mossycup
Well-Known Member
I really enjoyed reading about BHS exam experiences when I was waiting to sit my Stage One, so thought I'd do my own exam report! Hopefully it might be helpful for anyone taking their Stage One exam this year and will give an insight in to the new format as well
PREPARATION
I am, by my own admission, a lot older than most taking the stage one exam, and I'd been out of the horse world for 15 years or so until last year, so I felt like I had a lot to catch up on! For revision, I used all the BHS Stage 1 books (old and new), the new BHS Stage 1 workbook and actually found the stage 1 dvd useful even though it shows the exam under the old format. I ride in a weekly group lesson, and I also had around 5 hours of private lessons in the run up to the exam to polish off any rusty bits and make sure I knew what the examiners would be looking for on the day (from the little things like having to adjust your stirrups with your foot in the stirrup to feeling confident in my no stirrup work). I don't have my own horse, nor do I work with them, so it was my stable management that I felt most rusty in - it had been a very, very long time since I'd mucked out or cleaned any tack, and the examiners aren't only looking for your knowledge, but that you can apply it practically in a safe and sensible way around the horse. I did spend some time at my local yard getting used to working around horses again, and crossed my fingers that very old muscle memory would help me through!
Clothing wise, you don't have to be in show gear/hacking jacket/beige jodhpurs anymore, as long as you are smart + tidy. You can wear different boots for the care and ride sections. There is clothing advice on the BHS website if you aren't sure what's acceptable.
EXAM DAY
Our exam day was split in to two care units (one in the morning, one in the afternoon) with the ride unit in the middle, that had both morning and afternoon candidates. Morning candidates had to be at the exam centre ready for briefing at 8.30. We were met by two very friendly and not in the least bit scary assessors who talked us through what was going to happen and reassured us/asked us to get them to repeat questions if we were unsure of anything. There was a bit of paperwork to do (remember your exam letter and bhs membership card!) at this point as well.
We went through to the yard where we were asked to discuss a little bit about horse behaviour before tying our horses up to muck out. Remembering to remove the water bucket, I mucked out (shavings on rubber matting), and was relieved to find I could still work a shavings fork and didn't bash myself/the horse with the sweeping brush! The assessor came round and asked us all individually about bedding/mucking out and I explained I'd left the banks up because I'd pull down and add fresh bedding at night when the horse came back in. Then we were on to grooming - I had a clipped pony and it was a cold day so had to fold/unfold rugs, and thankfully only forgot once that you're not allowed to duck under the horses neck and must unclip the leadrope(!). The assessor popped in during grooming to observe and ask some conformation/points of the horse questions, and while they weren't watching you like a hawk, you were aware of a quiet eye of observation on you even when they weren't directly at your stable!
Time to tack up - we had to fit a running martingale and a pair of brushing boots, as well as bridle/saddle which was all fine, and I was asked me about how I would check tack for safety/how would I check that bridle was fitted correctly
We were asked to trot up our ponies - walking away and trotting back (put your hat and gloves on!) and I was asked how I would present a horse for veterinary treatment, and then my thoughts on my horses condition/signs of health. We were then finished with the horses for that section so we filled a haynet, replaced their water and rugged them back up before heading to the tack room to take apart and clean a bridle. The examiner took us one by one during tack cleaning to talk about feed identification, rules of feeding, yard safety/roles + responsibilities and field management. Clean bridles were put back together again and then there was a short break before the ride section.
We were all allocated a horse - mine being a small cob, and we mounted from a block before adjusting stirrups etc. There is no independent riding within Stage One, so everything was undertaken as a ride with instruction from the Commander. On our first horses, we rode in walk, trot and canter, and without stirrups in walk + trot, before doing a swap to our second horses. Again we rode in walk, trot and canter, before doing some pole/light seat work. I was desperately nervous and felt like I had ridden like an absolute sack of spuds, not helped by new uncomfortable riding boots (don't be as silly as I was and break your boots in beforehand!). Both my horses were fine to ride and I knew the assessors weren't looking for the horses to be going beautifully, just that we could ride as a ride, complete the movements and be balanced/secure in the saddle, but I felt like I hadn't even managed that! The riding section did however seem go really fast (thank god) and we were done before I knew it.
A little bit more paperwork (evaluation form) and then my assessment was over. I was really unsure waiting for my results as my riding felt awful and I started going over every answer I had given - what if I'd said the wrong thing/done the wrong thing/would the fact it took me what felt like 2 million attempts to get a particularly stubborn pile of droppings out of the bottom of a barrow on to the muckheap go against me? (Not that I'm prone to melodrama or anything!)
After a full 10 working day wait, the big brown envelope landed on my mat and I was very, very relieved to see that I had passed both sections with some nice comments from the assessors. Phew! Overall I found the assessment a good experience, despite my nerves - and it's given my the confidence to go forward on to my Stage 2 assessment later on this year.
