Horses in the US vs UK. American who may be moving to England.

Thanks for the reply guys!

turnbuckle said:
May be that the BHS qualification will impress 'em in the US...but a much more highly regarded one in this country is the Pony Club B Test.....

If you go for the working pupil thing, see if they'll aim you towards that.

You could always bring your own horse and work towards yr £20,000 doing barrel racing and steer roping lessons :)
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Aha, I have no clue how to barrel race or steer rope and know very little about western in general haha. I'm an endurance turned Dressage rider. :p Texas isn't all cowboys and Western, there is a pretty strong English riding scene here.

In the US we don't have real qualifications so nothing is necessary, but I'm hoping what I learn from the BHS would give me more experience under my belt and look good for potential clients.
 
Can't advise on Birmingham as such as I live in Scotland but hey ho ;) I've been to the States numerous times so have seen roughly how you keep horses there and there's definately differences.

Livery-wise, you could do DIY - you'd just have to do your horse before and after work. Some DIY livery does include hay and feed, depends on the yard really. I think hay is usually included (or can be bought from the yard itself? since its hard to store individual stuff otherwise). If feed isn't included, you simply buy bags (usually 25kg) from your local feed place.

We do have pickups here and people do use them to tow trailers (I'm considering a pick up as my next tow vehicle), Loads of us have trailers, but they're not the same as the ones Ive always seen in the States which are very open with open slats down the side and no partitions etc. (usually with the horse standing in full view fully tacked up). The most popular trailers here are usually partitioned for 2 horses (look at Bateson and Ifor Williams), or of course you can go down the lorry route. Personally, Ive never had a lorry. Yes, most people own their own transport as its expensive and there not that many places to hire from.

I do believe horses here are cheaper than in the States. And I think a horse was pitched as a high end type horse when it was jumping 1m in the States, whereas here most horses jump that and the higher end amateur ones are popping 1.25m+.

I don't think generally those working with horses earn a great deal...
 
I've worked at numerous yards here including dealers, dressage and eventing and have owned my own horses competing in dressage, sj and eventing. In the states I'm CHA qualified as all level 3 instructor English including jumping and level 2 western. And have worked at riding schools and equitation barns in the US and a week at a reining barn.

There are some differences between the two but your basic horse care is mostly the same. For a start we seem to have less viruses and diseases over here compared to the US, mostly it's equine influenza vaccinated against here. In the US I found people tend to feed straights such as oats/ barley/ bran. Whereas over here mixes are much more common. As long as research is done and you can find a good supplier it's not bad but I do much prefer feeding straights.

As for riding the two again are mostly the same basics. I found hunter jumpers tend to be ridden much more on the forehand with shorter stirrups in a two point and the horses are trained to respond to this. If yoh rode most horses over here like that they would not get it. Most places over here won't know what a two point is. However, dressage, jumping and eventing I found had the same basics.

There's a bit of terminology that is different between the two but most of it you'll pick up quick.

My biggest suggestion is if you want to teach get certified with the CHA in the states. It's a lot cheaper than the BHS and I can get insurance in the uk to teach.

If you have anymore questions let me know :)

Eta: with regards to prices of horses I found they're much cheaper here. I saw horses sold for $50,000 in the US which would probably fetch £9000 here. Likewise sold a horse to the US from here for $30,000 that would have fetched much less here.
 
Freebird you need to empty some of your private messages from your inbox as it's not allowing me to PM you, saying your inbox is full.
 
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