.:EQUUS:.

So a recent article I was writing with regards to the identification of a horse led me to linking to a page on Lipizzaner’s with regards the breed being specifically known for their grey or white stallions.  These gorgeous animals are on display at the Spanish Riding School of Vienna which for over 430 years has practiced classical equitation in the ‘Renaissance tradition of the haute école’.

The way the horse naturally moves is studied and the objective of classical equitation as well as the cultivation of the highest possible levels of haute école elegance that the horse is capable of.

For a rider, working and performing at such a school may be the perfect aspiration.  There are pre-requisites or requirements when it comes to qualifying for such a position.  Those who are successful are invited to an interview and possibly asked to give a riding demonstration.

Requirements for an eleve or cadet:

- Minimum age: 17 years
- Nationality of an EU member state
- Athletic and creative abilities
- Body height should not exceed 170cm
- In relation to the upper body, the legs should appear long
- A slim physique is required
- Fluent German and a good command of English
- A strong affinity to horses and basic riding skills

The successful eleve will then undertake a four year training program.  To become a rider the training can cover a 10 year duration.  In 2008 the first female cadets were taken in, breaking the all male tradition.

Indeed, qualifying as a cadet sounds like a lot of work but so very much worth it!  For the avid horse rider, perhaps such a position is worth looking into.

“A horse is an animal not a machine and is only as good as it’s rider.”

tag: cadetship, horseriding, Vienna, Spanish Riding School

Before having even travelled and while still planning my trip to Ireland for the Irish National Stud I stumbled across a website that caught my attention with a few words: horses, beach, South Africa.

Julie-Anne Gower along with her husband Clint run Wild Coast Horse Trails on the East Coast of South Africa.  I spent five weeks of absolute heaven learning, riding and breathing horses with them.  Julie-Anne has kindly answered some questions about their trail riding business.

What services are offered by Wild Coast Horse Trails?
We provide horse riding holidays for horse loving people, see notes on Wild Coast Horseback Adventures for all the details.

- 1 to 12 week hands on working horse riding holiday at Sunray farm
- 6 night 7 day Wild Coast Horse Safari
- 8 night 10 Day Surf & Turf Safari
- 1 to 14 day Castaway trails - custom made trails
- Day rides along the beach
- Torstone Sport Horses

How did you get into this equine related business?
I kept seeing other people trying to do this type of thing, and in my opinion they were not getting it right. Finally, we had a cash flow crisis, and a field full of horses, and I put a trail itinerary together, created a web site and waited for a year before my first booking! I was in the right place and the right time and the horse trail agents picked me up and started selling our rides.

The Gap year program developed first of all as a work for board arrangement, but this presented only problems and so I decided to charge riders for staying with us. The demand for this type of experience has grown into a full time business and we now take up to 8 riders at the farm at any one time. We have converted the old farm house into a comfortable cottage for the riders to live in, and developed the whole thing into an extended riding holiday. We have a full time yard manager who oversees the daily routine and also instructs the riding and schooling sessions.

I started breeding horses because I thought that it was a good idea at the time - I am still trying to make money out of it!!
The great thing now is that we can bring our own bred horses into the trails - and that really is rewarding. My dream is to produce competitive endurance horses that will be sold overseas. We are on the cusp of this, as the perfect prospect has to be about 8 years old and have completed 3 x 80 km rides and at least 1 x 120km competition - it’s a very long term project, but we are lucky enough to be able to use the up and coming youngsters in the trails as part of their training - and they are earning their keep at the same time.

How much of your day/week is hands on with horses?
I don’t spend as much time as I would like to! I do all the guiding for the trails, and that is very hands on with the horses. At the farm, I tend to be organising and checking rather than actually doing these days

In this field is it possible for someone to be a full time professional, earning a livable income?
To earn a living from horses, it really depends on you. Most day ride operations do ok if they are in the right place and have a consistent flow of tourists to support them. They drive old cars, and the house needs painting, but they are doing what they love!

What are the general steps taken to be able to provide such a service to others?
The overnight trail scenario is highly competitive. You have to select your market carefully, and if like me you are remote and rely on international tourists, you have to have representation in Europe and the UK.

Any advice for those interested in pursuing this line of work?
Don’t expect to make it straight off. It takes time and effort - you are planning and working with agents a year in advance for the marketing - so if you start now, only expect returns over the next 1 to 2 years. In the mean time you have to feed and care for the horses and keep them in tip top condition.

Besides being totally horsey and you must be able to ride VERY well and enjoy looking after people, get some field guiding qualification, and some hospitality training. Also, get experience in leading trails with all levels of riders.

Is there anything else with horses you’d love to learn about or try?
I would love to meet and do some work with Richard Maxwell or Monty Roberts. I would love to do a course and improve my technique with training young horses etc.

Favourite horse memory?
When my old man Moonlight comes to me in the paddock, touches me with his nose and says hello; after all the training, sweat, and tears, winning endurance races! Also, having a young horse that you have bred, trained and sold on - do well and bring joy to their humans

Future goals?
I want to travel the world doing horseback trails and holidays To build my horse riding holidays into a profitable business so that I can go on riding holidays!

Best thing about your sport/profession?
I had a client a few weeks ago who came back to do her second trail with us. At 74 years old - what a dynamic woman - she is an inspiration to me in that I can now envision myself still riding for another 40 years! The horses have taught me to be authentic with myself and to others, do everything with love and respect.

