sorry me again! the BHS and NVQ courses.... a couple of questions.

[ThatVikRinA22]

just seen another thread from a potential owner and these courses were mentioned.

is this something you can do part time or are they proper full time college courses?

ive had a google but its still unclear.

This type of course would be good for me as a beginner who wants to own but, but i work full time, and work shifts to complicate things more, and no idea where these courses even run - are they just done at agricultural type colleges?

cheers.

oh I didn't see this, just posted a bit on the other thread

I did the NVQ2 and bhs stages one and two and riding and road safety all part time over a couple of years, one evening two hours a week (one hour riding, one hour stable management) at a satellite centre of local agricultural college and also at a BHS yard.

There are others, such as ABRS, that might be worth a look?

well the BHS dont seem to run any courses in my area at all - let alone a horse owners basic one.

you could do it by correspondence?

this place is near me but does distance learning

found the BHS level 1 horse ownership near me but with my shifts its not going to work as a part time course, so will look into distance learning. I would have loved to do the 10 week part time course at a college. bugger.

I did the horse owners certificate as a correspondence course, and round here you see courses advertised occasionally by instructors.

so how does it work as a correspondence course? i take it its all theory and no practical stuff then?

is it a good idea, and will it give me a general grounding before getting my own?
thanks (its still vicar in dude disguise!)

Yes, all theory, no practical.

If you wanted practical, you could always ask your instructor to show you the correct way to muck out, and more complex stuff like lungeing you can do as one off day courses at colleges - Hartpury does clipping, plaiting, first aid, and feeding day courses for instance.

And you'd be very welcome to come and practice tack cleaning and grooming on my mud monster

thank you!

dont you just love it when they roll!

thats all good to know - so i could do the theory distance learning and the practical in with my lessons....good stuff. thanks.

He doesn't just roll - he gets on his back and wriggles, all four hooves in the air, so the mud gets really ground into his bum and mane. And on a grey pony with a very long and full mane, thats highly entertaining.

The Pony club manual book is a very good starting point too

thank you! is there just one pony club manual? off for a mooch on amazon....

This one

Where are you based Vicar/Dude?

Some of the larger riding schools run training days for the BHS exams. For example the place I trained at many years ago offer these training days

I was lucky and was able to do my Stage 1 and 2 whilst training. I did take my Stage 3 but was failed for not doing my hat up while loading a horse onto a lorry

based in yorkshire, specifically east yorkshire but can easily get to york, hull, beverley, doncaster, i m very well placed to get anywhere in yorkshire really.

So unfair, poor frankelstein! This is what I hate about the bhs things, although I dithered for ages about the stage 3 but they are expensive and I'm not working now - could sort of justify it when I was doing pet sitting and freelance groom type things. Also I'm sure stage 3 involved galloping downhill into cross country jumps (maybe not on purpose) and I just hate going downhill into jumps at any speed.

I was going to say 'I have the DVDs and course books for stages 1, 2 and maybe 3' but then I realised I would never ever get round to posting them

is there anything at bishop burton or askham bryam that suits? they would probably be your best bet.

have checked, and they do have courses, but because i work shifts i cant commit to a set time each week so i think its going to have to be a distance learning course.