Blog : Equus Education

Is Your Role What You Want It To Be?

September 11, 2012 by Christine Meunier 1 Comment

A rather amusing picture shared on facebook made me have a think about my role with horses. The picture aptly shows different roles with horses depending on who is picturing what you do as a horse owner.

It got me thinking – what is my role with horses and what do I want it to be?

At the moment my role physically with horses is limited due to recovering from a head injury. However, my role writing about horses (which I LOVE) is continuing and I can honestly say that my previous role with horses has been what I want:

gaining experience and learning new skills
travel to Ireland, France and South Africa
playing outside with mares and foals
putting horses through the sale ring in Australia
writing about horses and generating a small income from this
teaching about horses

Is your role with horses what you want it to be? If not – what are you doing to work towards what you want?

If you aren’t sure of what you want, consider checking out the ‘Profile On‘ category to see what horse related roles are available and some advice from those already doing it. You may also like to check out ‘Vocation 100‘ a list of over 100 different equine related jobs that I’ve written blog posts on. Enjoy!

Importing Horses

September 5, 2012 by Christine Meunier 1 Comment

barblivinghorsemuseum — This guy at a national stud in France had me seriously liking the look of the Barb breed!

So a friend of mine is keen to further encourage a breed that isn’t very common in Australia and we’ve been talking of future plans once she has enough saved to import.

She also expressed an interest in writing a booklet for those new to this particular breed which I think is a great idea.

Have you thought of importing a particular breed that has better bloodlines elsewhere or isn’t easy to acquire in your area? When looking at horses as a business, there are many things to consider:

How much is the horse going to cost?
What are quarantine regulations and time restraints?
Will the horse cope with your local environment?
How will you get the breed of horse known in your local vicinity?
Will you buy a horse in the flesh, import semen or send your mare overseas to be bred to a stallion?

Food for thought! I’m excited about this future prospect and can’t wait until I’m in a position to consider importing horses and breed my own in the future 🙂

“Poverty is another word for owning a horse…”

What You Know can Determine Who You Know

July 26, 2012 by Christine Meunier 2 Comments

A mare and foal seeing as it's 'breeding week' for us at work. — A mare and foal seeing as it’s ‘breeding week’ for us at work.

We’ve got a short course at work this week and we needed some industry people to come in and talk about their role as a night watch person – that is, foaling down mares.

Other students that are in for a two week breeding block we’re taking out on a stud tour and having someone come in to talk to them about the nutrition of stud stock.

All of these opportunities were made possible based on knowledge. Many say that it’s who you know that will get you places, but I’m coming to believe that it’s what you know that puts you in touch with these people in the first place.

Being keen, consistently seeking to learn and being reliable, build up who you know and who’s willing to step in for you. And of course, once you can rely on these people, they’re often willing to let you have access to their network of people, too! Always strive to be interested, informed and reliable. It’ll do you the world of good.

“To learn all that a horse could teach, was a world of knowledge, but only a beginning…” – Mary O’Hara

Equitana Volunteering – That Time of Year Again

July 18, 2012 by Christine Meunier 1 Comment

For those interested in helping out at this awesome equine event, check out Equitana’s Volunteer Page.

I’ve volunteered once and had a ball! I dobbed myself in for the education area and came away that much more aware of courses that were available for the equine enthusiast.

Pretty much the idea is that you volunteer yourself for a particular section of the event:

Competition
Education
Exhibition
General Office
Administration
Evening programs in Grand Pavilion Indoor Arena
Stables & Breed Village
Transfer Team
“Floater”

For further details, take a look at the website and consider becoming a part of one of the biggest equine events in Australia. Volunteer work is a great way to network and it looks great on the resume!

This year I’ll be on the other side of it. You can come find me at the NCEE stand :).

“All I need to know in life I learned from my horse: great legs and a nice rear will get you anywhere in life. Big, brown eyes help too.”

Is Your Role What You Want It To Be?

Importing Horses

What You Know can Determine Who You Know

Equitana Volunteering – That Time of Year Again

Equus Education Store at TeachersPayTeachers

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