equestrian horse tack

I’ve just returned from a rather unpleasant day at a local therapeutic riding center. I’ve volunteered there before, and had a pretty good time. My schedule changed so I stopped for a while. I’ve started taking a class in Animal Assisted Therapy and one of the requirements of the course is to volunteer at a facility and write a report on my experiences. A non-equestrian classmate and I decided to carpool out and volunteer together. I called ahead and arranged the visit and that we would be there to help with a lesson. Today, we get there and there are no adults around. There is some 16 year old girl grooming in the aisle, so I introduce myself and my classmate and say that we’re there to volunteer and that we had spoken to the owner a few nights ago. This girl, who doesn’t introduce herself, takes me into an office and has me sign one waiver, and says I’m all set. We stood around the aisle for about 45 minutes until an adult arrived. She said, Marley, (that,s the 16 year old) do you know what needs to be done? Help these girls do something. This girl takes it upon herself to boss us around like children, talk down to us, tell us to do her chores such as muck stalls, fill waters, sweep the aisle, etc. She barks orders at us for a few hours, until we had done all her chores. The rest of the night, we stood around, talked, helped tack up and groom off a few horses and were otherwise useless. I was terrified the whole day, as there were children and CLEARLY novices running around doing whatever they please, each with a horse, walking under cross ties with tacked horses, not a one that can saddle or bridle or even pick hooves among them. I am, seemingly, the only equestrian around, and I feel like everyone’s safety is on me!
When we decided to leave, we didn’t want to just pack up and go, so we searched the premises for an adult. We were about to give up when the owner came out. We introduced ourselves and said that we were the volunteers she had talked to a few days ago and that we were heading home. She said "Oh, there must have been a mix up, sorry about that. Is there another night you can come out?"

Now, am I wrong to be ticked off? We had set up this appointment to see what therapeutic riding was about, not to muck out stalls and be ordered around by some brat. I feel very under appreciated. I mean, I have a lot of knowledge about horses and riding (not to toot my own horn) and I would think that people like me volunteering would be sort of rare. I feel like I could be a great asset to this place, but that my skills were disregarded. We set up another date, but I am reluctant to return. Any thoughts?
And, just so everyone knows, I do not have a problem cleaning stalls or filling waters. I have a problem with being told I will be doing one thing (helping with a lesson) and actually doing another (some girls chores). I wouldn’t have thought twice about it if someone one had asked me, after I was done with the lesson.
Jessica-

Thanks for the good answer and all the details. I have volunteered at therapeutic riding facilities before, and spent more than two months worth of twice weekly visits at this particular farm last year. I have side walked and led at this farm. Also, I know that equestrian facilities take a lot to get going and to keep running. I have no problem doing grunt work. I would have been great with doing chores if I had been able to do what I thought I was going to do when I called, which was to partake in a lesson for my AAT class requirement.
And, due to those few months last year, they know that I have horse experience. I reminded the owner today, as she didn’t seem to remember me :/

I have 16 years of experience with horses, most of which has been under supervision and instruction. Probably 10 of those years were spend in every-other-day private lessons and working on a large breeding and lesson farm. So, needless to say, I’ve been around a lot of horses, a lot of people and am used to not being recognized for my efforts. I’m really ok with that. I think it’s just really unprofessional to leave us hanging, with no idea who’s who, what to do or who to ask.

I totally agree with you on that one. It was very rude for the owner to forget and abandon you like that. She should have made up for it at least even though there is not way really to make up for it. I personally have never volunteered anywhere but have helped many times with other peoples horses. My aunt use to work at stables and when I visited her I use to help her muck out the stalls and feed the horses. I would reccomend going back though and telling the owner your concerns and about your experience that way she can prevent future problems and talk with the brat who caused most of the trouble. Hope I helped

Kacey or ? whoever you are you totally copied my answer

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I am going to be applying for a job as a working student for my trainer this year. This is quite a gone-after job, and i would like help on creating a resume. My trainer and I are on a freidnly basis, but a formal written resume IS needed. But i have a few problems.

This is going to be my first "job". I am almost 15 years old, and need some resume help:
Am I suppose to create the resume geared toward this specific job? If so, what should I put in it? I’ve googled teen resumes, but what skills do I put in that would relate and be put towards my "pros" for this job at the barn?

The job would be turning out horses, making grain, wrapping, helpign tack up, etc.

I need help!

Usually a resume will be a list of "you" so far

To go with your resume you will need a cover letter. This is where you state your experience and qualifications suitable to the job your applying for. Make it personalised for this job and have it on top of the resume in the envelope or when you hand it to them.

Include: Where the job was advertised. (example- I am writing in relation to the position of "working student" (?) advertised in the (?) OR advised to me by ___ (name) on the ___ (date).

I have ___years of experience with horses ….. I am competent in the following areas of animal husbandry…… welfare…….. riding…… etc etc and then list them.

I would like this job because …. I will be an asset to your business because ….. etc.

RESUME – At your age they are not going to expect you to have a big flash resume. Just try to list the following things:

- Name
- Address
- Contact details – phone and email
- Date of birth

- Education – List the school and years completed. If you have changed schools, list each one and which grades/years you were in at each one.

- List achievements – If you have lots just go back a few years and include any major ones. Certificate for achievement in maths or spelling (anything

- Skills – These are pretty much anything you do well! You might be a great self starter, work well unsupervised, able to follow instructions, able to communicate with a wide variety of people, trustworthy etc etc.

