This week’s letter is B. If you missed last week’s Friday Feature, take a look at Accounting (Equine Business).

It is possible to be a person who breeds horses for a living.  It should be noted however, that a successful breeder needs to be able to:

• Cater to a niche market – there needs to be a demand for what is being bred
• Support financially the cost of keeping mares, foals, young stock and/or stallions
• Have somewhere to keep a number of horses
• Be patient – it takes 12 months to breed a mare and generate a foal and even longer to sell the progeny
• Turn out the sale horses to a high standard or pay for someone else to do so, so that they’re presented well to potential buyers

An awareness of a mare’s reproductive cycle, and how to care for her during pregnancy and feed her appropriately are important.  If owning stallions, knowledge of live covers and/or artificial insemination as well as appropriate training and handling of entire horses is also vital.

If you plan to breed horses, but only provide the financial backing, then you’ll need to find an appropriate property (stud) on which to keep the horses and will be charged for the staff knowledge and experience with regards to the care of stud horses, breeding fees and agistment costs.

For posts that relate to this area of work on Equus-Blog, take a look at:

• Breeding for a Niche Market
• Breeding for the Season
• The Equitainer
• Przewalski’s Preservation
• Working from Home

“Breed the best to the best and hope for the best.” – Breeder’s axiom

This week’s letter is H.  If you missed last week’s Friday Feature, take a look at Graphic Design.

Today we’re looking at horse sitting as a potential income earner.  A horse sitter may have a varied list of tasks to carry out whilst being employed to look after someone else’s horses.  Often they are utilised when a property owner needs to be away on business or holidays for an extended period of time.  We all know horses don’t stop eating and drinking whilst we’re on holidays!

Tasks may include:

• Checking horses daily
• Checking fencelines and water sources
• Feeding horses
• Carrying out basic first aid or contacting a veterinarian after consulting with the property owner

If you run a property with stock, it is important to know that they are being cared for whilst you’re away.  This is where the services of a horse sitter may come in.  Often the jobs are short term and will require a number of clients to be consistently in work.

Other posts of interest may include:

• Creating Unique Equine Services
• Horse Sitting

“Keep one leg on one side, the other leg on the other side, and your mind in the middle.” – Henry Taylor