Working with horses requires knowledge, skill, dedication, and an enormous amount of responsibility. But knowing how to care for horses does not automatically teach someone how to manage the financial side of building a life and career in the horse industry.
Many grooms start working with horses when they are young. Some are employees, others freelance, and many move between the two throughout their careers. Work can be seasonal. Housing may or may not come with the job. Especially in the United States, benefits such as retirement plans or health insurance are not always available. Grooms may travel frequently, work in different states or countries, have side businesses, or earn additional income from braiding, clipping, riding, and other work.
At the same time, very few people enter the horse industry having been taught how to budget, build emergency savings, understand taxes, plan for retirement, protect their income or prepare financially for the day when their career changes.
The HorseGrooms Foundation wants to help change that.
The HorseGrooms Financial Corner is a new program of the HorseGrooms Foundation providing practical financial education, resources and access to professionals who understand both money and the realities of working in the equestrian industry.
The Financial Corner will begin with webinars, guides, articles, checklists, courses and opportunities to ask questions, and it will grow from there. Rather than trying to decide in advance everything grooms should know, we will listen to the questions coming from the community and develop future education around what people actually need.
Why Financial Education Matters for Grooms
The HorseGrooms Foundation exists to educate, support and empower grooms and equine caretakers while helping create more sustainable careers in the equestrian industry. Financial education is an important part of that.
A sustainable career is not only about being good at your job. It is also about being able to build a life around that job.
That can mean understanding what happens when you are paid as an employee versus an independent contractor. It can mean learning how to save when your income changes throughout the year, preparing for taxes as a freelancer, paying down debt, starting an emergency fund, planning for retirement, or simply knowing where to begin.
For someone who has never had much financial education, terms such as investments, tax diversification or estate planning can sound like subjects for people who already have a lot of money.
They aren’t.
Financial planning starts much earlier, with understanding the money you have today and making informed decisions about what comes next.
The Financial Corner is being built to make those conversations practical, approachable and relevant to horse people.
Meet the HorseGrooms Financial Educators
Three equestrian financial professionals will serve as the first official HorseGrooms Financial Educators: RoseAnne Spallone-Nagle, Grace Speckman, CFP®, and Jenny Schwartz.
They bring very different professional backgrounds, but all three understand the horse industry and share the goal of making financial education more accessible.
RoseAnne Spallone-Nagle
RoseAnne Spallone-Nagle knows the groom’s side of the industry firsthand.
She began as a groom and worked her way through the sport, including three years on Olympian Anne Kursinski’s team at Market Street and later as assistant trainer for Frank Madden. She eventually established her own training and clinic business, Spallone Sporthorses.
When her young son was diagnosed with a severe horse allergy, RoseAnne had to step away from the barn and build a new career. Today she is a Financial Services Professional working with business owners, equestrians and families on areas including saving, retirement, investments, protection and longer-term financial planning.
Her work has earned national recognition, including qualification for the 2025 Million Dollar Round Table and being named to NAIFA’s 2025 “4 Under 40” list.
Through the HorseGrooms Financial Corner, RoseAnne is volunteering her time to provide the kind of practical financial education she wishes she had received while working as a groom.
Her philosophy is simple: it is never too early or too late to start, and there should be no judgment about where someone is starting from.
Grace Speckman, CFP®
Grace Speckman is a financial advisor at Meridian Investment Advisors in Indianapolis and a Certified Financial Planner®. She works with clients in the equestrian world on investments, financial planning and legacy.
She is also a lifelong hunter/jumper rider with nearly three decades in the saddle and publishes financial education for equestrians through her Dollars and Horse Sense platform.
Grace serves on the HorseGrooms Foundation board and brings both professional financial expertise and an understanding of the industry the Foundation serves. She sees firsthand how much grooms contribute to equestrian sport and how little infrastructure has traditionally existed to support them.
Jenny Schwartz
Jenny Schwartz brings more than 30 years of experience across municipal finance, asset management, financial analysis, business development and nonprofit leadership.
A lifelong equestrian, Jenny is the founder of Drop Your Stirrups, where she provides business consulting and personal finance education with a particular focus on the equestrian industry.
