On the 17th of  November I was told that I was going to a trainer called Enda Kelly on the Curragh.  When I went out to meet my new boss, Barry Walsh introduced me to him he said that this is where I would serve my time for the next six months.  Mr. Kelly then showed me around the yard.  When I got back to RACE I was excited to go out to work in my yard as I liked my yard because it was small and it had a friendly atmosphere.  I think you would learn more in a small yard as you would have less people in it and the boss would have more time for you, to point out the mistakes you made.  When you go out to a trainer and if he gives out to you he isn’t trying to pick on you, he is telling you so you will learn from it and that you don’t do it again.

When Monday came I was up at five o'clock.  I got my bus out to the yard and started at seven.  I had to muck out two boxes that day. I then started riding the lead horse for the yearlings.  After a week or two of riding “RIO” I got promoted!!  I got to ride the yearlings.  I started off on a chestnut filly by Compton Place.  The first time I rode her in the paddock she made me feel like a fool.  When I wanted her to trot she would walk, and when I wanted her to walk she would trot.  When you ride yearlings you have to remember that they’re young and green, its not like riding a pony because when you're riding yearling you have to educate them, you also have to be quiet on them, you can't be waving your hands and whipping them because in a split second they could “spook” and could end up on the ground (as I already found out!!).  But the next day when in rode her I remembered the things my boss said “give her her head, put one in the neck strap and squeeze with your leg”.  After two weeks of riding the filly I got another yearling, a grey filly by Noverre.

For the last few weeks I have been riding the two yearlings out on the Curragh, they give the occasional buck but you get used to it.  Today I rode out another yearling.  He wasn’t fresh but he bucked and reared and went mad, he is just a bit green, maybe in a few months he will grow up and grow out of the habit.

This week, before Christmas, I rode every one of the yearlings, even the tough ones.  I now feel that I am trusted on them.  I also think that my riding has improved dramatically.  Yesterday I had to show horses “in-hand” for Lady O’Reilly, she owns a good few horses in the yard.  Two new yearlings came in last night belonging to Lady O’ Reilly, they were riding out this morning, it was the first time any of us from the yard had sat on them.  I got called up to ride them; lately the yearlings seem easy to ride or it could be the fact that I have more experience now and I know how to ride them better.  I think since I started riding yearlings I have become a more confident rider, I now know a few tricks to keep them relaxed and settled.

Personally I think when you go out to a flat yard the first few months are a bit boring, all the jobs like painting boxes and doing repairs have to be done, but it will only a matter of time before you will be riding work up the “Old Vic”.  It can be tough on the cold winter mornings in December, but when everyone else is getting up and going to work the same time as you are, it’s not too bad.  I think it would be harder to get up at five if you lived in a house on your own.  When you go out to a yard the day flies, you get back around twelve o'clock you get changed and go for dinner.  At two o'clock you have classes to five o'clock.  At seven o'clock you either will be doing art, PE, or simulator classes.  You're in bed then at ten o clock.  I also think that the RACE course is very rewarding; you become a good rider, you get fit, and you get a FETAC award so you have something to fall back on.

For people who hope to come to RACE and have ideas of becoming a champion jockey, it doesn’t always turn out that way; not everyone is going to become a jockey, but you will definitely be a better rider and a better person at the end of the course.