I recently wrote about Horsi, an online social networking site for horse owners and businesses in Australia.  Kate Majors, the founder had kindly answered some questions about what she does.

How much of your day/week is related to horses?
I spend time with my daughter’s two ponies every day.  Actually the highlight of my day is to see their happy faces waiting patiently in their stable for breakfast each morning. I’m also lucky enough to indulge my passion of horses through Horsi each and every day. Seeing the stories of riders and horses which are being added to the site on a daily basis warms my heart.

What is it exactly that you do?
I spend my days designing and implementing new ideas for Horsi, to make it the best social networking site for horse lovers in Australia. We have big plans for the future of Horsi and it takes considerable time to guide and expand the business.

There is no point doing what we are doing without delivering our users the best possible experience.  So I also spend time gaining information from people who are using the site and then communicating with our development team to give our users exactly what they want.

In this field of work, is it possible to be a full time professional and earning a liveable income?
It is definitely possible to make a good income from website development or online publishing, but most people “test the waters” while still working in a full-time job. The trick is to find a niche market and to ensure you’re creating something that people really want.

What are the general steps taken to be employed in such a role?
My background, which has led me to founding Horsi, is a combination of my undying passion for horses and my considerable internet business experience. In my pre-business life I rode showjumping horses at world cup level and represented Australia, which has given me an understanding of the dedication and the level of passion people have for their horses and our sport.

Favourite horse memory?
My favourite horse memory would be spending time with my golden oldie showjumping horses, Jimmy and Vita in their retirement. They won many ribbons, but having them enjoy their golden years being kept in the manner they deserved, makes me smile every time I think about them.

Future goals?
My goal for Horsi, is to showcase equestrian sport in Australia. We have so many wonderful horses and riders and they deserve to be given the spotlight. We will continue to work tirelessly to deliver a first class social networking site to promote our sport.

Who makes up the team at Horsi?
We have a wonderful team of people at Horsi. Jade wears many hats, which includes marketing, social communications, supporting our Horsi Ambassador’s and writing. Steve (aka Husband) manages our accounts and assists in future planning, Joanne updates Horsi with new content. Shoaib is our Graphic Designer and then we also have a team of developers working continuously on improving Horsi.

Best thing about your sport/profession?
I believe the best thing about our sport is that men and women of all ages can enjoy it. People can ride at 3 or 73.  It’s very special to to be able to participate in your chosen sport for such a large part of your life.

Claire Galer of Derriere Equestrian was kind enough to answer some questions about her profession.

How much of your day/week is related to horses?
The majority of the week! My husband is an Equine Veterinary Surgeon & I am an Equine Physiotherapist, come Equine Lingerie Entrepreneur! Our home is the base for our Equine Veterinary Hospital and Rehabilitation Centre, we therefore live, eat & breath horses.

Our children have ponies, my husband rides his beautiful Warmblood Duke and I compete at Affiliated Dressage when time permits. However with the success & growth of Derriere Equestrian, I have temporarily hung up the competition boots!

What is it exactly that you do?
Having worked my entire career with horses as both Equine Nutritionist and Equine Physiotherapists, spanning 25 years, I now find my career has taken a different turn. Working with riders for many years, assessing rider performance, symmetry and much more brought about the advent of Derriere Equestrian.

Seeing a gap in the market globally for quality, effective, attractive underwear for horse riders was the first step. Development, design and bringing to market our product range was the next step. My position now and day to day work life sees me working as Managing Director of our International Equestrian Underwear Business and maintaining my role managing the Veterinary Clinic and HR within the team.

Day to day business life encompasses everything from: product development, design, figures, sales, marketing and leading our team forward to a successful future, with continued growth across the world. The work is primarily office based, however also requires travel to our production and design teams in Italy and Tunisia, supporting our retailers through staff training and exhibitions support. Our focus to our trade buyers sees the business exhibit at many International Trade Exhibitions, our key events being: SPOGA Horse twice a year at Koelnmesse in Cologne, Germany, BETA International in the UK and AETA Trade Show in the USA. So business does involve a great deal of European and International travel.

In this field of work, is it possible to be a full time professional and earning a liveable income?
Yes without a doubt, Derriere Equestrian is more than full time and has a rapidly growing international team. We have a small office based team here in the UK at our HQ, a growing workforce through subcontracted work and Team Agents working with us in all European Countries and further afield Internationally.

There certainly are not enough hours in the day! After 2 years in design, prototyping and performance testing, we are delighted to be launching our Equestrians Sports Bra “The DE Sportief” at SPOGA Horse 4th – 6th September, the demand is high and we see our team expansion will continue as a result of this, so a busy launch period ahead.

What are the general steps taken to be employed in such a role?
My career has followed a strong medical , veterinary and anatomical background; training as a Registered General Nurse, followed by studying for and graduating from my BSc(Hons) Equine Science Degree in 1997, then later completing my physio training.

Having worked for International Feed Company Dodson & Horrell for the foundations of my career, I was given a great taste for business, sales and marketing. My family are a strong business minded family, with many driven entrepreneurs! My mother worked as a dress designer for her entire career, so this has been a huge help to bring the creativity to the forefront with the Derriere Equestrian project.

Favourite horse memory?
At the age of 8 my family moved from Belfast in Northern Ireland to the countryside of Herefordshire, within a week our local farmer appeared down the drive leading a small chestnut pony on the end of some bailer twine. He handed said pony “Rosie” to my father and said “You now live in the country and should have a pony” This is where it all started and that memory will stay with me forever.