- List extra activities – You might be on the debate team, drama club or do an art class?
- Interests – Horses, reading, cooking…. anything you like to do.

- Character reference – Ask a teacher that likes you if they would give you a written reference for a resume. Also find another adult who has known you for a while and ask if they can do one. Just make sure it’s someone who will say good things if they are phoned. A horse person may be handy

- Referees – Have available at least one person who would be prepared to take a phone call from an employer (make sure you ask them first). Some people list them in the resume, but it is more common these days for people to just write, "Available on request". But again make sure you have one first (can be the person from the written reference).

Well I hope that is of use to you. Many employers these days would like a resume even if they do know you. It helps them to get a gauge on how organised you are in other areas of your life.

When I hire employees a resume makes the difference between "bin" and "interview". So put a little thought into the lay out and presentation. Don’t be concerned if it only takes up two pages, it is perfectly acceptable for a teen.

Good luck, I hope you get your job

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Okay let me make this short and simple… I am a Show Jumper and I will be getting a new horse. The reason I am getting a new horse is because I am in need of a more trained horse that can run faster, jump higher, and do dressage. I am trained a little in Dressage and a lot in Show Jumping. I have grown tired of Jumping and now I want to move on to eventing. Here are some questions I want to ask…

What do the judges look for?

What tack do I use?

There is a stubben eventing saddle and a Amerigo eventing saddle. What do you do?

How can I find an eventing instructor?

Is this sport fun?

Is this sport hard compared to jumping?

What horse breed is most common?

Will the judges like my Arabian if that is the horse breed I choose to go with?

What kind of things should I be looking for in a eventing horse?

Thank you in advance! If there is anything more you would wish to tell my I would love to hear it

I don’t compete in eventing, but primarily because I can’t afford a horse right now. It’s the sport I intend to compete in when I have a horse.

As far as what judges look for; just like in regular dressage, judges want clean movements executed with a minimal cue. In cross country, you just want to get over the fences fast and clean, but you want your horse’s stamina to last. You’re only marked down or disqualified if you fall off, your horse falls, or your horse refuses a fence. Cross country is judged on time – you want to get done as close to the allotted time as possible. Show jumping is just like normal show jumping. Errors earn you penalty points – the least penalties earned wins.

For tack, you want saddles for all three events if possible, but for the very lowest levels, one all-purpose saddle can work, and beyond that you can get by with a dressage saddle and a close contact saddle (to be used for both cross country and show jumping). I’m not sure about bit requirements and so on – I’d suggest looking at the United States Eventing Association site and seeing if they have the rulebook posted (or whatever the association for your country might be). I wouldn’t buy an eventing saddle until you’re sure you like it, and you want to get to higher levels.

For an eventing instructor, I would suggest you talk to your show jumping instructor, or find someone who does jumping and dressage. Call people in your area and see if you can get someone’s name. Again, the eventing association might be able to help; many associations have directories of trainers.

Fun? Having not gotten the chance to do it yet, I can’t say for sure, but it looks like fun to me!

Most of eventing is jumping; you do dressage first day, cross country second, show jumping third (at higher levels…for low levels you’d do all three in one day or you’d do dressage and show jumping day one and cross country day two). However, you need the stamina to ride over a course of very sturdy jumps for cross country. The levels used for eventing aren’t the same as levels used for dressage or show jumping – Grand Prix show jumping is higher than CCI**** show jumping fences. I don’t know of the exact level correlations though, although I’m trying to get that figured out. Visit http://equinerevolution.cwahi.net in a month or so and I’ll hopefully have it in the library.

Thoroughbreds tend to be the most common in the breed, but it’s definitely not exclusive to them; Teddy O’Connor competed at the highest levels and he was part Shetland Pony. Unlike many sports in the equine world, there’s no bias based on breed; however, Thoroughbreds tend to dominate because they’re really the only breed who have the strength and stamina to gallop several miles and jump fences, and then go through show jumping the day after.

What you want in an eventing horse: they have to be disciplined and quiet enough to handle dressage, but they need the strength and stamina to handle cross country (they’ve got to be able to gallop 3-4 miles), and have the speed to make it over a jumping course. They’ve got to be sound. If you can get a Thoroughbred with the X factor (which gives an enlarged heart) that’s a bonus. Off-track Thoroughbreds are really popular, because they have a lot of the qualities to compete at the upper levels (although many breeds compete at the lower levels).

An instructor could tell you a lot more than I could, but that’s a bit of what I know.

If you want to try it virtually, I HIGHLY recommend the game "Equestriad 2001" if you can find it. I think it was really overlooked, but it has the Rolex, Badminton, and Burghley courses as well as the 2000 Olympic course, along with a bunch of famous horses and riders (though I like to make my own!). Most English-riding oriented games will feature eventing, although each element might be separate.

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I am going to set up an equestrian shop within my stables and need a wholesaler for the uk and northern ireland. Suggestions?
Rugs
Tack
Horse? rider clothing
and possibly feed

Well I recommend you to visit Websites, here I found the World’s Top Leading Manufacturers/ Suppliers of the Equestrian. From there you can Import the things at Cheapest and Affordable Price. Here are the Links:

http://www.indiamart.com/bumra/ or http://catalogs.indiamart.com or http://b2binformation.blogspot.com/

Good Luck

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