Tweenhills Stud work placement - Blog by Ellie Harrod
Recent BHA Graduate Ellie Harrod talks about her time at Tweenhills Farm & Stud as part of her work placement sponsored by the TBA and NGC.
Week 1
I am so fortunate and grateful to be given this opportunity by the TBA and Next Generation Club to work on an 8-week placement at both Tweenhills Farm and Stud and Newsells Park Stud. This is an exciting time for me as I have not previously worked at a stud and am a firm believer that you do not fully understand how such an establishment operates until you primarily experience it first-hand. With that in mind, I could not wait to start and see what the stud environment entails.
Week 2
My second week here at Tweenhills has been action packed with a range of roles. Tweenhills not only has the main stud yard, there is also the foaling unit at Corsend Farm, Chargy Hill where the youngstock are predominantly situated, Catsbury as a pre-training and breaking yard, and Vicarage as an isolation yard. Earlier in the week, we moved some of the weaned foals from Corsend to Chargy Hill. Being so hands on with the foals; catching and leading them was great fun as it was something I had not previously experienced and they are full of character. Unfortunately during this process the heaven’s had opened and the rain poured heavily. Some of the foals seemed less impressed with the weather change than us, which did provide some amusement. There were mixed opinions where some were keen to get out of there quick, in contrast to other foals that simply refused to move. You’ll be pleased to know that after some encouragement and fear of being left behind, these foals quickly teamed up with the more sensible foals (much to the handlers delight), and we were soon all under cover.
In preparation for the sales, it is protocol for those horses entering the books to undergo veterinary x-rays to fully inform buyers of any potential anatomical ailments to the horse. Therefore during the week each horse going to the sales was x-rayed; this is quite time consuming as the horse has to be completely still to obtain a clear image. As you can appreciate this may take time and patience when dealing with youngstock. The horses here at Tweenhills are treated with the upmost care, as the week also involved a visit from the Equine Chiropractor, who monitors the anatomical structures and provides mobilisation techniques to the horse. This maintains the high level of welfare of these horses.
Furthermore in preparation for the sales the horses are groomed thoroughly each day to keep them looking their best and with a healthy coat. All of youngstock on the main yard were paraded to David Redvers this week which was an exciting experience. David is renowned as one of the country's most successful bloodstock agents, with notable purchases such as Group 1 winning miler Elm Park, who also won at Sandown this week. Therefore it was intriguing to find out his opinions on their stature, condition and development. I did not realise the process of showing, for example; the horse does not stand square, but instead with the front and back of legs on one side of the horse being closer together, and the legs on the other side being further apart. The assessor can then examine each leg individually at one moment in time. Seeing the parade of those going to the sales has me eagerly anticipating the October Sales even more.