Ever fancied working with horses? Warwickshire is well known for its equine links and a local college has a specialised horse training centre, where you can get qualifications to help get you the perfect job.
Whether you want to be a jockey or a groom, a blacksmith or a farrier, Warwickshire College's Moreton Morrell centre offers a range of courses to help get you started.
We interviewed Pippa Francis, the equine programme area manager, about her job and what is available to students and here's what she said!
Not just grooming and riding
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Q: Tell me about the College.
A: The Moreton Morrell centre is part of Warwickshire College - the campus is one of the two sites the College uses - the other site is in the middle of Leamington Spa. The Moreton Morrell campus is based on the 700 acre estate attached to Moreton Hall, right next to the little village of Moreton Morrell.
The equine unit has stables for over 100 horses and two covered riding arenas as well a large outdoor arena. There is a cross country course that runs through the parkland and twice a year the Equine Team, along with help from the students, run a National Eventing competition (dressage, show jumping and cross country).
Q: Tell me about the courses available, like blacksmithing etc
A: There are a full range of courses in equine studies, farriery and blacksmithing. Farriery is specifically making and fitting horse shoes and incorporates blacksmithing skillls - blacksmithing focuses on metalwork including artistic design, for example for garden features such as ornamental gates or sculptures as well as more functional aspects of metalwork such as grids etc.
We have courses at all levels including for people just starting out after leaving school on a career with horses with only very basic skills to courses to suit more advanced students aiming to be yard managers or competition grooms or those who are studying for a degree in equine studies or science.
ÌýOrganising, overseeing and owning!
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| Ìý |  | Pippa Francis pictured at the stables
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Q: Tell me about you and your role at the centre
My role is as programme area manager for all the courses in the equine, farriery and blacksmithing areas.
I oversee things on a day to day basis with help from the Horse Unit manager - Sarah Bland - who takes care of the horses with her team of five staff (the students help look after the horses too as we often have over 100 horses on site).
I do some teaching, both practical riding and stable management sessions as well as some lectures on the horse industry.
I also help organise some of the events we run at the College including the Moreton Morrell Horse Trials, which take place in May and September.
I am a British Horse Society accredited Instructor and spent 13 years working in the horse industry before coming to work at the college.
In that time I trained and competed on horses up to national level in dressage and eventing as well as doing lots of teaching of pupils of all ages.
I have been at the college for 14 years and have my own horse, Bunkey Villa - who is a grey Irish thoroughbred who specialises in dressage.
ÌýQ: What sort of people come to the centre?
A: All sorts! We have lots of full time students from all over the country and abroad - mainly aged between 16 - 21 and mostly girls! We have pupils between 14 and 16 years old from schools who come in one day a week to study horse skills.
We have lots of adult students who do evening classes or part time courses - some by distance learning. All are dead keen on horses and horsey things so there is a good atmosphere. We also run shows nearly every weekend so lots of local competitors also come along and enjoy the facilites.
Q: Tell me about the horses at the centre
A: We have about 45 horses that we use for teaching the students including all shapes and sizes. Most are leant to us and go home during the holidays but some we have bred ourselves or are permanent residents. A few are more elderly and come to us once their busy competitive careers are over - others come because their owners have gone to university or because they can no longer keep them at home.
We also have some lovely coloured cobs who come to us over the winter from a trekking centre and then go home for the summer trekking season - the best of both worlds!
ÌýWarwickshire is a horse capital
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Q: Does Warwickshire particularly lend itself to equine life? If so, why?
A: Warwickshire is a very horsey area! There are lots of equestrian activities going on with some very active riding clubs and pony clubs.
There are a several large show centres such as Solihull Riding Club and Radway Riding School that run dressage and show jumping competitions and here at Warwickshire College we have a very busy schedule of shows nearly every weekend.
Warwickshire is also the base for a number of the major equine organisations, including the British Horse Society based at Stoneleigh Deer Park and the British Show Jumping, British Dressage and British Eventing Associations, which are all based on the Royal Agricultural Society of England Showground at Stoneleigh.
| Ìý |  | A blacksmithing student at work in the farriery
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Q: Looking after horses is a full time all day job isn't it?
A: It certainly is and they need looking after 365 days a year too! Working with horses is a demanding in terms of being outdoors for a lot of the time, some physical work and long working hours including early mornings - however there are lots of plus points too!
Having horses to ride and being outside can give wonderful job satisfaction and caring for horses is a very interesting and rewarding job in many ways. The opportunities in the horse world for pursing many different career paths are also there, as there is a wide variety of different ways in which horses are used.
ÌýQ: How common are equine learning centres? Is it a very British thing?
A: There are quite a few now in the UK - some large and some small. There are probably over 40 in total with some of the bigger more specialist colleges like us having over 300 students on couses.
Other smaller colleges work with local riding schools to deliver training courses. Britain is well known internationally for the quality of our equine education and training and so getting qualifications is popular and can mean that students can travel the world and have a good chance of getting a job.
Q: Do you have any funny stories to tell?
A: Things that make we smile happen all the time - watching Father Christmas on horseback in our equine open evening just before Christmas was entertaining (he had not had much experience on horseback!) and the equine teams attempts at dog agility as part of a horse and hound jumping competition was very funny.
For more information on equine courses at Warwickshire College, visit the website via the link on the left or call 01926 318000
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