Teenage wannabe looking for Apprenticeship in the UK

Big Ben

Big Ben

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Looking for the input of people who actually know things. We have a teenager on a board in the US,who is posting from over here. Said teenager is a know it all, can do everything type, has trained 18 (from memory) horses in her short 16 years.

We are trying to tell her that staying in school or college would be her best bet, but she is adamant that she is leaving ASAP. She just posted this:

I'm not going to college or sixth form. It costs let £400 a term to pay for bus fair to the only college that has anything to do with horses. We can't afford that. There are plenty apprenticeships offering accommodation, and for me to take my horse and I still get my BHS exams paid for and NVQs for free, yet get paid on top. I'm not staying in school or college. I don't care how different it is, it's not different enough.
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Is she really going to find a place that will keep her and her horse, get all her exams paid, and have a wage on top of that?

If it is possible, what will the reality look like? I know when I went for a months trial I really had an eye opener as to what being a working pupil was going to entail, and it wasn't for me, has anything changed?
 
To be honest she struggles with basic English, either auto correct hates her, or she maybe dyslexic. I am only a little ashamed to say that I am drawn to her in part for the entertainment value. When asked if she had been paid for training these horses, this was the reply:

I didn't get laid and I went to a friends to back all her horses, the person who sold me my horse. It's just what I have done since I was 13. I will work with several horses every day in the summer holidays, weekends and half terms. During the time I'm not there, the horses are turned out our have a little bit of work done. I pay nothing.


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Yeah I'm nasty but that was priceless
 
I dropped out and it's done me no harm. Yeh it took me a while to find the right thing to do (tried the working student route but got fobbed off) but I'm enjoying my job (I get paid to ride/lunge up to 5 amazing grade a show jumpers). Ok I don't have accommodation, or keep my horse there, nor get my exams paid....but I get roughly £275 a week.
I looked at a place that included all of that... They paid £90 a week.....but it wasn't the job for me.

But she needs to drop out for the right reasons.
I went cos I couldn't cope with the pressure or expectation.... It really pushed me to the edge (I look back now and wonder how I got through the final months)
I also knew that politics, history and bio weren't helping me become a better rider.
I knew that I really wanted to work with horses, and they are totally my life.

Just cos she hates school/college isn't a good enough reason.... I loved 6th form....but it was only a few weeks away from killing me!
 
glad to know she didn't get laid for schooling these horses LOL.

Even if she did find what she looking for I think her attitude will get her into trouble
 
If she cannot afford the bus fare to an equestrian college how does she expect to pay her and her horses passage over here - or is the provider of this amazing apprenticeship going to pay that too??? Are there not enoughof our own know-it-all 1yea olds over here?
 
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LaMooch said:
Even if she did find what she looking for I think her attitude will get her into trouble
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I think this is sadly true,

So I went to my apprenticeship interview at a company called (name removed by moderating) They are big dressage competitors in Derbyshire but I live 2 hours away. I'm not sure whether to give the trail runs a go. I first spend a week and then a month there. I am not sure whether I should take it or not? I will get professional dressage training MVQ's, free livery, free food for me and my horse, live with the family but there will be no-one my age (which shouldn't be a problem because I get on better with adults) it's very isolated, cold area and I'll be away from home. Also, my biggest issue is that they're professionals so I doubt I'd be allowed to work with my horse the way I do. All their horses bits and don't get told off and mine gets a tap on the nose for biting.
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I'm happy to learn from them, I just don't want to have to change how I do things with my horse because they don't want me to.
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I get being a teenager and knowing it all, I kind of remember that far back. When it came to riding though, I just was a sponge wanting to learn things, because I knew how I rode, and I watched people on TV and knew that I was light years away from that.

I'm just wondering if she has any hope of getting what she is looking for in an apprenticeship?
 
I think this is rather mean. My daughter has just been accepted for an apprenticeship. She will get all the entitlements the young person is looking for except keep for her own horse. However, the yard owner was adamant that she NEVER takes youngsters under 18, too many drop out if starting earlier.
 
Quick, grab a teenager while they know everything! We've got a few like that. Totally clueless, convinced they're the best thing ever to happen to horses and all chasing the "working on a yard" dream. There's no telling them. It's a rite of passage, they have to live the reality to appreciate the truth. She'll learn.
 
RealityCheck said:
Little rude to post someone on another forum (presumably without their permission)
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BB hasn't identified the girl or the original forum , i took it that BB was asking if the girls dreams are in any way achievable, seeing as BB is in the USA she's not likely to know the current scene over here so she either takes the dreamers word for it or asks here!
 
Ibblebibble said:
BB hasn't identified the girl or the original forum , i took it that BB was asking if the girls dreams are in any way achievable, seeing as BB is in the USA she's not likely to know the current scene over here so she either takes the dreamers word for it or asks here!
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Thank you for understanding, I'm in equal parts frustrated about her bull headedness, wondering about the truth of what she is posting, and wanting to help her out.

I have no idea in this modern world, and in the UK especially if her dreams of full board for her and her horse, full training and gaining her exams and a wage are realistic. Back in the dark ages I seem to remember working pupils were lucky to get pocket money in lots of places, they worked, got training and that was it. This is going back 40 years, and to a different world maybe.

I can't give her advice if I don't know, hence me asking, no mean intention.
 
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