Wondering about a "Horsey Au Pair"

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99redballoons

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Hello, I am a newbie on here so please be gentle. This idea is stil at formation stage so any advice or suggestions are welcome.

I am considering looking for a horsey Au Pair, I have 3 children 3,7 & 9 who each have a pony and I have a TB Gelding. We have stables, grazing and an A/W arena at home and a fairly self contained small anex in out house based on the outskirts of a small town in Scotland.

My hubby who is not horsey works long hours, I work part time in an office and the rest of the time am definitely a dedicated mummy. We do a lot of sport and after school activity and I am home to collect the children from school but my littlen is starting nursery in August so I will need childcare 3 afternoons a week (for 3 hours) as well as help with the three of them for about 6 weeks throughout the year during holidays.

Not a great deal really which made me think that if I looked for a horsey Au Pair they might be interested in riding my horse of taking the children out/working with them on their ponies / pony club. I know when I was younger and au-paired abroad I would have loved to be in an equestrian environment like this.

Do you think it might be an appealing job and if so, how do I make sure that applicants aren't "putting up" with the children to be around the horses? Also where would I go about looking for somebody, I am wary of agencies, I have heard bad storied from them before.

Any advice appreciated, thanks in advance.

Katie​
 
I think there are lots of people around who would go for a job like this. Not sure if it counts as an agency but if you haven't tried it already http://www.nagsandnannies.co.uk/ would be a good place to start looking, even if just to get an idea of what other people are advertising for?
 
Hi OP and welcome to the forum. I would suggest that you use an agency, having had lots of (non-horsey) au pairs over the years. There are thousands of girls looking to come to the UK as au pairs but the immigration rules for people wanting to work are tricky (you are best off with EU citizens as they have the right to live and work here), and an agency will vet them, collect references, police and health checks. Finding a good au pair is a bit hit and miss, because you can only interview them over the phone. Have you thought about asking around riding schools etc to see if you can find a horsey girl who wants too look after children too? They tend to be good with kids because of teaching them on the yard or to ride.
 
Wow I think I'd relocate - sounds amazing! You may even find that someone who works for themselves / is older is interested. For instance I run my own business so my hours are flexible. This may mean that they're not looking for a huge wage etc...
 
Oh, and forgot to say, most au pairs only want to stay here for 6 to 12 months, so you don't get a lot of continuity.
 
I don't know how they went about it but one small livery yard we were on the family that ran it had a horsey au pair, she spent half her time helping with the horses and half helping with the kids - worked really well
 
I worked as a nanny for a horsey family for 9 years. I got the job through Nags and nannies. The children where 5 and 7 when I started, 14 & 16 when I left :)

I did roughly 4 hours a day. Would go there before the children where home from school to do some housework and once the children where home I would just spend time with them and their ponies before getting them settled and ready for bed. In the summer I got to keep my horse there so we used to go out for hours riding together, it was amazing fun.
 
A friend here in NZ has horsey au pairs from Germany. They do mostly work with the horses, she works on her German and the au pair on her English, when the grand children visit she also helps with them. Works really well for all.

Hers usually stay a year. Most have been great with only the odd one that has been a no go. Went home after a week.
 
Wow thank you for all the positive and helpful comments folks. I had already looked into the government regs and we fit in, I had thought about the continuity but my little one will be at school in a couple of years time so maybe a couple of 12 month contracts would work.

I will have a look at the suggested sites and maybe speak to the local equestrian college too.

Keep the suggestions coming.

:-) Thanks again!
 
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