Dd starting an apprenticeship - what can we get her?

[Pleasedontdothat]

DD’s starting an apprenticeship at an eventing yard next month - it’s her dream job, she’ll be riding horses up to 5* level every day, having daily lessons on her own horse and going out to events a couple of times a week.

She’ll be living on-site and it’ll be the first time she’s been away from home for an extended period of time. She’s going to be working long days in all weathers. I’d like to get her something to make ‘adulting’ a bit easier. Any ideas?

I’ve been a groom Ona few big name racing studs.
Stuff I couldn’t live without

A really really really waterproof jacket
Some warm base layers (smartwool/black diamond if you can justify the £££)
Some really decent wellies - le chameu or dubarry
Warm (and waterproof) socks - sealskinz I think are waterproof

Thank you - she definitely needs a new waterproof coat and thank you for the recommendations for base layers etc

One of my employers bought us shire blouson types. Not the most stylish but mine is old as the hills and still super waterproof
Otherwise go for outdoor brands more than equestrian brands! Berghaus, Montane and Arcteryx are favourites of mine.

Oh congratulations to her, very well done.

As well as LastQueen's vg advice about layers, I would say a big thing for any young person living away from home for the first time, esp doing a physical job/sport is managing to eat well - if she'll be working hard all day and riding loads she needs fuel but the temptation can be to just eat junk (or worse skip meals altogether). Not sure how her cooking skills are or what facilities she'll have but I'd say a good basic/student cookbook, maybe some easily portable gadgets (slow cooker? microwave? hot plate?) and plenty of supplies of easy, healthy food (maybe send her a supermarket delivery every so often?)

Also working student accommodation can be pretty 'basic' crap - draughty damp lofts above stables or similar! So plenty of blankets to keep warm a good idea even going into summer - maybe an electric blanket or similar?

Thanks @maxelly she’s incredibly excited!

Good point about food - she has zero body fat at the moment despite eating about twice as much as me and it will be quite a challenge to get enough calories inside her. I’ve added a student-type cook book to the list ... her cooking skills are basic - we’re going to be doing a crash course in life skills over the next few weeks

The accommodation is actually really nice - she has an en-suite bathroom!

Hot water bottle in case the heating the accomodation is rubbish. And generally getting into a bed that has had a hot wage bottle in it for a few mins first is a small luxury that might mean a lot in winter.

Might sound patronising but does she know how to do laundry? Don't want to get her good stuff and then have it ruined by being bunged on a 90c wash....

A budgeting app - I like Yolt but there are many of them. Link it to her bank account and it learns to categorise spending into things like shopping, groceries, leisure, travel. Set a budget level for a type of spending and it automatically alerts you when you are getting too close to that.

Have a look here for cookbooks. A lot of them are for one person.

cookingonabootstrap.com/#menuopen

uk.bookshop.org/lists/books-i-ve-written-7dadcf05-642a-46e7-bb17-4586ef21c829

Cookbook recommendations are great thanks, she’s a big fan of hot water bottles already so that’s definitely going with her plus I’ve got her one of those oversized hoodie/blanket things. She’s doing her own laundry from now until she leaves!

She’s actually very good at budgeting as she’s been earning a decent amount for quite some time now, but I’ll ask her if she thinks one of the apps would help,

Air fryers are fantastic - just like a mini oven, you can cook all sorts in them, they're cheap to run, and most importantly have a timer, so switch off once done (so hard to burn food in them!).

Sealskin gloves - if she's good about not losing things, as they are a bit pricey, but totally changed my daughter's life, as her hands don't get so cold in winter as they're waterproof. You can often find them on offer at this time of year.
Decent base layers, waterproofs etc - lots of them, as then you don't have to put wet clothes and coats back on.
I wish her the very best of luck, tell her not to be too disappointed if it doesn't live up to her expectations - working with horses can be extremely hard work and soul destroying, but can also be a lot of fun x

Thanks @Biddie191 I’ll look into air fryers - the timer would be very useful! Unfortunately dd leaves a trail of lost belongings wherever she goes so she’s already said it would be better to get a few pairs of cheapo magic gloves and keep her good ones for competitions. She’s got lots of layers but more will probably be needed.

She’s reasonably realistic about everything - the place she’s going to is quite a small yard and there genuinely will be a LOT of riding, both on her boss’s horses and her own. My take on it is that even if she decided it’s not for her at the end of the apprenticeship, she’ll have got a huge amount of experience, her riding will be enormously improved and no other job will ever seem as hard. She can still go back to higher education if she wants to later on.

Oh how exciting.

Yes to decent waterproofs and good wellies.

Riding chaps are useful.

And socks. Lots of riding socks.

And a spare pair of riding boots - when I worked with horses, for general day to day we all used to wear joddy boots with half chaps rather than long boots, as they are easier to get on and off, especially when wet, the half chaps last years and years, and the joddy boots are far cheaper. They also dry out a bit quicker, but having 2 pairs (and a fluff lined pair for winter - Battles do some great ones which again have made my daughter's life far easier) makes a huge difference. If your feet are warm and dry, you stay far more comfortable overall.
I don't regret my years working with horses at all, but do feel that it's very much a younger person's job for the most part. I worked in racing, which is better regulated than a lot of equestrian jobs (or at least then) - but the room for 'moving up' was pretty much non-existent, especially for a girl, and I really wouldn't still want to be riding out 4 lots and looking after 5, in the cold wet and mud, at close to 50!

Wish her the very best of luck, it'll be great fun, and as you say, everything beyond will be so easy!