Christine Meunier has lived a life
breathing, dreaming and working with horses in the thoroughbred industry in Australia
Follow Lise and Wes as they work
their way around North East Victoria, Australia in the seasonal world of
breeding thoroughbreds. Horse Country follows
the seasons of the thoroughbred industry and what the day to day of working on
a stud could look like.
A few hours away, Maddie and
Melanie are working hard in their parent’s metropolitan riding school, teaching
others about horse riding and care of the horse. From the nervous first time rider, to the
child who wants to run fast and jump high, the young women shape lessons to
suit the individual.
Horses offer a great opportunity
to study, learn, work and develop an incredible career around the world. Set in Australia
EXCERPT
Glancing
out of the school window across the green oval the bored sixteen-year-old
sighed, admitting to herself that it would be a lot more exhilarating racing
her palomino gelding around the emerald surface, rather than sitting in a
stuffy room while their teacher marked the roll.
Calling
her name he gained her attention, marking her off before addressing the class.
“Morning
everyone. Over the next fifteen minutes
or so, I want you to have a think about what you’re going to do after year
twelve.
“Because
you’re in year eleven, I know most of you have already picked subjects that
coincide with what you plan on studying in University. But, today I’d like you to have a think about
what you want as a job after your studies and list five different possibilities
for me. This year you’re going to do two
bouts of work experience, so we will try and line these up with your
preferences,” a balding fifty something pedagogue informed the general
consensus of bored teens before him.
She
smiled to herself, mentally correcting the teacher as she stared at the blank
piece of paper in front of her. She
didn’t want a job – she wanted a career.
And
she wouldn’t spend fifteen minutes deciding on one either, she’d spent just
short of fifteen years deciding on horses.
Flicking through the University/TAFE guide before her she stopped on the
letter E, her eyes scanning the page
until she came across the word she was looking for.
Finding
a list of seven or so careers, she mentally crossed out those that didn’t
appeal to her, writing down the few that did before her attention returned to
the green surface outside the classroom.
Replaying
in her mind the conversation with her “Careers Teacher”, she smiled ruefully,
more than aware of how she should have handled the conversation.
“Horses
aren’t a career, dear. Every girl goes
through a stage where she wants a pony; you’ll grow out of it. Aside from that, it’s too dangerous working
with these unpredictable animals.”
It’ll be even more dangerous me
working with them if I’m not initially trained to do so.
“Girls that want ponies do quickly grow out of it, generally by the time they’ve
discovered the male population. I own a horse, have had this infatuation for the
past ten or so years and don’t believe I’ll be growing out of it anytime
soon. Though, if I am going to do so,
surely I’d tire of the animals more quickly if I was put to work with them?”
Aware
that this response from her could have turned the conversation either way, she
was curious to know if it would have worked to her advantage.
Thankful
she had a mother whom was insistent on her following her heart, there’d been no
need for her to have a follow up
conversation with the older male however, and it was all thanks to her mother’s “little conversation” with the
man. She’d managed to convince the
teacher to agree to let her daughter work with horses, at least for the first
lot of work experience and that’s all that mattered to the teen.
Find out how you can get your copy of Horse Country Book here: http://www.horsecountrybook.com/ or
About Christine ~
Christine Meunier considers herself introduced to the
wonderful world of horses at the late age of 13 when her parents agreed to
lease a horse for her. She started experiencing horses via books from a
young age and continues to do so, but recognises that horses cannot be learnt
solely from books.
She has been studying horses from age 16, starting with
the Certificate II in Horse Studies and is currently undertaking her Bachelor
of Equine Science via distance education.
Christine has worked at numerous thoroughbred studs in Australia as well as overseas in Ireland
She then gained experience in a couple of Melbourne based
horse riding schools, instructing at a basic level before heading off overseas
again, this time to South Africa to spend hours in the saddle of endurance and
trail horses on the Wild Coast.
Particularly passionate about the world of breeding
horses, she teaches equine studies focused on breeding, at a TAFE, Victoria , Australia
She also writes a blog
about equine education which you can view at http://equus-blog.com/
1 comment:
Thank you very much for this!
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