Where to go? (Basin: community college, income, standard of living)

[freespiritx0]

I am an 18 year old female currently living in PA. I have always dreamed of going to live out west. I was considering places like Colorado, Wyoming and Montana, but I have NO IDEA where to go. It's kind of overwhelming. I don't know where to start. I am mostly interested in working with horses, but I will work with any animals really. I was wondering if anyone had suggestions on where to go that I might be interested in, the cost of living, and what its like to be lucky enough to live out there...

Thank you.

[sunsprit]

What type of experience or training do you have in the equine business, or with horsemanship?

What are your expectations of housing and standard of living?

You need to define your goals a little bit better so the advice you can get here is targeted to your needs & wants. Simply wanting to move out to the Rocky Mountain West is not much information.

There's vet tech/assistant jobs all over the place (which usually require a lot of animal experience and training), animal shelter jobs, animal rescue group jobs, barn assistant jobs at public and private barns, etc. The pay scales range all over the place from minimum wage to reasonable wages, some even with housing & benefits. There's a lot of seasonal jobs with riding stables, such as in Estes Park, or with "dude ranch" outfitters. Entry level jobs typically involve barn/stall cleaning, moving horses in/out of barns to corrals, helping to "tack up" horses, etc. ... basic menial tasks around the facilities.

So, what's your pleasure? Don't forget there's equine programs at Community Colleges and all the way up to 4-year colleges in Wyoming and Colorado. Some of the CC programs are nationally known for their equine training and riding skills, and you'd be in demand at many equine facilities with that background.

[Trapperjim]

Well if you like horses, what better state to go to than the Cowboy State. Wyoming is, in my opinion, the greatest state in the union. No State tax, mountains, and critters galore. My family and I are moving to Basin Wy next month, and we are excited about it. Small towns and slow pace is the attraction for us. Good luck with your out west adventure. And I applaud you for having a free enough spirit to take a chance and make a move. Good Luck!!

[sunsprit]

"If you like horses ...."

Actually, there's many other places throughout the USA where horses are a much bigger business with a lot more money in it than Wyoming. While there's a lot of horses here ridden for ranching and pleasure, it's a very small industry compared to the areas of the country with horse racing, larger population densities with pleasure horses, large horse breeding farms, etc. Think warmer climate areas of the country ... around Wyoming, most horses are put out to pasture or barns for most of the winter months.

That's why you need to define your other interests a little more fully. The romantic image of the Western cowboy on a remote ranch may or may not meet your financial or other needs ... and you're not going to get a riding "cowboy" job until you can ride well, fix fence, take care of livestock, rope, etc. Living in remote line shacks for your job several months out of the year may not be consistent with your dream ... it's a very rough, tough, and frequently miserable experience even for those who are following the dream of doing this type of work. Working a few hundred cows per day isn't all glamour, it's a lot of work ... repititive, dirty, under all weather conditions, and frequently a dangerous place to be, there's a lot of injuries in this line of work. Did I mention that the pay is very low? Not that you'll have many places to spend it on remote sites when you're away from town for a lot of your life ....

This isn't TV land with all the glamour and myth and romance that they've created. It's a dirty, messy, tough job in the real world, especially for a beginner in the equine trade. Mucking out barns and corrals, and grading an arena, fixing fences, feeding and watering horses, cleaning tack ... that's the entry level work, and it's minimum wage type work for a lot of hours every day. Riding, training, instructing riders, guiding trail rides ... is all done by much more advanced/trained people ... and with the exception of a few well known trainers, for very little money.

I don't want to spoil your dreams ... but I do want you to know enough to make an informed decision before coming all the way out West to a lot of disappointment, hardship, heartache, and have nothing to show for it except dirt under your broken fingernails.

[jazzlover]

I second what Sunsprit says. "Luck" has very little to do with living in the Rocky Mountain West. It's about being willing to accept the place for what it is, and being willing to make the many sacrifices--financial and otherwise--that it takes to live here. Quite frankly, for every 2 people who show up in this region with the "dream" of the West, whatever that is, at least one of them winds up leaving within a few years. The reality is often not anything near the romantic notions that still hang around out there.

The Rocky Mountain West, outside of its metro areas, can often be a rough, unforgiving place to live--unless one is a rich trust-funder or pensioner with income from someplace else. For young people like the OP, it can be especially tough. The biggest export out of the rural Rocky Mountain West is still its young people--that should tell you something right there. I especially counsel people to take with a great big grain of salt any glowing stories of how wonderful this region is that are coming from the mouths of people who have never lived or worked here for any length of time. Guys like sunsprit (or me) who are either old-line natives or long-time residents of this region have seen it at its best and worst--and, believe me, I don't think ours is the "sanitized" chamber of commerce view.