Meet the trainees - Sinead Corrigan

My name is Sinead Corrigan, I’m 19 years old and I was born in Dublin.  I started riding horses when I was 6 years old.  My cousin had horses so that’s what started me off.  I had two ponies and I just did a bit of showing and showjumping with them.  When I finished my junior cert, I wanted to go to RACE but my Mam and Dad wanted me to stay in school and do my leaving cert. So when I finished my leaving cert I decided to do a year in some sort of Equine Studies wherever I could find or get into.
I went to Pipers Hill College to do a horsemanship course and studied Anatomy and Physiology, Breeding and Nutrition.  On a Thursday and Friday I went to work placement in Sycamore Lodge Equine Hospital on the Curragh.  I learned so much over the year. I stayed on there after I finished college and helped around doing things such as setting up the surgery and going on call outs to different yards around the Curragh.  I stayed working for a little while in Sycamore Lodge doing the jobs I was doing on work placement and a couple of nights making sure a mare and foal were okay during the night.
When I left Sycamore Lodge I applied for RACE and when I found out I got my place on the course I was delighted.
Since coming to RACE in September 2014 I have really enjoyed every aspect of the course.  In the mornings we exercise the yard horses with our instructors train us in all aspects of riding to be a competent jockey, including riding on the gallop here at RACE and the Curragh.  I especially love jumping out of the starting stalls.
I am going out on my work placement to Michael Halfords at the end of this month and I am looking forward to meeting new people and riding new horses.

I will be graduating from RACE at the end of June.

Sinead has started her placement and is doing well.

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Training on Curragh in November 2014

Meet the trainees - Jack Collins

I don’t come from a horsey background. The first time I sat up on a horse was at a friend’s house at the age of 14, his mother was a horse dealer who kept a lot of show jumping ponies and horses. Once I got over the initial fear of them I started to get obsessed with horses and every chance I got I would be in the yard. I started  showjumping at shows in every corner of the country, first at the lower levels and eventually I got to jump a few big classes. It was all great and much needed mileage! During the off season I would hunt whatever horses I could get a hold of, many being young and even a bit hardy so I learnt a lot from it.

When I came to the RACE open day I wasn't interested in being a jockey but I was hoping to look at the farrier school which was where I had hoped to go. When I listened to the director talk about the trainee jockey course I was hooked straight away and by the end of the briefing I had no interest in looking at the farrier school.

It was then that I turned my attention to getting into a jump yard, so I applied to RACE and then started working in Michael Hourigans in Co. Limerick. It was there that I got my first experience with racehorses and I gained a lot of experience from riding out with good jockeys like Adrian Heskin. When I was in school doing my leaving Cert I decided it would make more sense to be in a local yard as I would be limited on the time I would have so I started riding in Declan McNamara’s yard just 5 minutes down the road from my house in Co. Clare. It was great to be in a yard where I was allowed to school and ride work and it done my confidence the world of good.

When I came to RACE I was very impressed with the facilities and all the help that was at hand. I can’t think of any other place that will help you this much with your riding. I am now out in work placement in John Oxx’s yard and I absolutely love it, it’s great to be riding good horses everyday and to be working with such helpful people.

I hope to progress my riding as much as I can before the end of the course and afterwards I’ll keep my head down and keep working and hopefully the lucky breaks will come. I hope to take what I have learned about diet, fitness and yard routine and always remember it wherever I am after the course.

RACE Gallops in September

Jack leading the string on RACE Gallops

Trainees try out Rock Climbing