When you’re a teenager or kid who rides horses, people tend to ask the same questions: Do you want to be a trainer? How would you do that? What are you going to do with horses when you grow up? I am writing this series to explore careers myself, and also hopefully help any young equestrians who are exploring how they can make horses part of their adult lives or careers. The horse industry is a tough place to get started in, and I have chosen business owners and people who have taken not such easy routes, built something themselves, or gotten creative with how they’ve incorporated a love of horses into their professional lives.

There are so many careers in the horse world that never make it onto the typical career-day list. Owning a barn, training horses, breeding, managing a facility, teaching lessons, and somehow keeping an entire farm running are all full-time careers- and Mindy Taylor has managed to build a life around all of them.

Mindy is the owner of Winding Oaks Equestrian Center, a primarily jumper-focused show barn in Brooksville, FL. I wanted to learn more about how she got started, what it actually takes to run a farm, how she approaches breeding and young horses, and what she wishes she had known before turning horses into her career.

How did you first get involved with horses?

Mindy’s answer goes back to her family. Her mom and aunt had horses when they were younger, and her aunt made sure Mindy and her cousin were in the saddle from a very young age.

She grew up in the Midwest riding recreationally and eventually became more involved in the hunter/jumper world during high school. Through a work-study program, she worked at a hunter/jumper barn throughout high school and stayed there for a while after graduating. During those years, she also bought a couple of weanlings from a breeder and spent her extra time training them.

After taking some time away from horses while raising her kids, Mindy moved to Florida and eventually got back into horses with her son, Porter.

What was your path from being a horse lover to making horses your career?

Interestingly, becoming a farm owner and business operator wasn’t really the plan. Mindy and her family bought 70 acres in Brooksville with a four-stall barn. They would bring their horses up on weekends, camp, and ride ATVs. It was a place for their horses, not a business.

That changed when the farm they were boarding at in Lutz sold to developers and all of the clients were forced to leave. Mindy and her son moved with their trainer to another farm, but after a few months, she could see another move on the horizon.

“So my husband and I decided to build a barn for our personal horses.”

The original plan was an eight-stall barn.

“That 8 stall turned into 14 stalls and once the covered arena was finished trainers moved in, and poof it was a business.”

“I really thought I would have my personal horses and breed, but you know that saying ‘If you build it they will come’ … well they did and we had a business that took off much faster than I was ready for.”

Now, she says she can’t imagine life without it.

“I never set out to be ‘here’ but its fun and I am surrounded by so many great people I can’t imagine a life without the business.”

When did you decide you wanted to own and operate your own farm?

“Oddly I didn’t plan it until we were building and people started getting excited about the facility. We had so many people say ‘when its built I want a stall’. It was literally that simple.”

A second barn was built a couple of months later.

“It’s been quite the journey.”

What does it actually take to run an equestrian center day to day?

A lot more than riding horses. Mindy says some of the biggest skills she relies on are time management, delegating, and budgeting.

And constant repairs.

“Repairs are constant between mowers, tractors, irrigation, fencing, fans, air conditioners, washer, dryers you name it. I’m in charge of keeping everything running smoothly.”

On top of the physical farm, there are horses, clients, tenants, and staff to manage.

“Owning a large equestrian center requires wearing many hats, you have to be always ready to work even with staff things come up that require my time.”

She mentioned her husband has even given the farm a nickname:

“Mindy Town.”

What does a typical day at Winding Oaks look like?

“From the staff perspective the day to day is feeding, cleaning, repairs, clipping, etc.”

For Mindy, the list is a little longer.

“For me it is managing the horses, staff, riding, teaching, ordering supplies, coordinating vets, farriers, etc. I could not run all of it myself. I have a wonderful group of people that never tell me no they are always available to help as am I when they have something come up.”

What is the most rewarding part of owning your own farm?

“I have the space to buy more horses and feed my horse addiction :)”

What made you want to incorporate breeding into your program?

Breeding wasn’t something that came along after Winding Oaks became a business. It was actually part of the original idea.

“I bought my first weanling when I was 16 years old. I loved the process of teaching babies. There is a trust that is so special with a baby.”

When the first barn was being built, Mindy even had breeding in mind.

“When we started building the first barn I built 4 stalls with removable dividers specifically for breeding. I don’t use those now but they were there from the beginning.”

What do you enjoy most about bringing along a young horse?

“For me it’s a bit like raising kids. They are curious, trusting and so willing to try anything you ask. And every time they learn something new you see their confidence grow.”

That curiosity and willingness to try seems to be a big part of what she looks for in her own young horses as well.

“It’s the ‘try’.”

Young horses are naturally going to rely on instinct and what they’ve learned from their mothers. The important part, according to Mindy, is when they begin to suppress that initial reaction and actually try what you’re asking.

“That is when you know you can really start moving in their training.”

This is probably one of the most detailed parts of Mindy’s breeding philosophy.

She looks for mares with 1.50+ bloodlines and pairs them with stallions with similar 1.50+ blood, but she doesn’t necessarily want the two horses to be carbon copies of one another.

“I choose kind of the opposite of the mare.”

If she has a more “bloody” mare, she’ll look for a colder stallion, and vice versa.