“We have fast horses for fast people, gentle horses for gentle people, and for people who don’t like to ride, we have horses that don’t like to be ridden.”

Tags: Wild Coast Horse Trails, horse beach riding, horse riding holiday, trail riding, Julie-Anne Gower, South Africa

I’ve recently come back from Residential School - a week of uni that requires I attend lectures and partake in exams for the two subjects that I am currently undertaking part time as a Distance Education student.

As is the case any time I find myself in a new environment that is horse related, I met a lot of interesting people and had my eyes opened to many other things I wasn’t aware of with regards to horses.  I was also made aware of people that are well known with regards to starting and bringing on horses and left with a list of names to look up online.

One of our lecturer’s mentioned the fact that they had carried out some technical writing with regards to a horse section on a show that aired weekly.  Another writing job that relates to horses that I hadn’t considered!

Wikipedia has a rather broad definition of a technical writer or technical communicator, the key phrase standing out for me being “produces technical documentation for… consumer audiences.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technical_writer

So when I think of consumer audiences, and ones that specifically led to me teaching more people about horses and riding, I think of the Saddle Club.

There were a large number of preteens and early teens that decided to take up horse riding a couple of years back when I was instructing at a lower level.  Why?  Because they’d seen the Saddle Club and the interest in the show suddenly turned into an interest in learning to ride.

It may be a wrong assumption, but I would guess that there are people that know how to make a children’s show or one for any other demographic for that matter that want to focus it around horses.  This doesn’t necessarily mean that they know enough about horses to be able to make the show realistic.  This is where a Technical Writer may come in.

Think of the likes of Burke’s Backyard with an animal segment, the Saddle Club, Heartland, movies such as Flicka or the Black Stallion.

There are a number of books and movies out there that don’t seem completely believable with some of the aspects but that’s the joys of poetic license, I guess.  This doesn’t take away from the fact that some texts, movies, or shows may employ a person or persons to either resource information from those in the know, or have someone in the know write the information in a technical manner that can be put to use.

Just because you know horses however, doesn’t necessarily mean you’re equipped to be a technical writer with regards to them.

MyFuture has a page focused on such a career - http://www.myfuture.edu.au/services/default.asp?FunctionID=5050&ASCO=253421A and also lists the sort of courses you would expect to have to complete to be qualified to take on such a position - http://www.myfuture.edu.au/services/default.asp?FunctionID=5360&ASCO=253421A&StateCode=VIC.

No surprises as to what they focus on - writing skill.

Perhaps if your skills do lie in the writing field and you have a love of horses and a sound knowledge base then this may be a path worth considering.

“Bread may feed my body, but my horse feeds my soul.”

tag: horse library, horse books, writing, equine shows, technical writer

“Why yes Christine, I do partake in photography, digital art, painting, drawing or sculpture relating to hroses!” I hear you say.  Perfect!  If you’re looking for a chance to have your work/s seen internationally, then check out the Art Horse Magazine competition:

http://www.arthorsemagazine.com/art_competition.html

Presented by Art Horse Magazine (http://www.arthorsemagazine.com)
Art Horse Magazine announces `Ex Arte Equinus III`, an international equine artcompetition for fine artists and photographers.

The competition is open to Artists/Photographers from all over the world,who can enter up to twelve images showing their best work in the categories of Photography, Digital Art, Painting, Drawing, and Sculpture. This competition will provide equine artists the opportunity to show their work on an international level.

Images of winning artwork will be published in issue #10 of Art Horse Magazine (published March 2010). Winners and selected images will also be published in a book programme about the show.

Entry Deadline is October 30th.
Contact: exarte_director@arthorsemagazine.com

Two months is hopefully enough forewarning to get together some amazing works to submit.  Good luck!

tag: photograpy, digital art, competition, equine art, drawing, sculpture

I love my broodies and I love this time of year (August 1 - December 31)!

So today marks the Thoroughbred’s official birthday in the Southern Hemisphere and so one can expect that mares will start popping out foals!  We’ve got three or so mares at the moment that are all showing signs of impending parturition.

My boss received a call yesterday with regards to a ‘foal share’ something I haven’t given a lot of thought to, not being a mare owner myself.  I asked her if this was something that studs tended to advertise as one of their offers/deals or if they sought out people in particular.  She seemed to feel it was the latter.

The idea of a foal share is that a stud or stallion owner contacts the owner of a mare that they are particularly interested in.  They then offer the mare owner a free service to one of their stallions (in this instance they’re giving her the choice between two quite expensive stallions).

Instead of the mare owner paying the fee, they send their mare to the stallion in question, (hopefully) end up with a live foal and sell it as a weanling or yearling.

The profit/sale price is then split between the stallion and mare owner.

This deal is extremely appealing to owners who have a well bred/performing mare but don’t necessarily have the funds to send her to a decent or proven stallion.  Apparently some studs will also cover half the costs of a sales preparation which really sweetens the deal.

The likes of Darley, Eliza Park and Coolmore are known to partake in foal shares and I’m sure you’d find other large studs in the industry would do so to keep up with the competition.

For anyone interested in investing in a broodmare, perhaps it’s worth looking into these possibilities so that more money can be spent on the mare, giving you something that is higher in value than what you would have been able to afford if the stallion’s service fee also had to be taken into account.

A risky business, but possibly a way to break into breeding and selling weanlings or yearlings and make a small profit while lowering the risk.

“A well-bred foal brings joy to the stable.”

tag: breeding horses, horse stud, australia, thoroughbred stud season