Future goals?
Future business goals are to see Derriere Equestrian continue to grow and support riders with our world leading Equestrian Apparel Garments. Our product range is expanding, our retailers growth has been so accelerated, the work is so rewarding. Our product range is set to roll out across all sporting disciplines.  I am just so proud to have developed such a fantastic business model. On a personal level, future goals are many! High on the priority list is: time with my beautiful family and watching my children grow to live happy, successful, content lives.

Best thing about your sport/profession?
Achieving satisfaction in my work to support riders around the world, seeing the harmony between every horse and rider we work with #TwoHearts.  Also, having designed and brought to market a revolutionary, innovative product that has changed so many riders’ lives for the better.

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Jane Myers was kind enough to answer some questions about the work that she and Stuart carry out with Equiculture.  Check out their answers!

How much of your day/week is related to horses?
All of our working week is related to horses, we live and breath horses every day, although we no longer own horses as we are travelling, delivering our talks around the world.

What is it exactly that you do?
We (Equiculture) teach horse owners about sustainable horsekeeping practices (I was one of the speakers at The Sustainable Equine Conference at Nottingham Trent University recently for example). We now work between Australia and the UK, I spend about four months in Australia and Stuart six months.

We provide a one day or half day talk on the subject of sustainable, environmentally friendly horse/lan.d management. This talk gives participants up to date facts about some of the most important issues of our time. This talk encompasses the latest information about sustainability, soil loss, clean water etc. but also includes the latest information about equine obesity management (particularly in relation to pasture).

I (Jane) also coach rider biomechanics, you can find out more about that on www.horseridersmechanic.com.

In this field of work, is it possible to be a full time professional and earning a liveable income?
It is difficult – but possible. We have had to sacrifice many things, but we love the flexibility of our work. If we had family ties, such as children, it would be much more difficult.

What are the general steps taken to be employed in such a role?
I have an MSc Equine Science ( I specialised in Grazing Behaviour) and Stuart is a people person (he has a degree in Youth Work and he worked in that field for many years before working for our own business – Equiculture). Our combined equine and human qualifications and experience has allowed us to develop our unique business.

Favourite horse memory?
I have so many… riding on the beach is one.

Future goals?
To get our message out to more people – on a TV show would be good!

Best thing about your sport/profession?
It allows women to get out and do things that they might not otherwise.

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Belinda Bailey is involved in the equine education industry in a few different areas.  She teachers others in all of these facets.  She has kindly taken the time to answer some questions about her horse related career.

How much of your day/week is related to horses?
30 – 40 hours a week

What is it exactly that you do?
I am an Equestrian Coach and Coach Educator.  I also work as a part time TAFE Teacher of Equine and Agriculture Courses

In this field of work, is it possible to be a full time professional and earning a liveable income?
Yes it is definitely possible to make a comfortable living in the Equine Industry.

What are the general steps taken to be employed in such a role?
Vast riding and competition experience and success to a National and International level in Eventing, with success in many other sports including, dressage, camp drafting, polocrosse, endurance riding and showjumping.

Level, and study and completion of Coach Qualifications, and other National Qualifications in the Equestrian, Risk and Safety and Assessing areas.

Favourite horse memory?
Too many favourite memories with wonderful horses over the years to point one single memory out.  It would be unfair to the rest.

Future goals?
Goals are to deliver quality education and provide a positive environment for learning.  Another is to enable people to be successful in the Equine Industry.

Best thing about your sport/profession?
The best things about the Horse Industry is that it is a very healthy environment requiring quite a lot of exercise.  Also, you meet some fantastic people and develop life long partnerships with one of the nicest animals on earth.

“The horse, with beauty unsurpassed, strength immeasurable and grace unlike any other, still remains humble enough to carry a man upon his back.” – Amber Senti

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Trisha Dingle of Race2Ring Equine Rehab & Egyptian Rose Sport Horses was kind enough to answer some questions about her profession.  Read below for her answers!  Also, if you take a look at the website, volunteering is a possibility and educational days are held.

How much of your day/week is related to horses?
Nearly my entire day is equine related – I’d say overall a minimum of 75%, closer to 90% of my week is horse related

What is it exactly that you do?
I am a professional horse trainer. I manage a 501c-3 non-profit equine rescue and rehabilitation facility. In addition I keep a small personal show string of Arabian sport horses.

In this field of work, is it possible to be a full time professional and earning a liveable income?
Yes it is, but it takes a lot of work and thinking outside of the box. In order to maintain my personal horses I also work as a consultant for a health and nutritional company.

What are the general steps taken to be employed in such a role?
No matter when you start working with horses, one should spend as much time learning all aspects of equine care and training. I continue to take riding lessons with other professionals.  And I attend as many educational opportunities as I can on all aspects of equine care. Ideally you should spend time in a quality working student program in the breed/discipline you prefer.

There are some wonderful equestrian schools for post high-school education, however one must be cautious to be open to additional learning as there are so many advances in equine care and management that aren’t always covered in school. It is highly advisable to take business and management courses as well.

Favourite horse memory?
Too many to pick one… from my very first pony who ignited my love of horses, to the birth of my long awaited upper level prospect, to winning a national title with my stallion after a long battle with his health, to helping countless “throwaway horses” find their forever homes with people who love them.

Future goals?
To help even more forgotten horses have a new lease on life; to educate the average horse owner on proper horse management and care; to continue to train my personal horses to the highest level of their sport while maintaining and strengthening the bonds and connection we already share; to prove to the general public that show ring success CAN be achieved without resorting to drugs or harsh training methods.

Best thing about your sport/profession?
Waking up every day to a job I love!