For some people, horses are a way of life from the very beginning: their mothers or fathers ride, horses are a part of the every day routine – showing, competitions or equine events are a regular occurrence and that can sway a young person toward or away from the equestrian industry. On the other side of the coin, there are the children who grow up animal obsessed, but horses are just that little bit out of reach, maybe a donkey ride or a visit to a family friends horse once in a blue moon.
Among the mix of “horsey” and not, there are children with horses running through their veins. The fascination with horses is an awe and obsession that is unaware of your background, upbringing, or financial situation.
As we grow older and begin to decide how to navigate the world through qualifications and careers, some children dream of a life surrounded by horses or animals, but education and guidance into those industries can be quite lacking. It is this gap that can leave them choosing another path. Longing for horses, and a career and life entwined with them, is seemingly just a little out of reach.
A familiar story about a girl at a riding school…
My own experience is that I was in the latter of those two descriptions, my dad used to slog it to the local riding school every Sunday when I was little to fulfill my need to be around horses. My family were not animal orientated and when it came to the time of choosing a path through education I was steered away from horses as “there’s no earning money with animals”.
It was absolutely not their fault, as even now the odds are stacked against professions with animals due to knowledge gate keeping. My choices were made based upon what I believed I could enjoy and also gain a satisfactory income from.
By no means am I saying I did not enjoy my education, but would I have been happier if it was working towards a career in the equestrian industry? Well, we all know the answer to that one!
Once I graduated, I didn’t once use my degree. I worked in sales, then moved into the construction industry, and worked my way up to positions of management over the years. The experiences from these roles were all extremely valuable and I have always taken my jobs seriously, as once I was financial able to, I loaned a horse and then eventually bought her. This helped take the edge off that niggling feeling of missing an opportunity, wanting something more. Moving through my career, and throwing COVID into the mix, I felt I wanted to broaden my horsey horizons, so bought a second horse – my inner five year old was thriving.

How to turn that passion into an equestrian career?
With no connections into the equestrian industry other than working as a freelance occasional groom, I would trawl Equine Careers website of an evening. However, with no experience or equine specific qualifications, I never dared to apply. Who would hire the Contract Manager, with qualifications in marketing?
Then along came my little girl, which for those of you who have experienced this, your world is turned upside down – in the best possible way of course! The time away from the hustle and bustle of work life, teamed with the incredible task of childcare, meant I was now at home, full time.
I decided this was it, this was my opportunity to change the course of my career. I set up as a freelance marketing agent, to make use of my educational background. This did fill a slight hole, as I felt like my time at university was not a total waste. However, I was still longing to somehow pull this into an equestrian role.
So, what do you do when you have left school, have a degree already, and would like to totally change career path? Google how to do it, of course! Which was a very quick, lackluster endeavor. All my avenues were stopped with lack of funding (I already have a degree) or little, to no clue on how to approach as a ‘mature student’.
I knew my goal, I wanted to become an Equine Nutritionist, however the path was just one dead end after another. My location and the timing were in my favour however, as within a 20 minute drive to my home Myerscough College is nestled into the countryside – and they were due to have their opening/ careers day – some call it fate, I believe?
I like to be a little optimistic but this felt like the universe was slapping me in the face with the opportunity. Now, I know you may be thinking ‘why did you not think to check there before?’ – I had trawled their website, but wanted to do the old fashioned ‘sit and talk to someone properly’.
So I did, and explained my whole story. Unfortunately, night classes or part time degree courses were not always offered for the avenue I was chasing, but before all was lost, I was directed to The Open College of Equine Studies. This is basically The Open University for all things horsey. Despite my desperate Googling, I had never come across them!
Off I dashed to the laptop to investigate, there it was, the entire path mapped out including finances, and all remote. I had found it, the unicorn of qualifications was in my reach! Later in the month, another night spent trawling Equine Careers for a role close to home, and it came up – Marketing Co-Ordinator at Supplement Solutions, 15 minutes from my house.
Thank you, universe!
When I tell you I have never applied for a job faster in my life, the closing date was midnight, it was 10pm and I applied that fast, I forgot to update the contact number on my CV. I had everything crossed. A few days later, I get an email from Hannah Wild – ‘can we have a quick phone chat?’
Once we fixed my admin error of the contact number (and I had kicked myself multiple times) I paced around the outdoor arena, trying my best not to fluff up my wording. I made it through to interview stage! Despite the childcare issues, and the lack of equine qualifications, Hannah still wanted to interview little old me.
The day of the interview it was scorching sunshine – I completed the interview, and was made to feel so at home, the longing for this opportunity had grown tenfold.
Whilst carrying on my normal little life, I was on the way to playgroup, parked outside when I receive a phone call – Hannah Wild. Staring and in blind panic, I answer, half expecting to be politely disappointed, let down and spend the next few days feeling flat.
“We would like to offer you the opportunity”
Of course, I was flustered, I just kept thanking Hannah repeatedly and giggling like a total idiot. This was it, the opportunity I had longed for, a business where I felt so welcomed, with like minded people, fifteen minutes from my front door – mainly based around horses!
Every day working at Supplement Solutions feels as though I’m cheating, but then they do say, find a job you enjoy and you will never work a day in your life.
Gaining access into this industry for those who skirt around the edges just glimpsing in, can seem so daunting. It often feels like it’s an elite club where opportunities are only for those within. If you are wanting to change profession to a medical based role, education is there to be taken in abundance, with funding. For the mature student wanting to redo their degree in advertising and become a project manager, the help is there for them to do so.
For those at school ready to start their equine education, to those in college who want to change direction and work with horses, to the working adults wanting to get out of their industry and retrain for an equestrian career, keep going, there are doors you can open.
Our industry can seem closed off to those wanting to knock on the door, however there is a change coming. Unless we help drive the change, those little five year old children’s dreams will simply stay exactly that, just a dream.
