What follows is just my opinions. They are free, and worth at least twice what you paid for them ...........

Go to the library and start reading. Photography is photography whether film or digital.

Find out if your local college or learning institutions have any courses. Call AARP. Check at a photo store if there's one in your town.

Ask around. If you can find a friend or a photographer in your area, you can learn more from them in a day than you can in a month of reading books. Most photographers are not above being bribed with free lunches, and you'll meet new people and network. Even if they're not a pro, you will probably learn something from them, AND you'll have one more person who knows you do stuff professionally.

Get some cheap cards made.

Consider overbuying when selecting a camera. Whatever you buy, you will probably outgrow in a short time. A good point and shoot camera is going to cost you about $200, and a good SLR will cost about $1,000. If you get good and start making money, it goes up from there. If you can afford a grand right now, there are some good deals out there, my favorite being the Nikon D40x with the two Nikkor lenses for a grand. Figure you will need two cameras anyway, one point and shoot autofocus, and a large mp SLR for the good stuff.

Learn how to use photoediting software. I use PSP7, an antiquated version that one can buy on ebay for ten bucks. Until you learn how to use it, you don't need to be spending $600 on a software bundle.

As you grow and evolve, your hobby/new job will take you where it will. It may fizzle, so if you don't have lots of bucks, buy a decent camera, a PSP7 disc, an extra stick of memory, and you'll be into it about $300. If it takes off, there'll be extra money to upgrade and buy more toys.

Go around and take free pictures of events and things you see. You can put them on a 25 cent CD and hand them to the horse owner next time you see them. Get your name out there and tell people what you do. Risking a couple hundred cheap CDs won't cost you much, and last I heard, horses don't charge much for posing. Tell people what you are doing, and ask if you can e mail them some of the pictures. Get one of their cards.

I am not an expert, but I have stayed at a Holiday Inn. I do have photo experience and equipment. Remember that this is for free. Now, just get out there, start talking to people, going to wherever horses are, take some pictures, and see where it takes you.

You'll soon learn the line where the freebies end and the paid jobs start.