with flexible hours. Friend worked in a warehouse 4pm till 1am left whole day free for any equine appointments and riding. BIL works for Morrisons as delivery driver shifts are 7-3pm or 3pm till 11pm. If you had a horse that lived out that could work quite well as you would have daylight time on both shifts most of the year and either shift would be ok for vet, saddler, physio, farrier as you have some time free within 9-5. Catch in would be difficult on both shifts though if in at night if DIY.

As mentioned on another thread horse keeping has become increasingly expensive especially if your horse ends up needing vet treatments. So salary may also need to be taken into account. You need to earn enough as you mentioned to pay your mortgage but also enough to be able to pay for what your horse may need. If you plan to be the type of owner who will keep a horse into old age then many old horses get arthritis and or Cushings which can require daily medication or treatments so even if you were lucky to not need vet for anything when the horse was younger you might still have costs in later years.

 

[Michen]

I'm in sales and work remotely from home probably 70% of the time. It's still a lot of work to juggle various appointments with horses, with work calls etc but I make it happen with a little creativity! My role is not 9-5, which means I can adjust and schedule my hours (mostly) accordingly. Sometimes that means I start work later and work later. Obviously the travel can be limiting, but generally I know fairly far in advance.

 

[rara007]

I work nights at an emergency small animal vets