Equestrian Gap Year programmes

Brush up on your stable manners with an equestrian gap year programme

Posted: May 30, 2012 |By Nicky Hoseck|

After completing school or university many people decide to 
take a year or so to explore new horizons and get a clearer 
sense of themselves and their priorities before committing 
to a career. For many, this is the opportunity to travel to 
new countries and experience different cultures and people. 
For horse- mad girls (why are they nearly always girls?),
this year is often a chance to rekindle an old passion.

Equestrian Gap Year Programmes are generally not free, but 
they are often a lot more affordable than keeping a horse or 
having regular riding lessons. The added benefit it that it 
gives those involved the opportunity to learn about so much 
more than just horses.

There are many different types of riding holidays available to
people on a gap year. Some might choose to assist with 
teaching children to ride ponies, or even to lend a hand at a 
riding for the disabled establishment. Some of the most 
popular Equestrian Gap Year Programmes are those situated
in Africa. Not only does this give participants the opportunity 
to discover a whole new world and lots of different cultures, 
many of the opportunities also involve riding with game – 
something that is not usually available outside this continent.

Many of the trail-riding companies in South Africa offer
Equestrian Gap Year Programmes and volunteer opportunities
to experienced riders. This often means that volunteers will 
ride out with a guide and their guests, usually at the back of 
the ride, to ensure the safety of the guests so a fairly 
advanced level of horsemanship is generally required.

In many cases, Equestrian Gap Year Programmes will cover a
lot of different aspects of an equine business and volunteers 
may find themselves involved with handling foals, brood mares
and stallions as well as riding horses. As with any volunteer 
placement, there is a balance between the hard work and 
the fun stuff. While you may end up cleaning tack for a 
morning, the afternoon will probably be a great ride through 
the African wilderness.

Very few Equestrian Gap Year Programmes will expect their
participants to muck out stables or do any other very heavy, 
manual work. However, there re always disreputable companies
out there who are anxious to get their share of volunteer 
labour, even if they are not really in a position to offer an 
organised programme. To avoid wasting your time, it's 
advisable to speak to previous volunteers to check out the 
details of what they were expected to do and what their 
experience was like. After all, it is a big investment in terms 
of both time and money.

Once you secure your place at a reputable stable, be sure to
brush up on your riding before you get there – otherwise your 
riding muscles might let you down over the first few days!

Working Riding Holidays at Sunray Farm with 

Wild Coast Horseback Adventures

Volunteering with Horses in Africa

Volunteering with horses

Published: May 7, 2012   Last updated: May 8, 2012 by Nicky Hoseck

Desensitising is a vital step in training

Learn how to train a horse the natural way

Source: Wild Coast Horse Trails

Gap year opportunities

For many people, one of the most cost-efficient way of travelling and experiencing new cultures is through gap year and volunteer programmes. Volunteering with horses is a wonderful way to gain new experiences and develop your equestrian skills.

All over the world, there are opportunities available for people interested in volunteering with horses – ranging from helping in rescue and rehabilitation centre to assisting professional horse-riders with the day-to-day care of their animals.

Some equine rescue and rehabilitation centres require people with previous experience and the confidence to handle previously mistreated or abused animals, while other opportunities, such as those at riding stables or other equestrian establishments, may be more suited to volunteers without any prior experience of working with horses.

Within an African context, there are opportunities for experienced riders to assist with trails and safari rides. These types of positions offer some of the most exciting opportunities for those interested in volunteering with horses. Not only do participants get to ride regularly, they also get to experience wildlife from horseback and learn about keeping horses healthy in a challenging and often remote environment.

When considering the best destination to pursue volunteering with horses, it’s advisable to speak to volunteers that have been there before. Not everyone in the horse world is legitimate and some will exploit volunteers by expecting them to do unpleasant chores with little reward at the end. On the other hand, there are some amazing experiences out there and people who have experience of volunteering with horses often discover a lot about themselves during the process as well.

For those who have a genuine love of horses and want a taste of adventure, volunteering with horses can provide a unique opportunity to discover a new country, develop equestrian skills, make new friends and experience new challenges on horseback.

volunteering with horses in Africa

• volunteering with horses
  volunteering with horses in Africa

More like a mad gallop!

Goodness! Cantering about on the Wild Coast was more like a stage coach ride the past few months :-)
Wow, we have had such a wonderful beginning to 2011.
14 trails in 20 weeks with over 50 riders experiencing horse riding along the Wild Coast - it has been awesome. Thank you everyone who has been with us, we have had a great time too!!

So you ask - what exactly have we been up to?

Its all been a bit of a blur actually;  one month has rolled into the next..............

