Career Archives : Page 62 of 110 : Equus Education

Maths and Horses – do They Mix?

February 21, 2013 by Christine Meunier Leave a Comment

Perhaps it’s easy to be biased for or against working with numbers, and consequently base your answer on this. I’m going to say the answer is a resounding yes, when considering:

points systems at competitions or events
measurements for horse feeds
weights of horses to consider body score and health
wages that are earnt by people working with horses

The list goes on. But my train of thought for maths and horses focuses on a horse related career that I haven’t really explored on this blog. Bookmaking.

Anyone who has been along to a horse racing event may have spied the area for where you can place bets. Bookmakers make known the odds at which they’ll pay out for a particular horse if it wins or places, depending on your bet.

Now I’ve no idea on how easy it is to make a living providing such a service to others. What I’m willing to bet (pardon the pun), is that it requires a keen familiarity with figures and the form guide.

If your passion is horse racing, and you’ve a head for figures, perhaps this is the way to go. Particularly if riding racehorses, strapping or training them isn’t so appealing! With today’s take on technology, perhaps the ability to construct a website and formulate figures electronically would be an upside, too!

As with any desired career, it’s worth checking out what is already in the market. In fact, perhaps a job with a betting company may be the way to get your foot in the door and learn about this side of the horse industry. Consider the likes of William Hill grand national.

There are a myriad of possible horse related careers out there. If you haven’t yet found one that appeals, why not check out Vocation 100? This is an ever increasing list of horse related vocations and related posts on this blog.

“Horse sense – something that horses have, that stops them betting on humans.”

Profile On: Debbie Higgs, An Eventful Life

February 20, 2013 by Christine Meunier Leave a Comment

Have you always been interested in horses and when did you start out in the industry? What is it exactly that you do?
I grew up in England and rode when I was young but gave it up when I went to University in London (where I studied French and Drama). Years later when I moved to Australia I ended up in Canberra for a couple of years and took up riding again – been hooked ever since!

Although I have a literary based degree I ended up in the IT industry in sales and marketing roles for many years. My husband has a Publishing Services company called Palmer Higgs and in 2010 I decided to publish a book called An Eventful Life – Life Stories of Eventing Champions primarily about five of Australia’s Olympic medallists in eventing.

An Eventful Life, Debbie Higgs

The book led to a website of the same name www.an-eventful-life.com.au which was launched in March 2012 to cover eventing competitions in Australia and overseas as well as general horse related topics.

I run the website, write many of the articles and manage the business side of it. Basically I think of the website as being exactly like publishing a magazine except it is online rather than in print.

How much of your day/week is related to horses?
All of it! Starting with feeding my own horses in the morning then it is usually into my office at home to put up the first article of the day on the website. I spend most of my day:

writing articles related to horses
interviewing riders
organising coverage of horse events

In this field of work, is it possible to be a full time professional and earning a liveable income?
Journalism is a notoriously tough job and I’m fairly sure that if I was working as a freelance equestrian journalist it would be a struggle to make ends meet, especially in Australia. If I were based in Europe it would probably be easier to make a liveable income but event coverage is very hard work – long days and tight deadlines.

The website is part of our overall publishing services business and I hope will be profitable this financial year. Initially it requires the investment of considerable resources, including financial, to get a website like ours up and going so it is not something many people could do.

What are the general steps taken to be employed in such a role?
I do employ one person part time and she has many years experience in writing about eventing, as well as a background as an eventer and top class groom. For other contributors generally I look for people who have good, all round knowledge of the subject of eventing, excellent industry contacts and can show high quality examples of their work (whether published or not).

Some people have degrees in journalism or photography which is great but they also need to have a real love of the sport and a lot of energy! As we are web based they also need to have, or be able to quickly learn, the basics of publishing online content.

Favourite horse memory?
At the 2002 World Equestrian Games in Jerez, Spain I was lucky enough to have an owner’s pass which enabled me to go pretty much wherever I pleased at the event. I spent hours just watching the best riders and horses in the world “close up and personal” as well as watching the competitions. I think that is when the idea of the covering events ‘behind the scenes’ the way we do on An Eventful Life first came to me. There are so many great stories. I’ve been to many big events since but that was the first one and it made a big impression on me.

Future goals?
I think that An Eventful Life is becoming a well respected source of information about eventing in Australia and overseas and I’m looking forward to developing that and making it a viable business.

Best thing about your sport/profession?
Meeting amazing people and their horses. I’ve had the pleasure of interviewing most of Australia’s top eventers as well as international stars such as Mary King, William Fox-Pitt, Bettina Hoy, Michael Jung and Lucinda Green and I think it’s a real privilege to be able to spend time with them.

“Correction does much for the horse, but encouragement does more.” – Author Unknown

Eventing – Riding as a Lifestyle

February 17, 2013 by Christine Meunier Leave a Comment

Perhaps the place you feel most comfortable in the world is in the saddle. Perhaps you can’t decide which you like better:

Dressage
Show Jumping
Cross Country

Perhaps a dream way of living for you is combining these 3 disciplines and having people support you so that you can ride and work your way up the eventing ladder. I can definitely understand how some people may make this their ‘career’ choice.

