A Student's Perspective
Patricia Calkins graduated the Irish National Stud Breeding Course in July 2011, achieving the Silver Medal award (pictured here with Coolmore’s Christy Grassick). She has since joined Darley’s Flying Start program. Hailing from Ohio, USA, she is 23 years old and a Harvard University graduate. Patricia has worked Keeneland Sales for Denali Stud and Four Star Sales and completed a marketing internship at Fasig-Tipton Sales house. Prior to that Patricia had worked at John O’Shea Racing Stables in Sydney, Australia and also completed the Kentucky Equine Management Internship at Mill Ridge Farm.
Here she reviews her time on the Irish National Stud Breeding Course,
April 17, 2011
Months ago, as my classmates first trickled through the gates of the stud prior to the beginning of the course, the word ‘daunting’ kept coming to mind. We are twenty-two students from eleven countries. Aggregated years of experience, extensive educations, multi-national perspectives, and considerable networks and resources had all come together for a six-month stint at the Irish National Stud. As the introductory week commenced, I found myself in the midst of a group of intelligent, driven, experienced and hard-working individuals. It was immediately apparent that the coming months would be an adventure and an education second to none.
The course is set up with a dual emphasis on practical equine experience and academic work. Students typically log 40-hour weeks in the yards, and have lectures from industry experts every evening. The standard schedule is then supplemented with field trips to training yards, stud farms, race meets, relevant industry presentations, etcetera.
Weekly yard rotations have proved to be an exercise in flexibility and attention to detail.
While the revolving yard rosters provide students with maximum exposure to all aspects of the stud season, they also ensure that no concrete routine is ever established. The benefit is that you’re rarely bored, and you are perpetually challenged to adapt to the circumstances.
Yard rotations provide each student with the opportunity to work with stallions, pregnant mares, barren and maiden mares, yearlings, and foals. There may be little glory in mucking out a stable (of which we all do our fair share), but there is satisfaction to be found in delivering a healthy foal, understanding the estrus cycle, or watching a yearling grow from gangly baby to strong, well-mannered racehorse. At the Irish National Stud, students have the privilege of experiencing (and contributing to) these minor miracles on a daily basis.
The academic experiences of the students vary greatly, but coordinators and lectures have worked to ensure that lectures bridge the gap between the practical and the academic. A holistic education is the best education, I believe, and lectures provide a perfect compliment to practical yard experiences.
I’ll freely acknowledge that there are frustrations, even daily ones, but learning to overcome obstacles in the workplace, and in personal and workplace relations, is an inherent (and important) part of life. The INS Breeding Course is not simply a job or a series of lectures, but rather a once in a lifetime opportunity to immerse one’s self fully in thoroughbred racing and the beauty of multi-cultural perspectives. I can think of no better way to enrich one’s self than to immerse in a foreign culture, surrounding yourself with individuals who are as excited as you are about thoroughbreds and learning and international cooperation. Diversity is the spice of life, right?
Individuals often ask what made me choose Ireland and this course. The answer, to me, is surprisingly simple: when the best is an option, why choose anything else? Certainly geography and an urge to travel came into play, but the reputation of the course made it a difficult opportunity to turn down. Few established courses exist in the Thoroughbred racing industry exist, but the three most recognisable ones are the Kentucky Equine Management Internship (KEMI), the Darley Flying Start Program, and the Irish National Stud Breeding Course. From my experience, each serves an important, if somewhat contiguous, role in providing for the future of thoroughbred racing. Unlike the others, however, the course at the Irish National Stud has an established, forty-year history of producing future leaders. Anyone who knows racing would willingly acknowledge the value of a good track record.
The course may not perfect for everyone. The yard work is physically demanding. The lectures can be academically rigorous. The dorm-like living quarters require patience, tolerance and respect for fellow students. The intense, all-consuming nature of the course can be overwhelming. But if one is willing to commit fully to the experience, then there is unparalleled opportunity to gain experience with all aspects of a stud season; to supplement existing knowledge of equine anatomy, nutrition, reproduction, etcetera; to obtain exposure and access to myriad dimensions and members of the thoroughbred racing world; and to work, learn and laugh alongside some of the most promising young individual in the thoroughbred industry.
When I was in college, it was often said that the most valuable part of the undergraduate experience was the wealth of knowledge and education that would be gained through interactions with fellow students. I do not mean to downplay the contribution of all our teachers at INS, but by challenging, supporting, and laughing with (and occasionally at) each other, the students have encouraged incredible growth within each other. With the guidance of knowledgeable, caring and resourceful managers and lecturers, I have no doubt that our class will depart the stud prepared to tackle the “real world”, and to do so with aplomb.
I had few expectations upon arrival at the Irish National Stud. Conversations with graduates had persuaded me that I would, indeed, survive the course. The course’s forty years of sterling reputation reassured me that I would not be wasting my time. Beyond that, however little was known and much left to be discovered. But even had my expectations been high, I believe my experience would have exceeded them.
