Anyone ever completed the BHS horse owners certificate?

holzrokz

holzrokz

Well-Known Member
Joined
4 August 2010
Messages
376
Location
Devon(holidays)/Essex(uni)
Visit site
As title really. Was just having a look at what it entails and how you go about doing it and have some questions for anyone who's done it. Have ridden for years and now have a horse share but will look at getting my own at some point in the future. Would say my knowledge of care is probably greatly lacking in some areas.

Did you find it worthwhile or would/did you consider doing some other form of qualification such as BHS stage 1 instead?

How did you do the course? Have seen on the BHS site that you can either find a qualified instructor or do it through distance learning. However I looked at the distance learning sites and costs and it is rather pricey! Would it be cheaper to do it through a riding school/instructor? If you do it through an instructor do they 'teach' you bits or just see how much you know and then give you appropriate things to read?

Can you 'skip' some of the actual 'learning elements' and just do the exam? I looked at one the sample exam papers and thought I could possibly/probably pass the level 1 assessment now, or at least with just a tiny bit of revision.

Thanks all :)
 
I haven't done the courses but I plan to at some point. My OH told me if I took my stage 1 I'd pass straight away but me being a worrier I decided to borrow his theory books to swat up a bit and bought a book of exam questions.... I was pretty shocked at how badly I did in some of the sections :o It's all in the wording and doing things the BHS way and if you don't word it the way they want it you won't get the points. Even answers that are correct and common sense weren't passable because they weren't what they were looking for :(
I took it up to the OH's with me and we had a wee Q&A session (he's a farrier and has a distinction in Equine Management on top of his extensive experience with horses) and even he got quite a few wrong because he was doing what I did - giving a "correct answer" but not the answer they were looking for :rolleyes: It's harder than I thought ha ha! :D
I'd definitely reccomend getting the books to have a read up and the exam question book is a great tool for me so I'd reccomend that too.

Good luck!
 
Yes that's one thing I thought about. I could look at some of the questions and thought I know how to answer that in a way that they would like but others that i'm not quite so certain of I probably wouldn't get the marks as it wouldn't be exactly how they would like it. Am used to that way of thinking with school/A level/Uni exams and think I would at least need to brush up on the 'BHS' way of doing things :D
 
I have done my level 1 and passed it 90% :-) I took two hour lessons with one hour theory and one hour practical for about ten weeks then took a final exam at the end :-)
 
I did the level one at college and scored 90% (I lost 10% for using headpiece rather than crown piece- wording matters!) I don't think I actually learned anything, but we did only do the first level.
 
i did my bhs stage one about 4 years ago, i had a horse for a few years, but he was on part livery so always had help and advice. useful to increase your knowledge, however, test wise, there is stuff to learn just to pass, as the BHS have certain ways of doing things that many people dont do in real life! for example, putting on a rug you are ment to fold it in half first, then fold it back when on, i just chuck them on my horses, everyone i know does, i dont waste time folding it, unless they were young and nervous.
also quite expensive
i just prefer to read up on areas of interest and use things like forums for knowledge, i avoid any more exams!
 
I did level 1 over two weekends, intensive course.

Got 100%!!! : )

Will be doing level 2 soon.

I found it brilliant and learnt lots about hooves, worms, feeding etc....

:-)
 
My 12 year old daughter and her friend have just done level 2 and both passed with flying colours. They skipped level 1 and will be starting level 3 soon. We got an instructor to the yard to do a course or an couple of hours every saturday morning for 9 weeks for a group of 7 people. She charged £110 per person. Everyone on the course said they learnt loads and are all going on to do level 3
 
Horse Owners and Stages are different (OP knows this but some of the replies seem confused)

If you go on the Register of Instructors you will find list of them in your area. Those with an "H" after their name mean that they run the courses. Contact them and ask for details.

I run these when I have a group of people wanting. They are not designed to be taught 1-2-1 but in a group classroom basis. It is not a practical course (although I do try to if I can). In a group of 4+ I usually run a Level 1 course over 6 weeks (1hour a week) for £175.
 
I've done all four levels :eek: Did level one with Lingfield Correspondence (distance learning) and the other three levels at Plumpton College on a Saturday course over about 8 weeks per level. Can't remember the exact costs but going to Plumpton was a lot cheaper than Lingfield!

I'm really glad I did the certificates as I learnt important information about the care of horses. Learning at college was far better than distance learning as we got hands on experience with things like bandaging and clipping as well as looking at different items of tack, feeds and, oh, lots of other things!

I would highly recommend doing the certificates if you can. :)
 
jenny00 said:
My 12 year old daughter and her friend have just done level 2 and both passed with flying colours. They skipped level 1 and will be starting level 3 soon. We got an instructor to the yard to do a course or an couple of hours every saturday morning for 9 weeks for a group of 7 people. She charged £110 per person. Everyone on the course said they learnt loads and are all going on to do level 3
Click to expand...

Skipped level 1? Have they received their certificates yet because the BHS do not allow that.
 
Interesting thoughts, thanks all. It certainly seems better and cheaper to go down the instructor route rather than the online learning route.
I could really do with some hands on learning to be fair, the mojority of what I have learnt over the years is through books alone. Even if not needed for the exam as such, learning to bandage or clip with hands on experience would be much better. I will certainly have to learn the correct way of doing things, am very much guilty of just chucking on rugs rather than 'folding' :rolleyes:

For anyone who has knowledge/experience of both BHS stages and horse owners certificate how would the amount on knowledge needed for level 4 horse owners compare with the level needed for the BHS stage 1?
 
Galaxy, BHS have confirmed their marks and sent certificates. When friends looked into doing it there were several colleges who stated that Level 1 could be skipped
 
jenny00 said:
Galaxy, BHS have confirmed their marks and sent certificates. When friends looked into doing it there were several colleges who stated that Level 1 could be skipped
Click to expand...

They must have recently changed the rules as in the info pack I have that they orginally sent me (6 years ago) it clearly states you can't. Very surprised they have changed the rule (and perhaps they should keep their instructors up to date! But nevermind!)
 
I'll look into that further but I'm sure that's what my friend said. They have someone who is a former chairman of the BHS presenting their certificates to them next week so presume no rules were broken!!
 
jenny00 said:
I'll look into that further but I'm sure that's what my friend said. They have someone who is a former chairman of the BHS presenting their certificates to them next week so presume no rules were broken!!
Click to expand...

Don't worry. The certificates would not have been issued if there was a problem. :)
 
Good thread OP. I am thinking of doing them too. I had a look online and I too thought Stage 1 looked okay and would defo like the hands on approach.

I think doing at least level 1 should be made mandatory before purchasing a horse for your own personal use.
 
Yeah I did my horse owners stage one and passed with over 90%. Didn't stop me messing up a lot when I got my first horse!

No substitute for experience.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top