She has also created Rein in Your Finances: A Personal Finance System, a comprehensive self-paced Finance 101 course designed to help people build a stronger understanding of their personal finances.
Jenny also serves on the HorseGrooms Foundation board, where her experience in finance, nonprofit leadership, fundraising and educational program development contributes to the Foundation’s broader work.
As part of the Financial Corner, Jenny is making her full Rein in Your Finances course available free to HorseGrooms Insiders.
Financial Corner Contributors
The Financial Corner will also bring in contributors with expertise in specific areas.
Chrissy Rothwell
Chrissy Rothwell, Treasurer of the HorseGrooms Foundation and founder of Stable Finances, an equestrian accounting and financial service for hirse businesses, is contributing practical tax and financial administration resources to the Financial Corner.
Her existing Tax Prep Checklist is currently being adapted specifically for grooms. Rather than approaching taxes as though every groom has the same employment situation, the resource will help people understand what may apply to them depending on whether they are a W-2 employee, a W-2 employee who also earns freelance or side-business income, or a self-employed/freelance groom.
Chrissy is also contributing a Monthly Bookkeeping Checklist to help self-employed grooms stay organized throughout the year instead of trying to reconstruct everything at tax time.
Emmy Sobieski CFA, CBP
Emmy Sobieski started as a groom and rider, grooming and braiding horses to pay her way in the sport before building a 25-year career as an institutional investor. She went on to manage billions of dollars in assets. She launched and co-ran the #1 ranked Nicholas | Applegate Global Technology Fund in 1999. She holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) designation and an MBA in Finance from USC.
Horses have remained a major part of Emmy’s life, including competing internationally in dressage and finishing ninth in the 2005 U.S. World Cup trials. Emmy has contributed financial education to HorseGrooms since its early days, helping grooms understand money, investing and planning for their future. Her existing article series will now be updated and expanded as part of the HorseGrooms Financial Corner.
Starting September 8: Webinar “Build Your Financial Foundation”
The Financial Corner officially kicks off on Tuesday, September 8 at 7 PM ET with the first of three webinars of live Money Management Education webinars led by RoseAnne Spallone. The series is all about building your financial foundation.
The series is based on the existing New York Life’s Balance Wellbeing program, but RoseAnne is adapting it specifically for the HorseGrooms audience. The presentations are educational and are not intended as product or sales presentations.
The three sessions are scheduled for:
- September 8: Building & Maintaining a Budget, Building an Emergency Fund, Paying Off Debt
- October 13: Deciding What to Save For, How to Invest, Saving for Retirement
- November 10: Bringing Your Whole Plan Together, Your Questions Answered Live.
All begin at 7 PM ET in the HorseGrooms Community.
First Webinar On Tuesday, September 8: Financial Foundations
The first webinar will start with the foundations. RoseAnne will discuss subjects including budgeting, debt, emergency savings and short- and long-term financial goals before moving into more advanced financial concepts.
The webinars will be live and interactive in the HorseGrooms Community and will also be recorded for members who cannot attend live. Questions and discussions from the first session will help determine what future webinars, guides, articles, videos and other resources should cover.
The HorseGrooms Community: For Grooms, and Everyone Who Values Their Work
The HorseGrooms Community is free to join for grooms around the world, and grooms will always be at the heart of it. But you don’t have to be a groom to value the work they do. We also welcome riders, trainers, owners, barn managers and other horse people who want to learn from grooms, better understand their work and responsibilities, share knowledge, and connect with people who care deeply about doing the best they can for their horses.
Bringing Different People From the Industry Together
We believe bringing different people in the industry together can create greater understanding and respect. If being part of the HorseGrooms Community helps a rider, trainer or horse owner better understand what a groom’s job involves, how much responsibility they carry, and the work that goes into caring for horses every day, that is a very good thing.
