Daughter wants Equine Management BTEC instead of A levels after open day

[Brainfreeze1]

Hello, my daughter in year 10 is a hard working student with expected 6 and 7 grade passes. Up until recently she was set on history and English A levels and off to university. All good. Until that is I took her to a land and agricultural college who were having an open day. The sun was shining the setting was beautiful. She is now determined to go there and study BTECH in Equine Management (she horse rides every week).

Whilst trying to support her I can’t help but feel this is the wrong choice and will limit her choices going forward. She loves horses but I always saw this as a hobby not a job.

i wondered if anyone had similar experiences of this. Do I respect her wishes and hope for the best or do I insist she goes to college to do a levels?

https://www.rainbowequinehospital.co.uk/

Came here to say this. 6&7s don’t scream that she’s suited to a world of academia and a degree, and far too many students are getting a degree because it’s the done thing and it brings no value to their future career (and the advent of AI is going to exacerbate the no end).

Pursuing something she loves that’s vocational and practical is probably a great idea. You should encourage her to understand what routes are open to her after the BTEC though - can she go onto further study with that qualification if she wanted to? What are apprenticeship routes like? Encourage her to be as broad as possible in that research - it will close doors like medicine, but maybe not doors like accountancy. What if she then decided to be a plumber? You might be surprised at what routes are still available having gone down the BTEC route.

Vet nursing degrees are not that easy to get into and obviously being a vet seems out of reach with her grades.

There are definitely horse careers that’s aren’t just mucking out but dc start somewhere! Working at studs, working in racing yards are areas of work that can be fulfilling. Obviously in the latter, being a good rider is vital but there are jobs! Few jobs around horses are well paid but the jobs are there.

I’ve contacted Hartpury and they have told me you either study for a BTEC there or a-levels you cannot do both. Did you daughter do her A levels at a different place or have they changed their rules I wonder?

Honestly an Arts degree is an expensive luxury in a world where entry level jobs are hollowed out by AI.

Equine management sounds fabulous!

Thank you for sharing this x

As a weekly rider she will need a lot more hands on experience to understand the workload.
I'm from London, back in the day with quite a few riding schools within easy reach by public transport.
I helped out, went through Pony Club, Riding Club.
I got a position as a working pupil and took my BHS exams.
Worked with horses until I had children and I'm lucky enough to have my own horses.
I would encourage your daughter to become a helper, take lessons at different stables, look out for private owners needing a hand, join the Pony Club (it's not just for owners, many riding schools will hire out for PC rallies).
She'll get more feel for what it all entails.

OP, from all the comments, it seems the first step is for your DD to do something this summer wrt work experience in a stables, to see what life is really like there.

Applications would be closed for her cohort to be accepted by the time she's done that, unfortunately.

Sorry, don't understand, do you mean too late to find somewhere to work for free this summer? The DC is only y10, so applications for college are next term.

Have you digested any of the posts from people who were pushed AWAY from it, too? I haven't seen you engage with those and I worry you're looking for validation on your thoughts rather than what your daughter might want/feel.

She's young enough to decide a year or two into training or the subsequent careers to start over. Things are also very different to when that poster went into the field. There's many more options.

Very possibly, yes. Because for students going in September, work experience is likely to be a requirement.

I would have loved to have done a course like that, but the live-in working pupils where I rode were paid a pound a week and even as a teen I knew I couldn’t live on that. But who knows? Wish I’d gone to agricultural college. Got an outdoors job now.

I wanted to do something similar but my dad told me I couldn’t. Instead I went to secretarial college. I’ve resented HIS decision all my life.

Your daughter should make her own choices.

I'm sorry, but I agree with this. The way things are going & under employment for young adults I'd be encouraging her to do something other than either of the options she was/now is considering. Something that directly heads to employment for an ok wage.

fair point. I’m finding all the experiences on here very helpful.

No, but they have a taster day which I’ve booked her on.

Thank you for sharing. This is very much on my mind.

Think about your relationship with her too. I speak to my parents but live far away with no intention of moving back, and there's still some resentment that I wasn't allowed to make my own decision then. Plus some others, but that's where the resentments started. I never felt like my own path was good enough.

This was me at 16 , the only difference being we had horses so was already used to the daily grind , and loving it which I think is different to somebody who only rides once a week and helps at the yard occasionally . My parents compromised by saying stay on for A levels and then decide . I did this , I didn’t apply to any unis and then in the May of A level when the realisation was hitting I decided that one of my horses wouldn’t cope with me not being about and I’d already developed Raynaud’s disease so struggled being out in the cold . I decided a job where I could afford to maintain my horses was a better bet so I went and did nurse training instead . My advice would be to think seriously about where she wants to be , what she wants to be doing in 10/20 years and how a horsy career fits in

Which college is she looking at going to? Is it Bishop Burton?

We’re only young once.

Let her do whatever she wants.

Equine studies are not a good career path but she’ll be doing that she enjoys and making new friends.

She can always change careers in the future.

I didn’t do A levels but I did an access course instead which you do after 19 and allows you to get the grades to go to uni. So that might be something to keep in mind.

My daughter originally wanted to do an equine related degree, but ultimately decided she wanted to keep horses as a hobby and not turn it into her career - she just wants to enjoy her pony and riding, rather than make it something pressured and something she has to do if that makes sense.

She did a level 3 animal management BTech at college and is now at agi college doing an animal-related degree - still related to her passion, but gives her a few more options

Her GCSEs weren’t great, but the more hands on, assignment based learning of the BTEC suited her so much better (she’s massively dyslexic).

She’ll never earn a fortune but she loves it and she’s happy and thriving

Could she do A Levels and then apply to the Royal Agricultural University, OP?

She would then have A Levels and a degree under her belt when applying for jobs in her early 20s.

https://www.rau.ac.uk/courses/undergraduate-

My sister did this BTEC and still went on to do a degree (in an unrelated topic).