Equine Department

We are lucky at Philpots to have our own equestrian facilities which include eleven acres of pasture, six stables and an outdoor arena to ride in.  We also have access to lovely hacking on the lanes around West Hoathly and on the local bridleways.

When our young people first come to the yard for horse care they will have several sessions working with the horses and learning horse husbandry on the yard.  This will involve learning to care for the horses and do simple tasks such as grooming, rugging and mucking out stables.  Once our young people are ready to progress they will learn handling skills and gradually progress to riding our horses if they are within our rider weight guidelines.

Much of what we do here on the yard is about building key life skills such as communication, teamwork, confidence, relationships, responsibility and personal achievement. The young people set their own goals and work toward them within a structured framework of lessons designed to support their own individual needs and aspirations.

Once our learners reach 14 years old we encourage them to study for a BTEC in Horse Care or work towards the British Horse Society (BHS) Challenge Awards or vocational Stage exams.  These qualifications enable our young people to achieve a strong vocational qualification between the ages of 14 and 16 which really gives them a head start if they wish to progress to college after leaving school.

It’s not all work! We have lots of fun, Christmas races, Easter egg hunts, summer hacks, visits and trips so that the students begin to understand the range of vocational opportunities and further training available to them in the equine industry.

Our Instructor is a BHS Senior Coach, with an MSc Equine Science and is a Certified BHS Changing Lives Through Horses Coach.  The young people at Philpots have the opportunity to use equine facilitated learning techniques to develop key life skills, learn self-regulation and relaxation, or to engage in vocational career training to prepare them for further education and employment.  If you have further questions about what our equine department can offer you, please feel free to contact our Instructor Debra Richmond on debra.richmond@philpotsmanorschool.co.uk.

Please see below our curriculum overview. We look forward to welcoming you to our wonderful yard sometime soon!

Curriculum Overview

Year Topics
7 Changing Lives Through Horses Achieve Awards (British Horse Society).
The programme works to develop six key life skills through equestrian activity: Communication, Confidence, Relationships, Teamwork, Responsibility, Personal Achievement.The framework of activity is called the BHS Achieve Awards and includes 10 stable management awards and six riding awards. There are also a range of BHS Achieve Skills. The BHS Achieve Skills are activities that can be carried out in the wider equestrian environment, such as wildlife awareness, photography or fix it awards.  Young people can have access to both riding and/or non-riding awards as part of this scheme.
8&9 Learners have access to the Changing Lives Through Horses Explorer Awards (British Horse Society).  These awards develop our young people’s literacy and numeracy skills in conjunction with their equine learning to support them with cross curricular activities in school.  They focus on the following key skills:

  • Communication
  • Confidence
  • Responsibility
  • Building Relationships
  • Teamwork
  • Perseverance

Students also now have access to the British Horse Society Bronze Challenge awards which give a series of progressive achievement awards for various tasks such as Horse Care, Riding out Safely, Riding on the flat, Riding over fences etc.

10&11 BTEC L2 Certificate and Extended Certificate in Horse Care
BTEC L3 Foundation Diploma in Equine ManagementBTEC Level 2 Horse Care focusses on understanding routine requirements of horse care and handling during the first year.  Students progressing into an Extended Certificate and a second year of study then focus on the health and welfare of horses and feeding and watering, including understanding nutrients required for good health.  This qualification is equivalent to one GCSE.BTEC Level 3 is the progression route from L2 for those interested in pursuing a career in the equine sector, our BTEC Foundation Diploma is the equivalent in credits to one and a half A Levels and includes detailed study in the following  modules:-Structure, Form and Function (equine biological systems)
Diet and Nutrition
Work Experience
Tack and Equipment
Health and Husbandry
Preparation and Presentation for Competition
Riding Horses in the OpenThis course prepares learners for onward study at Level 3 Extended Diploma in college or would support progression to a Foundation Degree (FdSc).

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