Working with an elite clientele and an array of magnificent horses has helped Dubai-based elite-horse owner Hamad Ghadayer become a spokesperson for the industry. Here’s what he believes are the challenges and rewards of pursuing a career in the equine industry.
Challenges
It’ll test the limits of your patience. Period. Some students labor in the error that all horses are predictable in their behavior. This misconception has to be done away with. Horses that have been training for some time can display predictable behavioral tendencies but that’s never the same with younger horses or horses who are yet to start their training. If students enter the industry with the wrong notion, they often either run out of patience or get scraped or hurt in the process, more than is necessary.
Talking about injuries, that’s something inevitable. And perhaps the best way to deal with it is to be prepared for it. A big consolation is that if you follow your teacher’s instructions, you can bring down the seriousness and frequency of injuries. Horses are beautiful and, not to mention, powerful creatures who can sometimes be temperamental. From reasons we can understand like hormonal changes, physical injury, or lack of essential nutrients in diets to reasons that we are yet to account for, can contribute to a horse’s good or poor mental state. Animals make up for their lack of speech by displaying their mental state via physical aggression. The key is to read the warning signs, like if there’s an extreme change in their behavior, or if they are refusing to go through with their everyday routine, or displaying push-back behavior, and act accordingly.
Rewards
The rewards outdo the challenges by a long shot, although my experience has taught me that challenges are rewarding in themselves as they only help you become better at what you do, which in the end is good for you and the horses you work with. But if I had to point out some of the biggest rewards, the highest among them will be the joy that comes riding the coattails of this profession. Horses are beautiful animals who know how to love and respond to love, and their loyalty can teach us a thing or two about honesty. Also, working with horses requires one to stay in top physical shape to keep up with horses.
Working with horses seems more like a lifestyle than a career; a lifestyle that’ll help you improve upon your mental and physical state.