Sally McCarthy is the Executive Director of Aberdeen Riding Club, based in the Northeast of Scotland. She is a British Horse Society Stage 4 Senior Coach and also holds her Performance Centre Manager qualification. Sally herself did work experience with the company 30 years ago, and out of the team of 9, 4 previously took part in work experience at the club and joined the staff when they finished their education.
The club offers a riding school for all standards of learner and is both an RDA-accredited centre and a British Horse Society assessment centre. They coach people to ride horses, provide a home and training for privately-owned horses, deliver therapy riding sessions, equine facilitated learning sessions and train new coaches.
Sally’s involvement in providing work experience started over 20 years ago. When asked if being involved in work experience opportunities was important for her businesses, and for the wider equine industry, Sally is a strong believer that letting people experience the industry is key to encouraging people to consider this as a career.
“Over the last few years, we are seeing a skills shortage in the equine industry - particularly within coaching in riding centres, so we are more committed than ever to give people the opportunity to see what a great industry it is to work in.”
The Club supports a variety of different placement durations, with each person’s opportunity being catered to their needs or requirements.
“We have vet students doing a full week, school pupils doing a set couple of hours each week, Duke of Edinburgh participants doing short sessions over a few months and people doing a day here and there around their work commitments. We try to be as flexible as possible to accommodate anyone who is keen.”
“Tasks are dependent on the person’s experience with horses as we take work experience placements with no experience, through to very experienced. So, the tasks can range from basic grooming, horse care skills and tidying the yard through to holding horses for the vet, sitting in on staff training sessions and seeing some of the admin duties carried out in reception.”
“There are so many skills that can be developed on work experience - from horse handling skills, to watching coaching and seeing good practice, through to very transferrable skills like teamwork, communication, and time management. We have a great, diverse staff team at Aberdeen Riding Club and we tend to be very good at building confidence in work experience participants.”
“I would recommend being a work experience provider to any employer - it’s a great way to encourage people into your industry and it is very rewarding seeing what the participants get from it.”