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?

BTECs are structured differently to A levels. They are full on in terms of coursework and light in exams. If she’s an organised, disciplined student who hates exams it may suit her. If she’s not so good at turning in work on time it’s not going to work for her.

In an equine subject? What does she do now?

My friend did this course and runs her own yard now, she loves it but it’s bloody hard work and she is constantly exhausted and battling to make ends meet. I am a horse girl, as is DD, we have always had horses and still do but I would always want them as a hobby and not a job and I’m so glad DD felt the same. The hours, the pay, the lack of respect and the risk of injury hugely impacting your ability to work are big factors to think about. That said it’s your daughters choice - could she do some work
experience on a yard and talk to some people, get a feel for it? She might realise it’s not for her, or narrow down her ideas to equine physio, dentist etc which then is a different story as I also have friends who do those jobs and do VERY well from it!

6 and 7 are good grades - they would be equivalent to As and Bs.

In old money ( I am early 50s), I got 3xA, 3xB and 3×C at GCSE. I then got A and 2xC at A level and a 2:1 in my degree.
There is no reason why getting 6s and 7s would prevent someone from doing a degree and getting a good grade.
There is also no reason why someone getting 6s and 7s shouldn't do a btec if that is a route they feel better for them, or ferl they have to do a degree .

Also to add to my previous reply, about friends I made in my 2 years of training who completed the same as me;
*11 left the training and did jobs that had nothing to do with horses
*3 went into teaching jobs at other stables, 2 lived in as they had to relocate for the jobs (so were then tied to dependency on the employer) while 1 took on a weekend job. Only one of these worked long term at a stables (about 9 years) and then retrained into another career as she was sick of Groundhog Day and having no money and relying on parents to the point of having to move back in.
*1 found a rich couple who ‘always wanted horses’ to work for on their own land where they had stables buit. However rich couple moved abroad leaving friend really stuck for work as she only had experience in caring for horses, she went on benefits.
*another worked for a sj yard in the area and was just a groom to run around after the professional riders and being bossed about which she did for a good 5+ years as she liked the association with the yard even though she was their dogs body.
*1 went on to become a tutor ata top college named already but she also studied her a levels and other quals too and did also do uni somewhere so no wonder she did the best in the horsey world!

That's good to know and sound quite dire in terms of career opportunities @ViccivayK

In the year 2026, I would much rather my kid do a practical course than go to university for humanities. AI is going to be the death of many non high profile arts jobs.

I did a BTEC in equine management myself (admittedly 20 years ago now) but honestly I wouldn't recommend it even if she did want a career with horses.

Equine employers don't tend to like college students as they've rarely worked on an actual yard before. They tend to be very slow, do everything 'by the book' and have little idea of the true amount of hours, graft and little financial renumeration it is.

Out of my cohort of about 60 students, less than 20% of us actually worked in an equine related field after graduating

Yes @Littlebitpsycho you are so right! When I first looked at doing my equine education I looked at a college and was signed up to start, I then found my placement who told me about a different route (the one I took) which was much better for the ‘real/ true’ life of horses and I remember seeing some college students and was like ‘what are they teaching them?!’ You could really tell they were ‘classroom/ college based’ even though they had horses onsite to help care for it’s completely different.

@ViccivayK with horses, its ALWAYS experience over qualifications isn't it. The yard work we did during our course was ridiculous, we had 1.5 hours but only had 2 horses each!

Hardly a surprise when they were shocked starting on a real yard, and hardly a surprise that employers were horrified they were taking 45 minutes per stable 🤦‍♀️🤣

@ViccivayK would you mind sharing what path you took?

I think working as a groom/ riding school instructor/ yard help etc is really low-paid and not very nice for all the reasons outlined by posters above, but there are jobs within the equine profession that are better and more lucrative like physio, chiropractor, equine dentist, saddler, farrier etc etc.

Could she go to the Open Day at the Royal Agricultural University being held on July 1st 2026, OP?

https://www.rau.ac.uk/courses/open-days-and-events/open-days

*Also lorry horse transports (if she has driving licence and gets own lorry) can make money

My impression is the vast majority of jobs in the horse world are very poorly paid. Most of the big riders are doing it on inherited wealth and sponsorship etc .

My son is also keen to work in the equine world but I'm insisting he atleast does A levels first. I've told him if he wants a life with horses and ski holidays he'll need a well paid job.

If after A levels he is still insisting on being a jockey and is very tiny then a year out to test it out will be fine and he will still have the A levels to fall back on. He is expected to get 7s and 8s in his GCSEs.

A friend of ours did equine studies at college and found it very boring if you already have your horse and know how to look after it. She said they start at the level of someone who has never seen a horse before..

Just get her to do loads of "work experience" shovelling horse shit and sweeping yards in the pouring rain and gale force winds, ideally in January/February and she'll likely come to her senses and choose to do something else... if not then at least you know she's committed!

I wasted 50+ years on horses not as a career (fortunately) but as a very serious hobby. Over the years I’ve stabled my horses everywhere from crummy little yards and to some of the most famous competition yards in the country. I’ve also been trained by some of the countries top trainers charging top dollar. Trust me to a man all the staff who work with horses are underpaid (exploited is another word) and totally over worked. I wouldn’t encourage any child friend or even enemy to follow a career with horses. A tiny minority make it to the big time and you would need deep pockets to fund this but the overwhelming majority (even if your daughter is exceedingly talented) don’t they end up with shattered dreams chronic injuries limited transferable skills and no home to call their own.
For a example a friend in her 50’s is the yard manager and one of the countries most prestigious training centres she lives in one room in bunk house, she will never be able to purchase her own horse because she on terrible money. She occasionally she gets whispers of a horse with “great potential” but it always falls through as the reality is owners prefer their horse to be trained by a well known names. She also occasionally gets cast off horses from either her employer or one of the owner her employer trains but if she is successful on the competition circuit then they are quickly removed for either the owner to take over the ride or back to the big name trainer or the horse is only given to her to ride because it has a significant quirk or underlying illness and after months of hard work on her part it’s retired. She has arthritis from the inevitable injuries sustained working with large unpredictable animals.
A friends daughter did what your daughter is thinking of doing like your daughter a weekly rider she finished her BTEC now works in hospitality, her parents not due to lack of money but because they are sensible won’t fund her own horse career dreams she looked at the terrible wages condition’s and hours and felt that hospitality was a better bet and that’s saying something.
I could go on and detail 20 more like this. Most I know are actually very very talented riders, been round horses all their lives own horses are competing at high levels and still they can’t make it work.
Im going to be blunt weekly riding lessons do not give your daughter or you any idea about how hard the equestrian world is and how good you’ve got to be to stand any chance of even making a tiny living out of it. The horse world is positivity stuffed with dreamers hoping to make a success out of it, to earn a decent living get a world beating horse but the reality is most fail however talented they are.

If she really want to work with horses then she needs to train at one of the big name training centres like
https://wellingtonriding.co.uk
https://www.talland.net
https://www.ingestre.com
I still wouldn’t recommend it as a career but at least at these places she’d get real life experience ride decent horses and under some of the best instructors in the country.