Competetion Yards

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Tilly-

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Hello all :)

My frist ever post
Just looking for some help.

Right i got offered a new job couple of days ago,which would be working on a competeion yard with the chance of taking horses to the small local shows, and going with them to the big events around the uk and places .

But the reason i havn't said yes yet is because people keep telling me they treat you like slaves , very early morning and late finishing and it is just very hard work , but i don't no because i have only ever worked on a livery yard so my question is what is the normal day to day thing that you do at a competetion yard

hope to hear back from some people :)
Tilly
 
i have my horse at competition livery
and it isnt slavework i guess.
but preparing for a show is. sometimes if the show is across the country i have to get up at 3 to reach at 6 to prepare for a class at 7.15
 
Used to start at 6:30am and finish when we finished. Which was somewhere between 5:30pm (IF we were lucky!) and 7pm. That does not include having to go out around 9pm to check horses. Typical day consisted of mucking out 5-10 horses, feeding, tacking up for the trainer, turning out to field, poo picking field, skipping out stalls, feeding, lunging youngsters, bring in from field, skipping out again, feeding, cleaning tack. Can't give you an exact time line for it because it varied with what was on the agenda for the day. It is hard work, you will be running around like a headless chicken some days, but if you work at a yard where the trainers are willing to teach you and you show initiative in wanting to learn how to do stuff, then you can learn so much about care/riding/training.
Hope this helps! (and wasn't too off putting lol)
 
I am on livery on a competition yard and yes it can be very long hours for the staff on competition days. However the staff are not expected to work any longer/harder than the owners and it is a "everyone mucks in" mentality. Not every day is competition and you really cannot beat it for experience if you end up at the right place where they also train/teach you. Bear in mind it can be hard work for low pay, but it would cost you quite a lot to get this type of tuition otherwise, and some yards give you discounts or let you keep your own horse at cost. This could be a good way of you producing some horses to make some additional money on the side.
 
It will be long hours, but in return you'll be getting the sort of opportunities and training that you'd not get anywhere else!
 
I worked at an event yard last summer. Yes it was hard work, and yes there were long hours but I loved every second of it! I got accommodation, livery for my mare, some lessons, and £100 a week. We did the early starts and late nights in a rolling rota, so if there were 5 of us working there we would do them once every 5 days.
Bear in mind that the standards are a lot higher in competition yards so you need to be quick, but at the same time everything must be spotless.
 
Thank you for all the comments

yes seems like it would be good ,As most of you say i will be learning much more and it will be very good experience , what i might do is say maybe do a week trails and see how it goes from there :)

Only thing i won't like is the early morning :( but guess you get used to them
 
Like with everything I think you get into a routine.
I always find 5am feels very early at home because even the dog gives me a dirty look ... 5am at the yard before a show, however, feels normal because peopel are chatting and preparing, etc ...
 
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