How Much Do Horse Trainers Make? (Find Out!)

My son and I went out to the races the other day, and we ended up chatting with a horse trainer that was there—off duty, of course.

He was just enjoying the race as we were.

However, it did come up that he loved his job as a horse trainer, and that he was making more as a horse trainer than he did in his old job.

I’ve always loved horses so this intrigued me somewhat, and I decided to look into exactly how much they make.

So, how much do horse trainers make?

It obviously varies a great deal on many factors. Horse racing is a big industry, with events as big as the Kentucky Derby and as small as local races. There’s a lot of room for variation in there, but horse trainers can make good money—for prestigious races, trainers can make $200,000 to over a million a year.

So, for the really good horse trainers, there is a great deal of money to be made.

The amount that any horse trainer is paid is a sum of their experience and past successes, though, so it all depends on how good they are at their job.

Let’s look further into this.

Do horse trainers make good money?

In general, yes, horse trainers make reasonably good money.

Of course, I can’t stress enough the amount and degree of variation present in the salaries of horse trainers.

A horse trainer who trains the winner of the Kentucky Derby is going to make a lot more than someone who trains a horse in their spare time for a local, non-competitive race.

For good, well established horse trainers, though, there is huge amounts of money to be made.

For races involving those huge prizes (again, like the Kentucky Derby), the horse trainers will be the best in the business, and they will make millions of dollars a year.

So, it really depends on the experience of the trainer, and on the horse they’re training. Someone preparing a horse for the Kentucky Derby will make a lot more than someone training a horse for a local race.

There’s really too much variation to give a straight answer, and in many ways it’s like professional athletes.

Yes, basketball players make a lot of money—but only a very small number of them

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Can you make a living as a horse trainer?

Absolutely you can.

Even if you are a horse trainer for a smaller race, there is a good salary to be found from horse training.

Horse trainers that work on quiet, local races and non-superstar horses can make as much as $40-$50,000 per year training horses. this is a pretty good salary by any measure, although this number still represents a good degree of experience and a proven track record.

It should be pointed out, though, that most horse trainers tend to start the work as a side job.

They typically cannot go full-time as a horse trainer straight out of the gate.

Nevertheless, there is good money to be made even for the humble horse trainer.

What about an absolute beginner, then?

How much does a beginner horse trainer make?

Again, there will still be variations in time and place.

In some areas, even a beginner will make more money simply due to local laws.

However, on average, the work will typically start at an hourly wage.

This can range from $9.37 to more than $20 an hour.

Hours will not necessarily be full-time straight away, so you may not even make a full-time wage at first. In any case, there’s still variation.

There’s always the chance, though, to prove yourself and work your way up the ranks to make more.

Horse training is a great art, and skill is rewarded.

So, who is the most well-paid horse trainer in the world?

Who is the highest paid horse trainer?

We’ve been talking a lot about all the variation in salaries, so looking at the most well paid give you a very good idea of the exact degree of variation we’re talking about.

The most well paid horse trainer of all time, Todd A. Pletcher, by the end of his career had earned an enormous $416,384,201 from his horse training endeavors.

Other horse trainers are not far behind, with Steven Asmussen bringing home $369 million dollars over the course of his career.

In other words—they make a lot!

So, there’s really no simple answer to the first question.

A lot, is the only way to simplify it, when we are talking about successful horse trainers.

There are millions of dollars involved in the high-end races, so it makes perfect sense that those who get the horses ready rake in a lot of the money.

However, like many professions, most below this line do not make a great deal of money.

It really all depends on where you are.