Bhs challenge awards versus stages

Chocoholic

Chocoholic

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Hi

Just wanting your opinions please. Has anyone done the BHS challenge awards. If so how did you find them. I’m unsure wether to have a go at these or sign up for the stage 1 care/ride.
I’ve got a riding assessment next Friday at a yard that offers both of these and they are going to discuss both options with me. I just wondered what you guys thought. I’m not planning on working with horses at the moment but in the future you never know. I’m swaying more towards the stage 1 as I feel it’s a proper qualification but the challenge awards sound fun too
Any advice greatly appreciated thanks
 
I've not done either (yet) but have been looking into both, recently. For me, as I'm not likely to ever go into horse care or riding as a career, I've decided that if I were to do one or the other, I'd choose the challenge awards.

As far as I can tell, the challenge awards teach you much the same as the official qualifications, but they don't go into quite as much detail and are geared more towards personal gain as opposed to professional accreditation.

Stage 1 is part of the career pathways qualifications, so are certainly tailored with a career in horse care or riding in mind. If you're not looking to go into a career with horses, I'd say the challenges would be your best bet. You may find that doing the challenge awards makes you realise you do actually want a career with horses (or not) in which case you can then look into Stage 1 (or just stick with the CA).
 
Challenge Awards are for recreational riders and achieving Platinum Level can award you direct access in to your Stage 2 exam without having to do your Stage 1 first (although you'd still need to do your ride safe) As they can be achieved on a 'as you learn' basis and are assessed by your coach, they are good for those who can't commit to a formal exam or suffer terribly from nerves! They look like lots of fun and would be a good way to set goals without too much pressure.
 
The Challenge awards are cheaper and less stressful because it isn't an exam situation. You can (or you could) also do then at a younger age than you can your stage 1. My daughter did them when she was 12 -although that was before the new stages system. You can also do your ride safe at 12 and start training for your stage 2. If you want to go into horses as a career you get a massive leap on everyone if you already have your stage 2 before looking at equine colleges. You can do 3 of the 4 stages at 14 - but you now have to wait until 17 to do the teach part. When DD did it the PTT didn't come in until after the stage 3!
 
If you are not looking to work professionally you might find the Challenge Awards more fun! The bronze and silver cover more or less what you would cover in a stage 1 exam and by completing the silver awards (not the platinum as previous poster said) you get direct entry to the Stage 2 exams, so you wont have lost anything by not doing your stage 1. Ride safe is also part of the silver awards which you would also need for Stage 1.
 
Thanks everyone for your advice. I was kind of swaying towards the challenge awards as I’d read up that if you can achieve silver you can go onto this do the stage 2 and this will give me an idea of what there like to do 😊
 
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