What began in 2023 as an educational and community platform has grown into an international network of grooms, horse people, educators, veterinarians, industry professionals, and organizations. Through articles, webinars, podcasts, MeetUps, guides, community conversations, and other resources, HorseGrooms has worked to make practical knowledge more accessible and to give grooms a stronger voice within the equestrian industry.
Now, we are taking the next step.
Same Mission, A New Way To Get Involved
HorseGrooms Foundation is a nonprofit organization created to expand this work and build more of the educational and professional infrastructure that grooms and equine caretakers deserve.
This is not a departure from what HorseGrooms has been doing. It is a continuation and expansion of it.
With an online community of more than 1,400 members, more than 2,500 email subscribers, and more than 15,000 followers across our social media platforms, we are not starting from zero. We are building on the community, programs, partnerships, and trust that have developed since HorseGrooms began.
Becoming a nonprofit also creates new ways for individuals, brands, barns, and other organizations across the equestrian industry to get involved. They can now directly support programs and initiatives designed to strengthen the people behind horse care.
Missing Infrastructure
Grooms are central to the care and welfare of horses, yet the profession has very little formal infrastructure around it.
- There is no widely established educational pathway for becoming a professional groom.
- There is no consistent system for mentorship or continued education.
- Career progression is often unclear, and much of the knowledge that makes someone an excellent groom is still passed informally from one horse person to another.
That knowledge is incredibly valuable, but access to it can depend on where someone happens to work, who they work for, and whether someone has the time and willingness to teach them.
We believe the industry can do better.
Horsemanship
The HorseGrooms Foundation was created to help build that missing infrastructure while preserving something equally important: the practical horsemanship knowledge that generations of experienced grooms and horse people have developed through years of working directly with horses.
And ultimately, this is about more than the grooming profession. Because supporting grooms supports horses.
Grooms are often the people who know their horses most closely. They notice the small changes: a little swelling, a change in appetite, a different way of standing, an unusual reaction while grooming, or simply that a horse does not seem quite himself.
Better education, stronger horsemanship, and better supported grooms contribute directly to better horse care and horse welfare.
The Mission
The HorseGrooms Foundation’s mission is to educate, support, and empower grooms and equine caretakers while promoting horsemanship and horse welfare.
We do this by establishing best practices, providing accessible education, mentorship, community programs, educational events, scholarships, and career development opportunities to facilitate sustainable careers in the equestrian industry.
Our goal is not only to help people become better grooms. We want to help create an industry in which skilled horse care is recognized as a profession, people have opportunities to continue learning throughout their careers, experienced grooms can pass on their knowledge, and the next generation has a clearer path into the horse world.
Turning the Mission Into Programs
Some of this work has already begun.
HorseGrooms MeetUps
HorseGrooms has organized educational MeetUps where grooms can learn directly from veterinarians and other equine professionals, with subjects ranging from saddle fitting and horse care to CPR/AED training.
Our webinars, educational articles, guides, podcast, workshops, and online community make practical education available to grooms wherever they live and work.
Now, through the Foundation, we can build much further.
HorseGrooms Financial Corner
One of our first areas of expansion is the HorseGrooms Financial Corner. Financial insecurity is a real challenge for many people working with horses, particularly those navigating freelance work, inconsistent income, taxes, limited employer benefits, or simply trying to plan for a future while working in a demanding profession.
Our financial education programming will include practical education around saving, budgeting, investing, taxes, and longer-term financial planning, adapted specifically to the realities of working grooms.
HorseGrooms Legal Corner
We are also developing the HorseGrooms Legal Corner, with education and resources designed to help grooms better understand subjects such as employment arrangements, contracts, freelance work, workplace responsibilities, and other legal questions that can affect their careers.
Future Plans
Additional plans include expanded MeetUps and hands-on workshops, first-aid and safety education, horsemanship programs, mentorship opportunities, scholarships, and future apprenticeship and workforce-development initiatives.
Many of these programs can grow through donor and corporate support, giving brands and individuals the opportunity to invest in specific areas that align with what they care about, from education and career development to horsemanship, safety, and horse welfare.
Soon, we will launch opportunities to donate directly to specific programs, including the Financial Corner and Legal Corner. For now, donations help cover the operational expenses that make our work and future programs possible. You can support the HorseGrooms Foundation here.
One of Our Biggest Dreams: A Recognized Groom Education and Certification Pathway
Our ambitions go further.
One of the long-term goals of the HorseGrooms Foundation is to help develop a meaningful education and certification pathway for professional grooms.
Today, someone can spend years becoming an exceptionally knowledgeable groom without having a recognized credential that demonstrates what they know and can do. At the same time, someone entering the profession may have no clear roadmap showing what they should learn, where they can learn it, or how they can progress.
We would like to help change that.
A Pathway Grounded In Practical Horsemanship and Real Barn Experience
We envision a pathway grounded in practical horsemanship and real barn experience, where grooms can build and demonstrate knowledge in areas such as horse care, handling, welfare, health monitoring, stable management, safety, communication, and professional practice.
Certification alone will not solve the challenges facing the profession. But establishing recognized standards can be an important part of changing how grooming is valued.