She also considers conformation. If the mare has a short back, she may look for a more rectangular stallion. And if the stallion has offspring available, Mindy does her research.

“If I can find offspring, I will do a deep dive into the stallions offspring.”

She’s looking for patterns, too. If she sees several offspring that are spooky in the ring, stop at water, or spook off the rails, that’s enough to make her reconsider the stallion. She also doesn’t want to breed a spooky mare.

Her philosophy also comes down to a saying she heard years ago:

When you breed a horse, how far ahead are you thinking?

Quite a bit.

“Initially I guess it would be 8-9 years I’m thinking 1.40m.”

But she’s also thinking about what that horse will be like during the years leading up to that.

“After that I think about the terrible 2’s I am the one doing the ground work so I need a decent brain too.”

What do you look for in a foal as it develops?

There’s a pretty long list.

“Gosh so many things, confidence I want them to be curious, nice elastic movement, I love a great shoulder, and good feet and good size.”

And, of course, that good brain keeps coming up.

Have you ever bred a horse that surprised you?

Yes. Mindy had a small Anglo-Arab mare who was smart, balanced, and had a beautiful trot. She bred her to a small pony and ended up with a gorgeous large pony with crazy white pinto markings.

It’s a good example of how much can come together in a breeding, especially when you’re combining horses that may not necessarily look like an obvious match on paper.

You wear a lot of different hats- trainer, breeder, farm owner, and young-horse developer. How do all of those roles influence one another?

For Mindy, it all comes back to watching the horses.

“I am so much more focused on the horses. I spend all day watching behaviors.”

She says her training, management, and coaching are all influenced by the horses’ behavior rather than simply what people want from them.

“That may sometimes slow some processes down but I don’t push for human desires, I will slow things down to make sure the horses are enjoying their work too.”

That philosophy also applies to the young horses she’s bred.

What have the young horses you’ve bred taught you that you couldn’t have learned from training someone else’s horse?

“If you know how to listen to the horse they all teach you something.”

She also says the young horses at Winding Oaks genuinely seem to enjoy working.

Her point is that doing too much can have the opposite effect.

“Doing too much (just like any horse) makes them resistant to work.”

What’s something people romanticize about making horses your full-time career?

“Getting paid to ride nice horses all the time its not always the case. Some horses need much more time than others and your typically not getting paid for that extra its just part of the process.”

Sometimes a horse comes in that needs a lot of extra work before it is ready to do what the client needs. That can mean groundwork, refreshing skills at the mounting block, and spending time turning around a sour horse.

Her summary of the horse industry?

“In this industry time is not always money.”

What’s something about this career that is much harder than people realize?

“No matter who you are and how hard you try, not everyone likes how you teach or train, and overhead costs! (people and money LOL)”

Running a horse business means dealing with both.

What skills are most important for someone who wants to make a living with horses?

“GRIT. There are days you question why you chose a 24/7 365 career. You cannot hang a sign on the door and say closed for the holiday.”

How much of your job is actually working with horses versus everything else?

Again, it depends on which “cap” Mindy is wearing.

“If I’m wearing my farm cap very little with the horses.”

That could mean anywhere from three or four days a month to 10–12 days, depending on the season.

But when she’s wearing her trainer cap?

“All the time.”

She rides and teaches lessons six days a week and helps with clipping, manes, and all the other hands-on work that comes with the horses.

“I love staying busy and fussing with the horses.”

What do you wish you had known before making horses your career?

The financial side.

“I wish I had sat down with someone before opening and asked all the financial questions.“

For someone just starting out, she would recommend renting space before buying a farm. Owning property and building a facility comes with a huge amount of overhead, especially for someone just starting out.

“Working with a good mentor while starting your business will allow you to focus on growth. There are many layers to a business and the horse business is no different.”

She recommends investing in good accounting software and actually checking your numbers regularly.

“I check my P&L’s all the time, expenses and income can fluctuate from quarter to quarter.”

Figure out what each part of your business actually costs.

“For instance you may need 4 clients for each lesson pony, and 6 or 7 clients for each lesson horse.”

For her, seeing everything in black and white makes it easier to identify where she can make changes and save money. And when it comes to budgeting, she recommends planning for the unexpected.

“Unknowns will happen. Plan about 30% over your budget.”

What’s one mistake you see young horse professionals make?

Mindy says she wouldn’t necessarily say she’s seen one specific mistake repeatedly, but she does have some very practical advice.

“Train your staff well, feed loose salt and clean your water buckets EVERYDAY. Well hydrated horses rarely colic.”

What do you think your younger self would be surprised to learn about the career you’ve built?

Probably that she became a jumper person.

“I was drawn to dressage when I was younger but fell in love with the sport of show jumping.”

Her explanation?

“More adrenaline I guess LOL.”

And honestly, that answer fits pretty well with the rest of Mindy’s story.

She didn’t originally plan to build a large equestrian center. She didn’t set out with a perfectly mapped career path. Her original farm wasn’t even supposed to become a business. But one decision led to another, and eventually she found herself running a facility that combines so many different parts of the horse industry: boarding, training, teaching, breeding, developing young horses, and managing the business behind it all.

For anyone who has ever wondered what you can actually do with horses for a living, Mindy’s career is a pretty good example of just how many different directions the horse industry can take you.