competition yard

[Tilly-]

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

 

[-Cadence-]

If you truly want to work with horses, I would recommend it; if it's just something to do for the summer I wouldn't.
At the moment we have two young riders with us, and whilst they are paid above minimum wage, and have nice, modern accommodation provided it is a very hard job. You have to consider the early mornings and late night checks, the lack of social life and that (on our yard) you can;t bring your own horse or pets.
However, if you are looking for a career as a rider, I'd say go for it - our girls aren't as lucky as I was, and don't have the sort of money to buy a young horse with potential or have regular lessons with dressage school masters. Working on our yard they get to ride a variety of dressage horses from just backed 4 year olds, to horses regularly competing at GSP and above. In the last year we've taken staff to the World Dressage Masters, Dressage At Devon and WEG, and they've competed at levels that would be virtually impossible without our help and horses.

 

[Booboos]

Well no one should take a job where you would be treated like a slave, but why do you think this would be the case here? Have the employers clarified how many hours a day they would expect you to work, how many weekends, whether you would get a day off, how much you would get paid, what kind of accommodation you could expect when travelling, etc?

All work with horses is very hard work and if you are working with competition animals it is reasonable to expect you to work to a high standard of care, but is this something you are interested in doing? Will you get rides or lessons in exchange and is this something you have an interest in? With the right trainer this can be invaluable, but if you are not interested in it, then it makes no sense to go for this job in particular.

Finally, do you want to be a competition groom? Do you think you'd get job satisfation out of preparing a horse for competitions, watching them do well, etc.? Or would you prefer a livery yard or a riding centre job? Very different jobs really.

 

[Paint it Lucky]

Ditto what the others have said really, it could be really good but depends if it's what you want! I would make sure you know exactly what you will be doing, how many hours work a day, how many days off do you get, do you get set lunch/tea breaks or is it a case of grabbing a bite to eat/drink when there's a spare moment. What wage will you get, is tax/national insurance already deducted or do they expect you to sort this out? Does the job include any accomodation, can you take own horse, etc etc. Just make sure you are really clear on everything, some equine employers can be a bit vague (these are often the ones best avoided!) others are more than happy to explain everything to you which is what you want. Make sure you always communicate well with whoever you work for otherwise things can get quite tricky, small problems escalate as no one tells anyone anything etc! Potentially it could be a great job but make sure you go into it with your eyes open.