Groom – a career choice or a lifestyle?

A groom – is it a career choice or is it a lifestyle choice?

2024

If we were to define it simply,  being a groom is a lifestyle rather than a career choice.

What exactly to we mean by lifestyle ?

It is how you desire to live. It’s who you desire to connect with.  It’s how you choose to share yourself and your resources.   

Take stock of what you want from life therefore.  Working with horses can be so rewarding but there are times when it is really hard work and cold and miserable and muddy and well – just not easy.  There are other times when it is beyond rewarding and the joy of working closely with horses makes you feel loved and happy.

Life as a groom is not particularly beneficial in the financial sense.   Anyone entertaining this as a lifestyle career path should be aware of this.  Invariably a ‘lifestyle career path’ is used to describe a life which does not suggest much in the way of financial gain.  Instead a lifestyle career provides a personal choice of lifestyle and sometimes that lifestyle provides very limited funds.  It is a lifestyle choice because the person does not feel the need for huge financial gain in their life.

The foundation groom is perhaps the groom we see most often in our daily lives.    The foundation grooms are those we see in the local riding school or the livery yard and equestrian centres in our own areas.   The hours are long, there is a good deal of manual labour involved and the pay is not great – it is usually set at minimum wage although some grooms may get more. Riding horses may or may not be part of a grooms day.

The statement below taken from the BHS website ‘career pathway’, misses out one sector of the industry which employs hundreds if not thousands of qualified foundation grooms in the UK – the Livery Yard sector.  It could argued however that  ‘managing an extensive equestrian business’ could conceivably include all the smaller livery yards as well.

“  Working with horses is a lifestyle choice and this is particularly prevalent in a groom’s career”

They go on to tell us 

“Career opportunities are diverse, from working for professional riders or becoming a groom in a stud yard, to riding schools or managing an extensive equestrian business. Each groom will find a niche which suits them”. 

https://www.bhs.org.uk/careers-recreational-awards/become-a-groom/groom-pathway/

The career path for the average (foundation) groom can be quite limited, at the top of the tree are the competition grooms.  These we see on television handling the top international competition horses for their owners.  However the majority of grooms in this country are rarely able achieve that level of involvement.  There are simply not enough positions available.