Job Responsibilities
My main responsibilities as an equine handler are to always be
there, 7 days a week to attend to all equine duties. As I have
been doing this a long time, I mainly ride and groom, so have no
stable duties as such, barring feeding. Every day I will start at
8am and have horses ready tacked up , I take few rides out with
other riders to keep the horses fit for the huinting and
national hunt racing season. This means fast rides untill 12
noon, when I change yards and will again ride, untill 2pm when I
change yards again and will arrive to have tea/coffee with other
stable hands and chat about the day so far, or the horses and
the racing schedules to date, and how the form is looking.
I will always be very aware when with the horses that they are
all well and happy, in coat, mind and spirit, they must be sound
in many ways and always ready for work.
Feeding regime means we must watch the horses form to check they
are recieving adaquate nutrtion to do their job well, so this
means also to have contact with the distributers so we never
ever run out of something.
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Job Requirements
The British horse society has its own gradings of which are very
lengthy courses, are costly and can actualy amount to not a lot
of respect within the industry as they are so bogged down with
rukes and regulations that it is not like working in the real
world, and alot of the time it is experience and competence that
will aid you to get by well.
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Uppers
I love my job because not only is it what I do best and have done for many
years, but I love being with the horses and riding out and handling them,
massaging and grroming and building good a rapport!
At the weekends I may not get paid for working if we are racing, but if we get a
win or place, then I may get a bonus, which is always great to aid celebrations.
The gangs, or workmates that one relates to and lives with are like family and
keep you going day after day.
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Downers
Cold, wet mornings, sweating inside, wet on the outside, knowing
you still have the winter to get through and no rest or holiday,
not even christmas, new year, boxing day, every day the animals
need exercise, food and love. It never lets up, and tiredness
because nortmal. Sometimes you may have prepared a horse for a
race, weeks, even months in real preperation, and then something
goes wrong, like 11 days before a race he goes lame, or sour, or
tyhe day before your jockey falls and cannot ride and you have
replacement, sometimes you never imagine something could
happen, and that is usualy when something does happen.
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Lifestyle
Experience is key, understanding the horse, the way of the
hunting scene and racing industry, sometimes it is all abouit
who you know as to where you will go next. As for future
prospects, grooms are stuck in this area, and only better
themselves by either moving up status by change of yards, or by
excellence in riding and being seen by the right trainer, and
being needed. If you get kicked and get arthritus, you will have
to live with that when you are older, no one else will care, and
if you plan to have a family, then didng for 6 hours a day,
grooming for 4 is just not an option, horses can be crazy and
self preservation has to kick in at some time. Honest advice
would to be to gain a degree in physiotherapy, massage or such
like, this is where my career is heading and the future looks
rosey once I get away from groom status.
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Compensation
There is not alot of money for grroms in the equine world,
minimum pay, the odd under ??100 bonus, and ratty cars, dirty old
boots and cheap fags are the way!
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Advice to Jobseekers
Experience is key, understanding the horse, the way of the
hunting scene and racing industry, sometimes it is all abouit
who you know as to where you will go next. As for future
prospects, grooms are stuck in this area, and only better
themselves by either moving up status by change of yards, or by
excellence in riding and being seen by the right trainer, and
being needed. If you get kicked and get arthritus, you will have
to live with that when you are older, no one else will care, and
if you plan to have a family, then didng for 6 hours a day,
grooming for 4 is just not an option, horses can be crazy and
self preservation has to kick in at some time. Honest advice
would to be to gain a degree in physiotherapy, massage or such
like, this is where my career is heading and the future looks
rosey once i get away from groom status.
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