Horse care home study course. To do or not to do?

[Rhubarb]

I'm debating whether or not to do a horse care home study course. It would be for my own enjoyment and learning and not for any career aspirations. I'd possibly take the BHS Horse Owners certificate, but definitely not the stages. I share a horse so am keen to learn more and thought with winter approaching it would give me something extra to do during the dark cold evenings!

I've seen the Lingfield Correspondence course, Intermediate Diploma which looks really good and covers the horse owners certificate and bhs stages theory. You receive the course in stages, make your own notes and complete the assignments at the end of each unit. What I'm worried about is getting a course which is just the BHS manual of horsemanship rehashed with a few naff assignments at the end! Has anyone done this course or any home study course for that matter and would be happy to feedback? Are the assignments any good? What's the quality of the course like?

Potentially, I could just spend my evenings just reading my Manual of Horsemanship and other books and save myself a couple of hundred quid! I'm not too good at unstructured learning hence my idea to do the course. A localish RS and college do run the HOC course, but times, location and travel would make it difficult to attend.

Any thoughts? Thanks

 

[Echo24]

Why not google an instructor who is qualified to teach the horse owners certificate and have weekly lessons to do them? I looked into the Lingfield long distance course but felt they were really expensive. Plus I always think it's great for someone to point out practical things as well. Like you, I only wanted to do something for fun and didn't feel it was necessary to do the BHS stages as I have no intention of working in the industry. Good luck!

 

[Rhubarb]

Why not google an instructor who is qualified to teach the horse owners certificate and have weekly lessons to do them? I looked into the Lingfield long distance course but felt they were really expensive. Plus I always think it's great for someone to point out practical things as well. Like you, I only wanted to do something for fun and didn't feel it was necessary to do the BHS stages as I have no intention of working in the industry. Good luck!

Thanks Echo24. I did think about looking for a local instructor, but I think by the time I've travelled to them (most yards are a fair distance away and traffic hellish around here) and paid them, over the weeks I'll probably have spent more than the Lingfield course - they have subsidised fees at the moment. I may have a look tho and just see what they charge. There is an instructor at my yard but she's not a registered HOC instructor but would definitely show me the practical side of things such as bandaging, tack etc. I'm always asking questions anyway! I think the HOC is all theory based but always good to get the practical application to things too.