shannon gates fred packard scholarship

My name is Shannon Gates, I am 21 years old and I have been working in racing for five years. I have recently won the Fred Packard Scholarship to go and work in South Africa for three months. Firstly I would like to say a massive thank you to Mrs. Packard and the board for giving me such a wonderful opportunity and I intend to make the most of it!

I got into racing five years ago when I did the 9 week course at the British Racing school. They found me a job with Linda Jewell and I have been there ever since. She has taught me a lot over the years and I feel that I will learn even more from this experience.

I fly out on Thursday and I can't wait! Everything is organised and now I just need to start packing. I will be staying with racehorse trainer Alistair Gordon at his yard near Durban. I feel so lucky to have this experience and hope to learn as much as I can from it.

I will keep you updated but right now I best start packing!

6/5/13

I arrived in Durban on Friday evening, Alistair's wife Jeanette picked me up from the airport and we were at the house in about half and hour. I was a little nervous when I got here but Alistair and Jeannette were so welcoming that I felt right at home straight away and they really have looked after me.

On Saturday morning Jeanette dropped me at the yard at around 8am and I spent an hour or so looking around the yard and met a few owners. We then went racing, Alistair had four runners at Greyville, one of the racecourses in Durban. We spent much of the day in a private box, I met more owners and trainers than I could mention. It was an amazing day and I learned a lot.

The training center here has a few similarities to the UK but all in all it's a different world! I think there are about 20 trainers there, the different yards are all so close together and they share the main entrance. The trainers here don't have their own horseboxes here, but instead use trucks that take all the runners from the center to the races, making our lorries seem rather small and insignificant!

I spent Sunday trying (and failing) to learn who all the horses are and later on Jeanette took me to the shops so I could sort out my phone.

Today was my first day of actually working. We start at 5am (shock to the system there) and the grooms pulled out at around twenty past. I then went with Alistair and Nicolette, Alistair's assistant, to the track in the car. The grooms would warm the horses up then myself and the jockeys got on to canter/work the horse, giving them back when done and swapping on to the next one.

First lot was unreal, riding on a different gallop on a horse I'd never sat on in the dark. Luckily for me the horse new where he was going and gave me a lovely ride. I rode one more horse on first sting and was very pleased when the sun came up!

There are lots of gallops here and I still need to learn which one's which but I'm working on it. Trying to talk to the grooms and work riders was interesting as they speak little or no English but we muddled through.

While the grooms got the yard finished off I saw horses swim, and work in the treadmill which was amazing. We finished morning stables at around 10.30 am and went back in the afternoon from 3pm until 5. All the horses are out in the afternoon, either led out in hand, ridden or put in the paddocks. I spent a while talking to Nicolette about how we do things in the UK compared to in SA and think we both learned a bit, I know I did. Once the horses were all fed and rugged up we headed home.

The yard has a night watchmen, he is there from 5pmto 5am and he makes sure the horses have enough water and checks rugs, as well as generally keeping an eye on the horses and making sure they are all happy and comfortable.

So, I survived my first day and I absolutely loved it! I'll be sure to keep you updated as often as possible. Bye for now.

14/5/13

I am now in my second week and if anything I am enjoying it even more than the first. I have been riding between five and nine horses a day, depending on how many jockeys turn up to ride out. I have ridden a lot of work in the last week and I am finally getting to know some of the horses, and the gallops (much to Alistair's delight).

My sense of direction, or lack of, has provided a great deal of entertainment to Alistair and Nicolette. We have a few horses at another yard, I was sent down one evening to feed them and I did drive a few circles round Summersvelt! I seem to be learning my way round now though and I've just about got the hang of driving Alistair's enormous pick up truck, it's a bit different to my little golf at home.

On Saturday, it rained, when i say rained I mean it absolutely poured! Unlike in the UK where we would just have to get on with it and get wet, we just didn't pull out! The tracks were closed so we couldn't have cantered anyway. The grooms took a few of the horses out for a trot but not many. The runners for this week were able to be worked on the treadmill, would be nice to do that at home!

By Monday morning as you can imagine we had a few fresh horses, somehow no loose ones though, well not from our string anyway! We seem to go a lot faster here, going a nice pace on a Monday morning, apparently horses here very rarely tie up. Perhaps that's due to the weather or maybe the different feeds.

I've met most of the vets now and hopefully I'll be spending a week or so with them at some point before returning home which should be amazing.

The English/Zulu conversations with the grooms seem to be getting a bit better, I think! It's definitely different riding work with people who speak very little English but it certainly is interesting.

We have been racing a bit and I have now been to Scottsville racecourse as well. One of our two year olds had his first run the other day, he finished a really promising second, beating some much more experienced horses. We have two runners tomorrow as well so fingers crossed they will do well.

So, all in all I am having the most amazing time and learning as I go. I will blog again as soon as possible but as there is no wi-fi it isn't always easy to get online. I'll try my best!

1/6/13

Sorry it's been so long since my last update! The last couple of weeks have been amazing, as well as very busy! We have been racing a lot, with a few winners and several horses getting placed.

I have been riding loads of work which is great and also putting horses in the stalls. Over here every horse has to pass a stalls test before it can run. They are done by the tracks and horses have to stand in the stalls for one minute. I think this is a very good idea and it seems to work well.

I have also spent some time going around with the vets when I have finished riding out which has been very interesting and I feel that I really learned a lot from doing this.

Alistair has mentioned going to work on the farm for a week or so where they do all their pre-training and getting horses ready for the sales and I'm really looking forward to that.

I am also finally starting to learn peoples name which is good, but there are still plenty of people who know who I am and I don't know them! It's a bit strange to know that everyone knows who I am but I'm getting used to it.

I will update again soon and hopefully I will have some pictures to add for you.

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