One thing that seems prevalent at the top level in Australia is that eventing isn’t a sport or job choice that is easy financially. In other words, it will prove very difficult to have this as a main income source.

There are many costs involved, which tend to outweigh the revenue that can be earnt from performing well at top events:

The expense of keeping a few horses of high enough quality in peak fitness
The expense of entering events
Riding gear
A place to keep the horses
General living expenses

This doesn’t make eventing impossible – far from it! It’s just a challenge financially, one that is often aided for competitive riders in the form of sponsors. For those who dream of making eventing their life goal with horses, I’d highly recommend reading An Eventful Life, clocking up many hours in the saddle whilst under the tuition of great mentors and working your way through local and interstate events as time and funds permit.

Perhaps you want a career in the saddle, but your sights aren’t set on eventing. Check out the horseriding category of this site which focuses on polo, track work and other horse riding related careers.

‘Things that are worth fighting for often require a fight to get them.’ – Anonymous

Coach the Coaches Afternoon at the NCEE

February 12, 2013 by Christine Meunier Leave a Comment

The National Centre for Equine Education is hosting a Racing Victoria FREE event, Coach the Coaches this Sunday afternoon (February 17th) at 1pm.

Former UK National Hunt jockey Steve Smith Eccles will be the speaker. Eccles was a ‘top 5 jockey’s list for 10 consecutive years’. This event it to help people ‘learn techniques used to plan for coaching, participation and rider development in all equestrian disciplines’.

According to the flyer:
“After retiring from racing, Steve started the UK Jockey Coaching company in 2007, overseeing hands and heels and training race services for the British Racing School, with a Level 3 Certificate in Coaching Equestrian Riding with a Specialisation in Coaching Jockeys.”

Details again:

Coach the Coaches Afternoon with Steve Smith Eccles
Sunday 17th February 1pm
@ the National Centre for Equine Education, Rural Industry Campus, GOTAFE, Tone Rd, Wangaratta, Victoria

For details and registration contact Lisa Coffey on l.coffey@racingvictoria.net.au or (03) 9258 4328

A Qualification isn’t Everything

February 11, 2013 by Christine Meunier Leave a Comment

This may seem a little odd to read, seeing as the being of this blog is focused on equine education.

It seemed to me today whilst chatting with someone, that their sole focus was gaining a qualification in a particular field, and if they didn’t manage to achieve this certificate, then their time and effort invested in doing so was a complete waste! Do you ever feel this way?

My view is a different one – if I learn anything about horses whilst studying a horse course, then already I have gained. A qualification is a wonderful thing to achieve and be able to show, but this is never my incentive for taking on further study. What is yours?

What Horse Related Hurdle are you Currently Aiming to get Over?

Years ago a line really resonated with me in a sermon at church: ‘Every setback is a set up for a comeback.’

Just because you seem to be taking longer to achieve something doesn’t mean it won’t happen. And if your end goal is a piece of paper and it seems that this isn’t likely to occur, is this the end of the world?

I’ve had a lot of ‘setbacks’ in my horse learning journey so far. But they’ve been in some cases, just what I needed:

I was told that I couldn’t study horses in high school as they are dangerous, and a phase that every girl goes through and grows out of – this led to getting my parents’ support, completing the course and achieving the certificate of excellence for that course in 2001
This also led to the creation of this blog a few years later, as I set out to prove that horses are a viable career option
I applied for the Irish National Stud scholarship at my TAFE and missed out on this; I applied for the course externally and was knocked back that same year – thanking the stud for the opportunity, I was able to find out that if I gained 12 months industry experience, I would be taken into the course
I started that course (12 months later than planned), a lot more capable and informed horse person
I applied for a Certificate III in Equine Nursing in 2009 – I was knocked back for this because my incentive was further learning, rather than a job in the equine nursing industry
This led to me enrolling mid year in my equine science degree instead, which is helping me to greatly increase my technical and theoretical knowledge
I thought that by the time I’d been out of high school five years, I’d have purchased and be running my own horse property – that’s still a goal! But now going into my eleventh year out of high school, I know that I am in a better position now financially, theoretically and practically than I would have been six years ago
July of 2012 I got kicked in the head by a horse and at this point, I haven’t been able to work again with horses since, as I’m still building up my strength and looking after my head – the passion is still there and I’m still working in an equine (education) field
This shows me that horses for me are indeed for life

Horses will forever be about learning; no person in the world knows everything there is to know about horses.

Don’t be discouraged by any educational setbacks. Instead, sit back and ponder, ‘although this seems a setback for me, how is it setting me up for a comeback?’

“A Dog looks up to a man, a cat looks down on a man, but a patient horse looks a man in the eye and sees him as an equal.”

Maths and Horses – do They Mix?

Profile On: Debbie Higgs, An Eventful Life

Eventing – Riding as a Lifestyle

Coach the Coaches Afternoon at the NCEE

A Qualification isn’t Everything

Equus Education Store at TeachersPayTeachers

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