BHA Grad enjoys Tweenhills time

Recently, Cameron Brown completed a placement at Tweenhills as part of the BHA Graduate Programme. We have since received a letter from Cameron describing his time at Tweenhills…

“Prior to my time at Tweenhills Farm and Stud I had a very limited experience of hands-on work with horses and zero experience with thoroughbreds. The BHA Graduate Programme was what really intrigued me to this side of the industry, and I wanted to gain knowledge and experience from a sector which I knew very little about.

“I was lucky enough to be chosen for the placement and was soon arriving at Tweenhills ready to start my first day of work. I was eased into a normal routine day, observing most of the goings on; getting yearlings onto the walker, mucking out etc and from there I was eased into the actual hands-on part. To start with, I held yearlings while other the stud hands groomed them, showing me what to do and explaining what not to do. I went in with an attitude to ask as many questions and not say no to anything, which meant I learned very quickly and was thrown in at the deep end which was great. Multiple mornings were spent out in the paddocks feeding, where I was dodging excited foals and a couple of kicks to give feed and to check them over, and most afternoons were spent grooming. After a week or two I was grooming alone which included thorough brushing, combing and cleaning hooves; it ended up being quite the workout as it is hard work. It also ended with a few bruises as they do occasionally love to bite.

“Foal work was where it really started with me being thrown right in, to catch and lead foals back to their stables or into different paddocks. Leading foals was a good place to start for me as they weren’t as big as yearlings and definitely not as strong. Working with foals was continuous throughout the month and was a fantastic starting point for me, especially walking them and holding them for the farrier. I also observed how to show horses correctly and how showing foals can be quite a bit more tricky than showing yearlings.

“By the end of the month I was leading yearlings on and off the walker, something I never thought I’d do and began to feel really comfortable with it. It’s hard to put into words everything that I accomplished with the guys from Tweenhills as it’d be one big list, but it really was an incredible experience and I would be more than happy to go back. It’s opened my eyes to a new side of the industry and has left me wanting more. The only negative of this is that I don’t think my words can quite express how enjoyable and invaluable the experience really was.”