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Typical Day at BRS
by Nika Vorster and Nick Meek, Foundation Course Students, October 2007
5.45am
A group of feeders go down to the yard and feed the horses. At 6am we open the yard gates and mucking out begins. You are given one straw box and either one paper or shavings box, depending on your ability. This has be done correctly everytime and as quickly as you can to avoid pulling out late and possibly being given afternoon jobs!
7.30am
First lot is pulled out and we ride either in the Indoor School, the round canter or on the straight gallop, depending on how far through the course you are. We always ride different horses to ensuring we gain more experience but everyone has their favourites.
8.15-8.30am
Arrive back from first lot, do up your horse and do your assigned yard job, for instance collecting hay/straw, sweeping, muck heap, tidying the tool shed - we do this as quickly as we can so that we can get to the dining room for breakfast!
9.00am
Cooked breakfast up in the dining room - but only when everything has been done properly - box checks are done regularly! Breakfast is usually the meal eaten the quickest as everyone tries to be back in the yard to pull out on time.
9.30am
Back to yard and tack up. Pull out second lot at 9.45.
10.45am
Arrive back at the yard where we do up our horse and finish off the yard jobs, this can be done efficiently when we all work as a team and help each other.
12.00 noon
Lunch followed by a couple of hours off to relax and either sleep, ring your parents or just chat and get to know each other. We normally all end up sharing our experiences of the morning!
2.00pm
Afternoon NVQ lectures at the yard with your instructor except Fridays, Saturday and Sundays.
3.00pm
Start evening yard duties. This is when we are given an opportunity to get to know our horses. You will skip out and then you will give your horses a thorough groom. Mangers are scrubbed and the horses are given fresh water and hay or haylage. Instructors will check each horse after we have finished to ensure the job has been done well.
4.45pm
The advanced prepare to feed whilst the beginners carry out yard duties. Everyone works as a team to get the horses fed before dinner at 5pm. In the summer we go back to the yard at 5.30pm to check waters, hay/haylage and ensure that your horse is ok.
There is always something on at the hostel in the evening. There are talks, PSE sessions, PE etc and at the weekends a video, on Fridays we all either play football or rounders together!
9.00pm
Block jobs. You are assigned an area of the hostel to keep clean and tidy, which usually just means a quick sweep or hoover up.
This is then checked by the head lad or head girl who then gives an overview of the day to let everyone know how they did that day at the yard.
Weekends on the yard are slightly different...
Saturday morning is almost the same except you ride two lots on a leisurely hack. If all yard jobs are done you will finish at 11.00am. Evening stables begin at 3.30pm on a weekend.
Sunday is a lie in - 7.30am start! Horses have the day off and once mucking out is complete and yard jobs are done you finish at 9am. Evening stables are 3.30pm. Between these hours family and friends are allowed to take you out - hopefully for a nice Sunday Roast!
The time that we have off before evening stables on Friday, Saturday and Sunday we are allowed to go out with our parents or go into Newmarket but we must be back on time! If your yard job has been done especially well all week then you may get a Sunday afternoon off!
The school has excellent accommodation!
There are 22 twin rooms with en suite bathrooms. They are fully equipped with fitted wardrobes, drawers, bedside cabinets, desks, shelves...the lot. The rooms are checked regularly so you have to make sure you keep them clean! We also have communal rooms with Sky TV, a pool table, air hockey table, table football, microwave and toaster and lots of cosy sofas. Everything is very homely which is good when you've had a hard days work in the yard. The common room is a perfect place to relax and have a good laugh with the other trainees.
The only downside of the new accommodation is a tannoy on which Mr Johns our warden will shout 'wakey wakey rise and shine' at around 5.30am!!