PREPARATION
I am, by my own admission, a lot older than most taking the stage one exam, and I'd been out of the horse world for 15 years or so until last year, so I felt like I had a lot to catch up on! For revision, I used all the BHS Stage 1 books (old and new), the new BHS Stage 1 workbook and actually found the stage 1 dvd useful even though it shows the exam under the old format. I ride in a weekly group lesson, and I also had around 5 hours of private lessons in the run up to the exam to polish off any rusty bits and make sure I knew what the examiners would be looking for on the day (from the little things like having to adjust your stirrups with your foot in the stirrup to feeling confident in my no stirrup work). I don't have my own horse, nor do I work with them, so it was my stable management that I felt most rusty in - it had been a very, very long time since I'd mucked out or cleaned any tack, and the examiners aren't only looking for your knowledge, but that you can apply it practically in a safe and sensible way around the horse. I did spend some time at my local yard getting used to working around horses again, and crossed my fingers that very old muscle memory would help me through!
Clothing wise, you don't have to be in show gear/hacking jacket/beige jodhpurs anymore, as long as you are smart + tidy. You can wear different boots for the care and ride sections. There is clothing advice on the BHS website if you aren't sure what's acceptable.
EXAM DAY
Our exam day was split in to two care units (one in the morning, one in the afternoon) with the ride unit in the middle, that had both morning and afternoon candidates. Morning candidates had to be at the exam centre ready for briefing at 8.30. We were met by two very friendly and not in the least bit scary assessors who talked us through what was going to happen and reassured us/asked us to get them to repeat questions if we were unsure of anything. There was a bit of paperwork to do (remember your exam letter and bhs membership card!) at this point as well.
We went through to the yard where we were asked to discuss a little bit about horse behaviour before tying our horses up to muck out. Remembering to remove the water bucket, I mucked out (shavings on rubber matting), and was relieved to find I could still work a shavings fork and didn't bash myself/the horse with the sweeping brush! The assessor came round and asked us all individually about bedding/mucking out and I explained I'd left the banks up because I'd pull down and add fresh bedding at night when the horse came back in. Then we were on to grooming - I had a clipped pony and it was a cold day so had to fold/unfold rugs, and thankfully only forgot once that you're not allowed to duck under the horses neck and must unclip the leadrope(!). The assessor popped in during grooming to observe and ask some conformation/points of the horse questions, and while they weren't watching you like a hawk, you were aware of a quiet eye of observation on you even when they weren't directly at your stable!
Time to tack up - we had to fit a running martingale and a pair of brushing boots, as well as bridle/saddle which was all fine, and I was asked me about how I would check tack for safety/how would I check that bridle was fitted correctly
We were asked to trot up our ponies - walking away and trotting back (put your hat and gloves on!) and I was asked how I would present a horse for veterinary treatment, and then my thoughts on my horses condition/signs of health. We were then finished with the horses for that section so we filled a haynet, replaced their water and rugged them back up before heading to the tack room to take apart and clean a bridle. The examiner took us one by one during tack cleaning to talk about feed identification, rules of feeding, yard safety/roles + responsibilities and field management. Clean bridles were put back together again and then there was a short break before the ride section.
We were all allocated a horse - mine being a small cob, and we mounted from a block before adjusting stirrups etc. There is no independent riding within Stage One, so everything was undertaken as a ride with instruction from the Commander. On our first horses, we rode in walk, trot and canter, and without stirrups in walk + trot, before doing a swap to our second horses. Again we rode in walk, trot and canter, before doing some pole/light seat work. I was desperately nervous and felt like I had ridden like an absolute sack of spuds, not helped by new uncomfortable riding boots (don't be as silly as I was and break your boots in beforehand!). Both my horses were fine to ride and I knew the assessors weren't looking for the horses to be going beautifully, just that we could ride as a ride, complete the movements and be balanced/secure in the saddle, but I felt like I hadn't even managed that! The riding section did however seem go really fast (thank god) and we were done before I knew it.
A little bit more paperwork (evaluation form) and then my assessment was over. I was really unsure waiting for my results as my riding felt awful and I started going over every answer I had given - what if I'd said the wrong thing/done the wrong thing/would the fact it took me what felt like 2 million attempts to get a particularly stubborn pile of droppings out of the bottom of a barrow on to the muckheap go against me? (Not that I'm prone to melodrama or anything!)
After a full 10 working day wait, the big brown envelope landed on my mat and I was very, very relieved to see that I had passed both sections with some nice comments from the assessors. Phew! Overall I found the assessment a good experience, despite my nerves - and it's given my the confidence to go forward on to my Stage 2 assessment later on this year.
