BHS training

[Skyscraper]

Hello! I've not posted a thread before but would really appreciate some opinions either way! To cut a long story short, I am in my forties, and my office based career has been thrown up into the air in a big way! My big passion is horses, I have ridden since age 12, but never owned before. For the last few years, I have shared some lovely horses and progressed my training to a point where I'm getting a nice seat. I haven't yet decided on my future, but was thinking about how realistic it would be to go through the BHS levels with a view to eventually coaching. Funding should not be a problem and I would be prepared to put in enormous effort to do this. Am I in cloud cuckoo land or is this something that could work out, bearing in mind that it could still be a twenty year career? Thank you in advance!

 

[EventingMum]

It would be hard work but definitely not impossible. Realistically without a good competition record you will be attractive for teaching in a riding school, lower level PC/RC environment. As a RS proprietor if you were reliable and full of common sense you would be the type of person I would potentially be interested in employing when you gained your coaching qualifications (Stage 2 teach or beyond), the downside would be, as I'm sure you know, that the pay would not be huge, however there may be other benefits like riding and further training. I don't tend to employ people purely to coach, my staff also do yard work but other yards may be different. Freelancing is always an option but is unlikely to produce a consistent income and will vary with weather, time of the year etc. Good luck if you do decide to go for it.

 

[be positive]

I would be thinking long and hard before doing this, there is no reason you could not start out along the BHS route, age is certainly not a restriction but to be starting out as a coach with no real background may be less easy unless you are prepared to do mainly RS work or prove to be an extremely gifted instructor, I just cannot see you making a living training private clients as a freelancer unless you have a sound competition background or have a USP that is in demand in your area.
I do some teaching, have a few liveries and can say standing outside most of the day in the rain, wind or even the hot sun can be surprisingly hard work and even the toughest riders can be fickle when weather is not ideal so it can impact on your income if you don't have regular hours somewhere such as a RS.

 

[Skyscraper]

I would be thinking long and hard before doing this, there is no reason you could not start out along the BHS route, age is certainly not a restriction but to be starting out as a coach with no real background may be less easy unless you are prepared to do mainly RS work or prove to be an extremely gifted instructor, I just cannot see you making a living training private clients as a freelancer unless you have a sound competition background or have a USP that is in demand in your area.
I do some teaching, have a few liveries and can say standing outside most of the day in the rain, wind or even the hot sun can be surprisingly hard work and even the toughest riders can be fickle when weather is not ideal so it can impact on your income if you don't have regular hours somewhere such as a RS.

It would be hard work but definitely not impossible. Realistically without a good competition record you will be attractive for teaching in a riding school, lower level PC/RC environment. As a RS proprietor if you were reliable and full of common sense you would be the type of person I would potentially be interested in employing when you gained your coaching qualifications (Stage 2 teach or beyond), the downside would be, as I'm sure you know, that the pay would not be huge, however there may be other benefits like riding and further training. I don't tend to employ people purely to coach, my staff also do yard work but other yards may be different. Freelancing is always an option but is unlikely to produce a consistent income and will vary with weather, time of the year etc. Good luck if you do decide to go for it.

Thank you both for your replies! Some of these thoughts have passed through my head - especially the lack of competition record. I'm very torn as part of me thinks that if I don't at least try this, I'll never know, as I love working with people and horses. The sensible side says that I should stick to my 9-5 with a view to buying my own horse!

 

[mossycup]

I'm in my thirties and have just started on the coaching pathway. I'm self employed anyway and don't forsee coaching being a full time income, but I want to do it for my own personal development and to see what opportunities it may open up in the future.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained I say and you definitely won't lose anything by getting these qualifications - ultimately the training and preparation will only be of benefit no matter what you decide to do