I’ve been at the Melbourne Premier Yearling Sales for the past 9 days with work; reminding myself once again that I am not a big fan of yearlings and the long sale days involved!

One of the young women helping out at the sales is partaking in a horse course through TAFE and had to do a certain amount of hours for her placement and an assignment to match.  Being a sale, a lot of advertising material is often available for those with regards to stallions and service fees, agistment, foaling services and whatever else studs offer to clients.

There are quite a lot of equine education facilities that also encourage excursions for students to attend the sales and learn more about the industry.  Northern Melbourne Institute of TAFE in Epping prepare their own yearlings for the sale with their students gaining industry experience this way.

The student with us gathered a lot of advertising materials and came back with some information regarding NMIT’s campus and courses on offer.  I couldn’t help myself and had to have a look and discovered the Bachelor of Equine Studies – http://www.nmit.vic.edu.au/courses/bachelor_of_equine_studies.

I hadn’t realised that a TAFE facility offered a bachelor, nevermind one with horses!  Someone else at work has done a Bachelor of Equine Science through Charles Sturt University – http://www.csu.edu.au/courses/undergraduate/equine_studies_science/ – and is now doing her Masters.

I’ve only completed up to Diploma level but love the theory based work and the science/vet side of things so am suddenly entertaining the idea of carrying out a Bachelor study, part time.  The course full time is 3 years and through NMIT, you’re looking at about $12,000 a year.

I did balk at that fee but have since been chatting with friends who studied at Uni and have made use of HECS and believe this may be the way to go to carry out such a course and be able to afford it.

It’s wonderful to know that the study of horses is now such that you can gain a qualification at a Bachelor level and go on to do your Masters as well as gain practical experience and business skills to help with managing a horse property or setting up your own.  I love that I’m working with horses in such a time as this.

“What the colt learns in youth he continues in old age.” – French Proverb

Tag: equine studies, equine science, masters, bachelor study

No experience with horses but interested in breaking into the Thoroughbred or Harness Racing Industry? The Gippsland Harness Training Centre offers training in a hands on environment to all ages and backgrounds, opening doors to a career in the equine industry.

Practical skills are covered in numerous areas:
– handling horses safely; horse first aid
– dental care for horses; temperatures and respiratory rates
– vital signs; mixing feed rations
– horse massage (Equissage); hoof care
– IM injections; drenching
– tacking up; participation in race meetings
– grooming / skin diseases

There is a centre in which you can study or if you are employed in the industry, workplace delivery may be possible.

There is the chance to complete Certificate II and III in Racing (Stablehand) focused on Thoroughbred and Harness; Certificate III in Racing (Owner Trainer) for Harness; Certificate IV in Racing (Thoroughbred Owner Trainer); Certificate IV in Racing (Harness Training) and Certificate IV in Racing (Advanced Harness Driver).

Whether you want to drive harness horses, train either breed of racehorse or be a knowledgeable stablehand, it may be worth checking out www.ecg.vic.edu.au. Online learning and part time also available. You set the pace of your learning. For those with concession, courses are less than 20% of those paying full fees.

Tag: harness driving, horse racing, sulkey, harness racing, trotters, thoroughbreds, pacers

“A racehorse is an animal that can take several thousand people for a ride at the same time.”

I work with a couple of extremely intelligent women at my new job, it seems.  Two weekends ago I was chatting with one who’s to go back to studying this year to complete her Masters.

It turns out she’s been focusing on science and the reproduction of horses.  Curious to know how you can do a Masters relating to horses, I questioned how many years of science had to be completed before she actually got to start studying in relation to horses.

Two years of straight science before a sign of studying horses but now she’s to be working on a piece that looks at the environment of the mare’s uterus while pregnant and the link between the gender of the foal.

How exciting!  She has a theory that she will spend the next couple of years studying and writing up and quite possibly proving to be right.

If you have a passion for sciences and the physiology of horses – that is, how their systems work – maybe something in this direction could be of interest.  Especially if you have an academic mind, love to write and have your own theory about why things work a particular way in a horse’s system.

“Here lies the body of my good horse, The General. For years he bore me around the circuit of my practice and all that time he never made a blunder. Would that his master could say the same.” – John Tyler’s epitaph for his horse

Tag: equine physiology, horse science, masters

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Enjoy horse stories and learning?  Take a look at some of my novel in progress that is to be finished this year and published.

I’ve often thought how much fun it would be to be able to drive a sulkey and partake in harness racing as a driver.

A friend I met while studying in Ireland used to work on a Standardbred farm and said that they bred and trained the horses on the farm.  Consequently she got to learn to drive and focused on breeding and this form of racing.  Being Standardbreds, they also used AI for breeding their horses and so she also learnt about and carried out the practice of Artificial Insemination.

Not legal on a Thoroughbred stud, I’m still toying with the idea of spending a season on a Standardbred stud just to be able to learn about these two different areas when it comes to horses.

Some facts I’ve found with regards to drivers in Australia:
– they are paid a fee for driving and generally 5% of the stakes money that is earnt
– you’ll want to look at working in a harness stable for at least six months to become a driver
– at this stage you’re able to drive pacing horses in track work and then apply for a C grade license which permits you to drive in trials
– a B grade license allows driving in country races and you’re assessed by stewards for this once you’ve built up enough skill/practice

Some drivers are self employed and this is all that they do but the majority train and drive or do so on a part time basis and have a second job to keep the income coming in.

If you’re interest lies in this area, try to seek out possible employment at a stable or training complex so you can get to know the industry and possibly get yourself in a position of being able to have a go in a sulkey.

Take a look at the Racing and Wagering Western Australia .pdf file on Careers in the Racing Industry:
http://www.rwwa.com.au/home/RITBrochure.pdf

“It excites me that no matter how much machinery replaces the horse, the work it can do is still measured in horsepower…..even in this space age. And although a riding horse often weighs half a ton, and a big drafter a full ton, either can be led about by a piece of string if he has been wisely trained. This to me is a constant source of wonder, and challenge.” – Marguerite Henry

Tag: harness driving, horse racing, sulkey, harness racing, trotters