Future Employment/College advice

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whereisthesun

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Our daughter is still very young but she has the opportunity of going to equestrian college at age 14 (level 1 equine). She's already done her bronze challenge awards and working on silver.

Thing is at this age no one really knows what they want to do and although she loves horses she's already clued up that most yard work is a hard 12 HR shift etc ..

I also know that the jobs pool is shrinking. And I'm wondering if these equine courses are favoured or whether yards are more interested in the bHS certs or both?

As a family I guess I'm trying to think if more opportunities if not refining it directly to equestrian college?
 
Id say you have to be very committed to go into equine industry. Expect long hours and poor pay. But at the same time hopefully the equine college does all the normal subjects too, to open up for any university?

Then it doesn't really matter in the end. Id be really hesitant for my own daughter if it was a course that didn't cover all the normal GCSE and a level type subjects. Basically if it limits her to equine careers only I would probably avoid it. But if it's an all-round education plus you get to play ponies then go for it :)
 
Thanks 👍. It won't let me edit my post... should of added she's a hands on learner so school have suggested it and yes she'd be expected to sit maths and English GCSE still. My next only concern is the other children attending, what we don't want is to be pushed down this route with other children who don't want to be there...but I guess you may get this in other situations anyhow 🙈
 
I'm Dun said:
employers hae zero interest in college qualifications and a lot will actively avoid them. They want proof of having done the job. BHS certificates are a big bonus for teaching at least, not so much for grooms work
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I was wondering about this...same as my job...college courses have no idea on what I do... generally on the job it's completely different!
 
Ive had people come through yards I work who are still at school but come to use for set periods of time in the week which seemed to work quite well. College courses tend to be useless really for long term careers. But at 14 it probably doesnt matter that much.
 
In your situation I wouldn’t dismiss equine college.
Personally I would prefer an apprenticeship on a carefully chosen yard with a good provider. But her age would prevent that.
completing the course would still be getting a qualification and she’s still young enough to then go into another sector if she wishes.
In my opinion BHS exams a) are only really useful if you want to teach b) only become valuable on the care side at stage 4 and 5.
The job market is changing. Good people still find jobs but realistically she might have to move away depending on where you live.
The last apprentice I oversaw was a lovely girl but I knew realistically she wasn’t going to make it in the industry. She was a hard worker but she wasn’t ever going to have the skill level needed in the industry. She completed her apprenticeship and she had come on leaps and bounds but in my heart I knew she wasn’t destined for a career in horses. She couldn’t find a job in our local area so went to work in an office instead.
She needed the time to mature. She had struggled at school socially and slightly academically. Doing the apprenticeship gave her time to gain some confidence and make some friends.
 
How will it work if she is going at 14? Many of these colleges are residential, with morning and evening yards around lectures. I did BTEC Equine at Hartpury straight after GCSEs (now a Finance Director so super relevant 🤣). It was my first time living away from home, we had a great time (too much so on occasion!), but I'm not sure it's an environment I'd be happy with a 14 year old in. Equally, if they are the only one not living in then they'll probably struggle to integrate.
 
If she does it will she 'only' be doing English and Maths at GCSE? If so that will really limit her choices at 16 if she does want to go and do something different as most will want more subjects than that (at different grades depending on what the next step is).
 
If she’s at risk of being ejected out of the mainstream school system and not getting any GCSEs then college would be better. Doing any course to be honest - keeps her somewhere safe and occupied hopefully happily while she grows up.

If she’s not sure and is happy at school, stay at school. BHS qualifications can be done outside of that through a good riding school.
 
I was once talking to a room full of farm managers about young employees. Not one liked those that had done college courses when young. As one said, they did not/could not fail anyone as long as they had good attendance. I expect it would be the same in the equine industry.
 
maya2008 said:
If she’s at risk of being ejected out of the mainstream school system and not getting any GCSEs then college would be better. Doing any course to be honest - keeps her somewhere safe and occupied hopefully happily while she grows up.

If she’s not sure and is happy at school, stay at school. BHS qualifications can be done outside of that through a good riding school.
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This, it works if it’s the thing keeping them in education (and the people I’ve known do it for that were never going to get industry jobs after). If it’s just an option I’d stick with GCSEs, it’s so early to decide what you want to do.
 
We have had college people doing work experience, all most all of them came for the first few days then never bothered to show up. Never rang or anything. We stopped taking them due to how unreliable they were. Horse work is early start, not turn up when you like or never. Absolutely wasting time organising everything for them. No understanding of the knock on to a business.
 
I'm thinking this is 1 or 2 days in college doing equine stuff and then the rest of the week in school doing her Maths, English, and probably a few other subjects too?

If so my step son did similar, but he chose mechanics. It's useful for him as its a hobby of his to fix cars etc. It's given him practical life skills and taught him to work in a team and in a work like environment. It's not his chosen career choice, but it made his school and college years a lot easier for us and more interesting for him.

I think as long as she still has here core subjects let her enjoy the equine course. It will give her valuable transferable life skills - skills that others sometimes lack coming out of education.
 
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Weve had a few at ours do apprenticeship work / day release helping our yard owner (through equine college) lots are unreliable so if you're reliable and get the experience you soon build a rep. we'd keep one on that wasn't loopy (getting horses out of the field to pet / ride them without permission etc!) What about going into a specific field? farriery? saddle fitting? physio? Massage? Nutritionist / weight etc not sure what these need but if she can get good in a niche certainly an enjoyable way to make a living! All good ones are specialist, reliable and friendly!
 
As an equestrian employer I prefer people trained "on the job", I find most people who have trained at a college have a totally unrealistic view of the equine world. That said it may give someone like the OP's daughter a feel of the basics and from that they could then go on to an apprenticeship type role on a professional yard when they are old enough to leave education. Many young people leave equestrian college courses with an inflated sense of their knowledge and skills, I had one mother telling me her daughter shouldn't be expected to do manual work because she had an HND in Equine Studies and was clearly above such things!
 
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