I have recently been reading Simple Money, Rich Life by Bob Lotich. So far, I absolutely love this book and what is is explaining and encouraging! Now, whilst it is not a horse focused book at all, I believe aspects of it can be applied to your horse career journey.

How so? One chapter encourages readers to keep learning and honing their craft. To get paid the best, to be sought out, you have to be someone who is willing to keep learning and improving. Whatever you plan to do with horses, you can improve on skills and knowledge that may better your chances for future jobs and career growth.

I just love horses and read as much as I can to learn about them. I also take opportunities to learn new skills. When first working in the thoroughbred industry, any chance I got to view a foaling (or do night watch), medicate a horse (thus learning oral medications, intramuscular injections, subcutaneous injections and even intravenous injections), hold a mare for teasing or cover, I jumped at it!

In time I became a skilled worker who was known for their enthusiasm and growing skills. I couldn’t get enough! And consequently, I was never out of stud work, even if I moved between studs to gain different experiences and skills.

Whilst a full time stud hand, I started a blog (this blog) about horse careers. That lead to an unexpected phone call and an offer to teach equine studies. This is now my career that supports myself and my family with four children!

Through my love of reading, I have picked up on some grammatical errors in horse books – or incorrect information. I have reached out to authors and notified them, in case they wanted to update their book and correct the errors. (No pressure to them, just information they can choose what to do with).

In time this has led to being paid for some editing of books and even recently, being approached to edit a non-horse book because of my ‘keen eye’ and easy way to work with. What lovely feedback! I assisted this self-published author with reading their book and providing feedback for edits. You can view it live on Amazon – note the editor! 😀

Do all you can to improve your skills and develop new ones. And especially be keen to take on opportunities as they’re provided to you! Who knows what your future horse job will be? My current one combines:

• my passion for horses,
• my interest in reading and writing,
• the ability to help others learn about horses and get a horse qualification and career
• online resource development

It is an incredible combination of my skills and passions.

Consider what micro skills you could learn or improve on in 2024. For your dream job, what skills or knowledge would make you invaluable?

• Would knowing what a mare in season looks like? Or how to assist a mare that is having a difficult foaling?
• What about being able to promote an equestrian business online and run social media marketing?
• Or would you be of more value to a future employer because you can negotiate with people and delegate tasks well?

Take some time to consider a few skills that you can research online, learn more about and develop. Perhaps you may even find some in the education or free resource categories on this site!