Today we’d like to introduce you to Emily Marin Comstock.
Hi Emily Marin, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
I have been around horses seriously since I was about 10 years old. With occasional riding prior on birthdays and such. No one else in my family rides. I was completely obsessed with them from as early as I can remember. I grew up in Long Beach, California and started in hunter jumpers before stepping away in high school because of the cost. When I moved to Hawai‘i at 18 to attend college, I found my way back into horses through work. I started in polo and trail riding operations, but quickly realized I wanted deeper and more hands on experience.
That led me to travel for ranch work, spending time back in California, Oregon and then Montana where I worked on a cumulative 20,000-30,000 acre guest ranch and cattle operation managing around 200 horses. From there I continued pushing into more technical horsemanship.
I then moved to the central coast after my season in Montana finished and began working under a colt starter, focusing on younger horses around three to six years old, helping put rides on them and working with project horses that need further development. Instead of going back to school for it, I chose to learn by doing and gaining experience while supporting myself.
My riding background spans a wide range including hunter jumpers, polo, trail operations, ranch work, young horses, and some performance work. All of it has been built on my own without any family background in it.
Surfing came later. I taught myself while living in Hawai‘i, and it quickly became just as important to me. I am the first in my family to both surf and ride, and no one else does either.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Oh gosh, I am someone who likes to settle build connections and then up and disappear to the next town, adventure, employer you name it. I create life’s issues for the most part.
Having a seasonal job most of the time is pretty difficult when the winters roll around and I have to scrape to get a job to hold me over. I am constantly torn between my two passions of surfing and riding horses so that’s usually my reason for moving. Whichever passion is currently sitting first seat.
here’s an excerpt from something I have posted recently
my never ending internal battle. in between horses and surfing. inbetween jobs.
my life every 6 months to a year is just tossing a coin and seeing which side it lands on. A few months back I was burnt out on horses but a year ago I wasn’t able to go a day without them.
Surfing 1.5 years ago I was able to push to the side then recently has felt like I can’t go a moment without it. The internal shift of wanting to focus more on horses is happening again but this time it still needs balance of being able to surf.
Life is just always inbetween spending time doing both the things I love. I am so lucky to feel this way, to have an option, to up and leave whenever I so choose. To only work where I truly love. To pursue my passion like my parents did.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
Oh gosh what do I do, whatever people need me to do?
I scrape by, I live my life through pursing my passions. It is not about saving up to afford a vacation it is loving each and every day as it comes.
I have done a lot. I privately exercise peoples horses, I have worked on horse operations with over 200 horses to manage and know the names and personalities of each and every one. I have worked as a deckhand on a whale watching boat. I have been a social media manager for a jewelry company in hawaii and later the whale boat in Morro Bay. I gradually started making money through brand deals and modeling on social media from surf brands like oneill to catching the attention of western companies like Ariat. I just recently helped produce a music video and photo shoot that needed locations and talent on the central coast of cowboys and motorcyclists. Sent invoices out at a coffee shop in the morning and was getting paid to move cattle by the afternoon. I ranch sit larger properties that have a decent amount of animals as well. My work is just me constantly finding ways to spend time doing the things I love, in the places I love, with the people and animals I love.
In the ocean, on a ranch, sitting in a coffee shop with my best friend, or helping a friend ride a new horse in the river bed. It is safe to say I have no schedule, no routine, no rigidity. My motto is I’ll figure it out, I say as I drove to Montana for the first time, showed up at the ranch I was supposed to work at, decided it was by no means the right fit for me and up and left (with warning) the next morning. I found an incredible ranch by that afternoon. I realize in life I am the only limiting factor. At any moment, you can up and leave, change everything, restart, reset, it’s always up to you, no matter what excuse you settle on, you are holding you back.
Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?
Oh gosh my last story was solid. I will up and move anywhere if I get a wild hair and a good gig. I know that if I am doing what I love work wise the rest will fall into place. I have up and moved from hawaii multiple times, ran away to different states with no friends on the horizon. Nothing but optimism and knowing there are other people out there that are just as lost as you. Luckily the biggest risk is starting fresh, but hell I have gotten pretty good at that.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/_minoaka
