I was surprised to find chatting with a young girl at the riding school where I teach the other day that she wants to become a jockey. But why should this surprise me? A riding school would be the perfect place to start out learning how to ride a horse at a young age.

If you have a desire to one day be involved with racing horses – be it thoroughbreds, quarter horses, arabs or perhaps standardbreds – then the best place to start would be at a young age getting hours in the saddle and around horses, learning about how they move, their temperaments and general health. Gaining experience in the saddle at a young age will make it easier I believe to pursue track work at training properties in the future.

Research your possibilities – it’s great to get experience but make sure you’re learning where you’re working, that you’re not being given horses past your capability as you start out but that you’re also being given opportunities to prove yourself.

Also consider taking up a job as a track rider or an apprenticeship if offered to you and be willing to travel – the best races across the world or even one country will be found in different states/regions. You’ll need to travel to take part in these race meetings.

Take a look at http://www.jockeysroom.com/msg4.htm -this page answers many questions about becoming a flatwork jockey and provides links to relevant sites as well as some information about being a jumps jockey.

http://www.northernracingcollege.co.uk/ – offering courses and apprenticeships on a range of horse related vocations but especially becoming a jockey.

The Australian Thoroughbred Racing Employment Centre site lists positions across Australia in relation to track work.

http://www.jagb.co.uk/wanttobeajockey.aspx – Professional Jockeys Association

http://www.brs.org.uk/ – the British Racing School

“There is nothing wrong with being an intelligent rider” – Mike Smith.

tag: horseriding, training, education, united kingdom, apprenticeship, racing, travel, racehorses, thoroughbreds, jockey, exercise rider

For me, the idea of running my own business from home is one of the most appealing I can think of. One business that works well from home (if you have the acreage and horse numbers, of course) is trail riding.

In Australia I’ve been to a fair amount of trail riding properties, with at least 50% of these being where the owner/manager also lives and looks after their horses. The trails themselves are on public property, reserves/parks, beaches and possibly across some roads to get to the riding destination.

The trails I went on in South Africa were all across land owned by the council which was apparently open to a couple of trail riding businesses in the area who had received permission to travel over this land as part of their business/service provided.

In Ireland I went to two very different places, one that was set up on a very small acreage with stables and an arena. Here the owner of the business actually had all of her riders one at a time carry out a walk, trot and canter to prove their capability in the saddle before heading out on a trail ride down the road and to the beach. The second was actually a property of about 40 acres set up with many jumps throughout about four different paddocks. You were able to ride the owner’s horses that were used for hunts and therefore capable of jumping. With about a dozen other classmates from the Irish National Stud, we had a ball cantering around on these sturdy mounts and popping over any jump that came along – it was a heap of fun.

Whatever type of trail riding business you run, it’s a given you’ll need land or the use of land which provides areas to ride in that can keep a rider interested for 1 hour, 2 or perhaps a whole day. On top of this you’re going to want bombproof mounts and insurance. Sometimes a piece of paper is a step up to getting yourself insured. Take a look at some qualifications available in Australia at http://www.ahse.info/trailguides.htm.

“EQUINOMIC$ – The distribution and depletion of a large percentage of a horse owners cash flow.”

tag: horseriding, national stud, australia, south africa, career

Stumbled across another site/association relating to Horse Safety in Australia (http://www.ahse.info/) a couple of days ago and was happy to see they offered another qualification/s relating to instructing horseriding in Australia.

The different qualifications cover:
– Assistant Instructor (minimum age to start this is 16)
– Instructor (minimum of 18 years)
– Senior Instructor
– Horse Program Manager
– Clinic Instructor (Arena; minimum age of 25)

A requirement or pre-requisite for any of these qualifications is basic first aid (Level 1) for Assistant and at least Level 2 for any other qualifications. This is worth getting for anyone considering instructing as you’ll find it’s needed for any horse riding teaching qualification, especially if you plan on being insured. There’s also insurance information on the site, take a look at http://www.ahse.info/instructors.htm.

“Boot, saddle, to horse, and away!” – Robert Browning

tag: horseriding, course, training, australia, instructing, coaching, career

I like to keep an eye on the stats of my website – how many people visit, where they’re referred from or if they stumbled across my site through a search engine, what phrase they used to find the site. A recent one was ‘do you need any qualifications to teach people to ride horses’.

Although I’ve written quite a few posts regarding becoming qualified to teach, I realise I haven’t actually answered that particular question. I don’t believe it is compulsory to be qualified to teach, just as it isn’t compulsory to be able to execute a certain movement on a horse to be able to teach it. (Though, I do believe this makes you a more capable teacher as you know how to execute a certain movement rather than just explain how to do it).

There are quite a few benefits to being qualified to teach:
– You can receive a higher rate of pay with a piece of paper without having to prove yourself as an instructor.
– If you’ve done so through a nationally recognised course, you can more easily get insurance to teach.
– You’ll be in contact with others in the industry due to doing a course and stay up to date while doing the course and beyond.
– Most riding schools when looking for instructors would prefer someone who has gone to the trouble of getting a piece of paper.

However, if you are recognised as a good rider (perhaps people know your name due to performing well in competitions), then you may find people seek you out due to your success, rather than because you carry a piece of paper. For example, an equestrian who has competed at Olympic level may be more sought after and able to charge a higher fee than someone who has just finished their Level 1 for Instructing. If you don’t ride at a competitive or recognised level though, the piece of paper should open many doors for you.

If you don’t have a qualification but want to get one, you’ll find there are schools around who are willing to employ someone who is going to invest the time it takes to get a piece of paper. I’d allow a couple of years to gain the qualification alongside working. Other pieces of paper you may need alongside this could include a Police Check to prove you’re fine to work with children and a current First Aid Certificate.

“Hoof picks migrate” – Horse Stuff Co.

tag: horseriding, course, Level 1, coaching, instructing, competition