If we can better define what a knowledgeable, skilled professional groom should know and be able to do, we can also strengthen the case for better pay, greater professional recognition, clearer career progression, more appropriate working conditions, and better treatment of the people entrusted with horses’ daily care.
We Want To Preserve The Knowledge of Excellent Horse People
The goal is not to make grooming less practical or replace knowledge learned in the barn with knowledge learned from a book. Quite the opposite. We want to preserve the knowledge of excellent horse people, make it easier to pass that knowledge on, and give it the professional recognition it deserves.
We also want young people entering the industry to see that grooming can lead somewhere. The skills developed as a groom can open doors to barn management, training, teaching, equine organizations, horse welfare, veterinary and industry support roles, entrepreneurship, and many other careers throughout the horse world. Our emerging apprenticeship and workforce-development ideas are an important first step toward creating that clearer pathway.
The HorseGrooms MeetUps have always been about sharing knowledge and learning from experts. From veterinarians and vet techs to braiders, and from bodyworkers to top grooms.
Better Careers. Better Horsemanship. Better Horse Welfare.
We believe these goals are connected.
When grooms have access to education, they can become better horse people.
When experienced grooms have opportunities to teach, important horsemanship knowledge is preserved.
When people are paid fairly, treated professionally, given opportunities to develop, and able to build sustainable lives around their work, talented people are more likely to stay in the profession.
And when knowledgeable, experienced people stay in the barns, horses benefit.
That is why the HorseGrooms Foundation is not only about supporting grooms. It is about strengthening the system of care around horses.
Help Us Build What Comes Next
Becoming a nonprofit gives us opportunities that HorseGrooms did not have before. Individuals, companies, barns, owners, riders, organizations, and other supporters can now invest directly in programs designed to strengthen the people behind horse care. The transition was deliberately conceived as a continuation of the existing HorseGrooms mission, with nonprofit status allowing us to do more for grooms directly.
Who Is This For?
If you believe that excellence in the competitive equestrian sport is rooted in equine welfare; that horse grooms are integral in protecting horses, not just as animals but as valuable assets; that the grooming profession needs structure, mentorship and support through programming and resources; then join us in launching the HorseGrooms Foundation through your donations and support.
Our first general fundraising campaign is Support Our Mission.
These donations help provide the foundation underneath everything we want to build: the technology, systems, administration, educational resources, events, program development, and day-to-day infrastructure necessary to operate and grow the HorseGrooms Foundation.
Soon, supporters will also be able to contribute directly to specific initiatives, beginning with programs such as the Financial Corner and Legal Corner.
Whether you donate, partner with us, attend an event, share our work, contribute your expertise, or simply help more people understand the importance of professional grooms, you are helping us build something we believe the horse industry has needed for a long time.
Learn More about Our Initiatives
Would you like us to keep you updated about new programs and initiatives of the HorseGrooms Foundation? Leave your name and email address below and we will add you to the list.
We have big dreams for the HorseGrooms Foundation
Some of our biggest goals will take collaboration across the industry. We hope donors, brands, employers, equestrian organizations, and other supporters will help us build the educational and professional infrastructure that has historically been missing for grooms.
We want to create education that reaches the groom working at an international championship and the groom at a small stable.
We want to introduce more young people to grooming as a real career path, because many who love horses do not even know this profession exists. Grooming offers the opportunity to work hands-on with horses, spend your days in the barn and outdoors, earn a living, and build a career in the equestrian industry. And the industry needs more knowledgeable, dedicated grooms.
We want young people entering the profession to have better guidance than generations before them had, and experienced horse people to have a place to pass on what they know. We want grooming to be recognized as the skilled profession it is.
And we want education, professional standards, fair treatment, sustainable careers, and horse welfare to reinforce one another.
There is a lot to build. But HorseGrooms has already shown what can happen when people across the equestrian industry come together around the people who care for horses. Now, through the HorseGrooms Foundation, we are ready to build the next chapter.
How You Can Help
There are many ways to help us build the HorseGrooms Foundation. You can make a donation yourself, introduce us to individuals or companies who may want to support our mission, or help us find sponsors and donors who believe in investing in the people who care for horses. Every contribution, large or small, helps us move this work forward.
You can also sponsor a groom by funding a one-year HorseGrooms Insiders membership for $97, giving a groom access to additional education, resources, live learning opportunities, and professional support throughout the year.
And you can help simply by spreading the word. Share the HorseGrooms Foundation with barn owners, riders, trainers, horse owners, businesses, and others who understand that investing in grooms is also an investment in better horse care and a stronger equestrian industry.
Thank you for caring about the people who care for horses.
Feature photo and last photo by Shelley Paulson Photography
HorseGrooms is a platform of resources, education, and support for grooms by grooms. This is an online community, hub of resources, and spotlight of industry highlights born out of love for the horse and love for the sport. But our mission goes beyond simply providing resources and creating content.
Our goal is to create a space to keep horsemanship alive; for grooms to support and educate each other; and to help advance the craft of grooming. HorseGrooms is dedicated to ambitious grooms everywhere.