At the beginning of April I took 10 days off to go to the SA International Endurance Challenge.  Ashley was riding the 120km and I was groom for Laura Seegers who rode for the SA Endurance team.  The Perseverance Endurance Horses are wonderful - ridden barefoot they are turning heads on the endurance circuit!  It was a great week of camping, horses and visiting friends.  Go to www.endurancehorse.co.za for the full results and more info on barefoot riding! Perseverance Endurance Horses on Facebook!

Our journey home was an endurance marathon in itself! 24 hours on the road.........Truck, horse trailers & back up vehicle.......
We were packed up and going shortly after 6am when the first vehicle issue happened.   The Masterson's horse box wheel fell off - fortunately this happened in the middle of town and no one or horses were hurt!  But this whole episode took ages to sort out and fix and we were on the road again shortly after 11am.   It was steady driving the rest of the day - I drove through Pretoria/Johannesburg for the first time!! Oh my, so glad I dont live up there - no wonder you guys are all so stressed?  We stopped and had a bite to eat just out side of Bloemfontein, unloaded the horses to stretch their legs and were on our way again.  There had been a lot of road works coming up with stops and go's so we decided to take a back road (thank goodness) to Graaf Rienet via Jaggersfontein.  Well about 50km out of the little Free State town horrific sounds engulfed us and my Mahindra ground to a hault....... it was after 8pm at night, in the middle of now where & raining. All I can say is thank God we had cell phone signal - and managed to stop the convoy of horse boxes and trucks to turn around and come and save us (Bob really is our hero).  And Lucy magically managed to get hold of a loan garage who would help us on a Saturday night...... so off we go to Jaggersfontein - The big truck towing the horse trailer and behind all that; me being towed !!!!
Well to cut a long story short, we had to leave my car, unpack all my camping equipment into the truck and set off again to Graaf Rienet.  Lucy & I kept Bob awake with "transparent questions" and chatter.... it will be a trip that non of us forget.

I set off the next day back home in a borrowed car with Ashley who had a few days off.

So now my Mahindra is stuck 600km away (6 weeks later its still there!)  Then to add to my woes, I used Clint's double cab to go get horse food in East London the following week - and it too broke down - no oil in the engine - (5 weeks later its still at a friends house!)  OK, so we are down to the Landi - guess what - 4 weeks later its still parked in the drive way with a broken wheel hub.....................and I have a hire bakkie which is costing the earth................. oh well, I am not quite sure what the lesson is here, but hell,  to say that I am not having any luck with vehicles at the moment is an understatement.  Maybe something will be fixed by the end of this week???? ??????????????PLEASE?????????
Enough of my car drama...

To top it all I am having a run of lame horses. Three full brothers Time Warp, Tassenburg & Tanu are all lame, Kingston is still not well, but seems to be improving all be it painfully slowly and now Top Deck is lame :-(

The over night trails have been hectically busy, 5 weeks back to back has been hard work (especially without vehicles!!) I just have to say thank you, thank you to Nicky and Amanda - well done - you are both awesome :-)  I am sure that Collin at Peas on Earth will be glad to have his beloved wife back!!

Harry Brouwer rode with us again over Easter together with his friends from Holland.  It was lovely to have Harry ride with again - this is the third time that he has been on trail with us.  And he always brings the most decadent Belgium chocolates for me - who could not love someone who does that :-)

Clint has been away most of the time during all of this - he has been taking clients out hunting & fishing - we are going to need some serious together time after all this - ha ha! (after he has got all the vehicles fixed!!)

Shunter is really training Tashbah hard for the next endurance ride.  I am down to one horse available who is registered Torstone Tambourine - a real sweaty or I could take Tara to do a 30km and see how she does :-)

So finally we have slowed down to a nice hack - time to catch up, fix, clean and prepare for the next great horse riding adventure.  We start to fill up with our Gap Year rides from the middle of June onwards.  - there are still a couple of places available in July/August - so if you have been thinking about riding with us, go to the web site Wild Coast Horseback Adventures fill in an enquiry form and we will find a space for you!

Our 7 night Wild Coast Horse Safari has turn out to be very popular and we have places available on most of the dates that are on the web site - more info on our horse safari

till next time
Happy riding.

Cantering about on the Wild Coast

Well this seems to be the way to go as far as keeping our friends and fellow riders up to date with whats happening at Sunray Farm.
We have had an incredible year, hetically busy with trails, work riders and just to keep me really busy, we have been building!!!
Ok so this is a short note to get things going, i will be posting more over the next week or so as i build this blog, and i have crated an on line photo album - more details later.
I am off now to go and fetch horses from the beach and bring them back to the farm for thier holiday.
Julie-Anne