That also means everyone is welcome to learn from the Financial Corner and join this webinar series. We simply ask that HorseGrooms remains a safe and supportive space for grooms. The community and its education will continue to be built first and foremost with grooms in mind.\
Help Us Keep Education Accessible
Opening these educational opportunities to the wider community is possible because of the people who contribute their expertise, time and financial support. We want to keep programs like the Financial Corner accessible, but creating and running them still costs money. Donations to the HorseGrooms Foundation help fund the systems, technology, administration, promotion and program development behind the education and resources we provide.
If you believe grooms deserve access to education and support that can help them build stronger, more sustainable careers, we welcome your support. Every contribution helps us continue making these opportunities available to the people who care for horses.
You can support our mission here. We want to keep education like this accessible to our community, and donations to the HorseGrooms Foundation help make that possible. If you believe grooms deserve access to education, resources and support that can help them build stronger, more sustainable careers, we welcome your support.
Education, But Also Access to People
One of the most important goals of the Financial Corner is to make financial education less intimidating.
Reading an article can help. Taking a course can help. But sometimes someone simply needs to be able to ask:
Where do I start?
The Financial Corner will therefore include opportunities for community members to interact with financial professionals through webinars and educational Q&As.
We also plan to offer small-group financial coaching and opportunities for individual consultations with Financial Educators through the HorseGrooms Community.
The distinction between general Foundation education and individualized professional financial advice is important, and the program will maintain clear boundaries around referrals, disclosures and any private professional relationships that may develop outside the Foundation.
What Is Free?
We want the core of the Financial Corner to be accessible.
HorseGrooms Community members will have free access to the Financial Corner’s webinars, articles, guides, checklists, educational resources and general financial education.
HorseGrooms Insiders will receive all of that, plus additional opportunities for deeper support.
Insider benefits will include:
- Jenny Schwartz’s complete Rein in Your Finances course at no additional cost
- group financial coaching
- one-to-one financial coaching or consultations offered through the Financial Corner
- additional direct access to the HorseGrooms Financial Educators as these opportunities are scheduled
This structure allows the HorseGrooms Foundation to make substantial financial education freely available while giving Insiders access to more individualized support.
A Financial Corner That Will Grow With the Community
This is only the beginning.
Future subjects could include budgeting, saving and investing, taxes, retirement, understanding employee benefits, protecting income, planning for irregular or seasonal income, financial considerations for freelance grooms, bookkeeping, estate planning and preparing financially for career changes.
There is also potential to expand the program internationally by connecting HorseGrooms members with professionals who understand the financial systems in their own countries.
Eventually, the Financial Corner may extend beyond education for individual grooms. One idea already being explored is education for employers around benefits and groom retention, including how better financial support can help create stronger and more sustainable workplaces.
But the first step is simple: start the conversation.
You do not need to understand investing before you come to a webinar. You do not need to have savings before you ask about saving. You do not need to own a business before you learn what being self-employed means.
And you certainly do not need to have your finances “figured out” before using the Financial Corner.
The goal is to give grooms access to information, people and resources that can help them make informed decisions at every stage of their careers.
Because building a sustainable career in the horse industry isn’t only about taking good care of the horses.
It is also about making sure the people caring for them can build sustainable lives of their own.
Help Fund the Financial Corner
The Financial Corner is a program of the HorseGrooms Foundation, and financial support is essential to making this education available to grooms.
While many of our financial professionals generously contribute their time and expertise, building and running the program still comes with real costs. Donations help fund the technology and systems behind the Financial Corner, webinar and resource development, administration, promotion and outreach, and the work required to coordinate and grow the program.
With additional funding, we can develop more educational resources, bring in additional experts, and expand the support available to grooms. Every contribution, large or small, helps us build a stronger Financial Corner and keep valuable financial education accessible to the people who care for horses.
If you or your organization would like to make a larger contribution or discuss supporting this initiative, please contact Dinette Neuteboom at dinette@horsegrooms.com.
About the HorseGrooms Foundation
The HorseGrooms Foundation exists to educate, support, and empower grooms and equine caretakers while promoting horsemanship and horse welfare. Through accessible education, mentorship, community programs, educational events, scholarships and career development opportunities, the Foundation works to facilitate sustainable careers in the equestrian industry. Read more about the Foundation here.
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.
