It occurred to me that the cheapest horse related businesses to set up are the services that you can take to other people without having to invest too much in tools – massage, farriery and equine dentistry. One that I hadn’t really considered came to mind yesterday and that’s providing a high turnout service in relation to shows.
There are people that attend shows and provide the service of competition presentation – washing, clipping, plaiting up and grooming horses before they are put into classes. It is possible to receive a reasonable sum per horse but it takes considerable time to prepare a horse for a show.
To be able to provide this service you’d need to:
– have your own set of clippers
– be familiar with the different types of clips for horses
– know how to pull manes/tails and trim bridle paths
– be familiar with plaiting
– know how to braid and do rosettes
– be good at grooming
– be comfortable with a number of different types of horses with varied dispositions.
Perhaps you’ve had a lot of practice due to competing your own horse or helping friends get ready. If so and you’re looking for a way to do something with horses and earn something while doing so, then maybe competition preparation is the way to go. If experienced in the area, it’s a service/business that could be started with the need for little capital. Just enough to get some clippers and grooming equipment.
For a horse to trust you, you must trust the horse.
tag: shows, competition, show preparation, grooming horses
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Good idea. I like the quotes at the end of each post.
I don’t know…from my experiance sometimes people who hire a show prep service are not the nicest in the world. They can be a touch demanding and often have no clue how hard it is to work with there horse. I was helping my trainer out with her horse and in the asile over a lady had scheduled an appointment with someone to bathe and braid and the person never showed up. This woman was very wealthy and the trainer was going to ride the horse and she was in a bind with 30 min to go and very gross horse. My trainer told me to go…it was easy fast money. The woman was up my butt the whole time telling me her life story. I tried to turn it into a teachable moment and show her how easy it was to to braid…but no…she didn’t care. And every time I would bump, tap, push her precious she would get mad. She ended up giving me $20 for all my hard work. I am not an 8 year old…I thought I was being cheap when I said $60 for the whole thing before I started. She must not have heard that. The trainer came and asked who she used because her horses braids looked better then normal. She didn’t even remeber my name…I was refered to as “some lady who was mean to (insert horses name here)”. sigh. no more show prep for me.
I do know a friend that braids and she just puts her sign up at the show grounds and people call. She makes hundreds every weekend!