Student Blog from Raph McCall (U.K.) and Sarahjane O’ Byrne (Ireland)

Raph McCall

As we approach the half-way stage of the course here at the Irish National Stud, everyone has been relieved to see a good bit of sunshine this week in Kildare!

Week 11 here for me saw me return to the foaling unit, which is one of the most interesting rotations and always good fun. The day starts by turning out the mares who will stay out for a good seven hours enjoying the best of the weather, while we sort out the yard, making sure their boxes are shaken up or mucked out, hayed, and left with clean water pots and plenty of feed. One of the students working in the yard will stay out in the fields with the mares, making sure nothing decides to be sneaky and foal during the middle of the day.

Being in the middle of the foaling season means we are constantly kept on our toes with new foals arriving nearly every night. Getting to be involved in the immediate care of the foals within the first 24/48 hours of their life is one of the most valuable learning experiences we get to enjoy here at the Irish National Stud and seeing how the vets assess each individual foal is always one of the most interesting parts of the day.

After the yards are finished we generally get a class at 5pm, but on Monday this week we had both a lecture from Dr Kevin Corley on Parasitology, and a workshop with the 2023-2025 group of Godolphin Flying Start trainees. The trainees came to pitch their business plans to us, and we had a thoroughly enjoyable session learning about their ideas and the overall process they have been through on the Flying Start course.

On Tuesday evening we had our first session with Sally Ann Grassick who came to give us some media training. We have enjoyed a lot of really valuable veterinary and practical-based training in our lectures so far, but getting to hear from Sally Ann on all of the benefits and challenges that face all of us with the ever-evolving media industry made for a really interesting change!

 

Sarahjane O’Byrne

We had more enjoyable lectures from Ernan O’Donnell and Joanne Hurley on Wednesday and Thursday before we were given Friday evening off and made use of the nice weather by having a few drinks and a barbecue together as a group.

The week began in the beautiful Sun Chariot yard.  As spring comes to a close this month and summer begins, we get to enjoy the trees and plants blossoming in each yard. Daylight savings were on the 30th of March this year, allowing us to enjoy some extra sunshine in the evenings, whilst having some beautiful sunrises each morning. These seasonal changes are a great indicator that we are well and truly in the height of the breeding season.

We had a handful of foals born this week. It is lovely to see some of the foals being born on the farm that are by the stallions also residing at the Irish National Stud. Personally, I love the Lucky Vega foals. They are all very strong, and cheeky! It is also a privilege to see Invincible Spirits last crop of foals being born this year. This week we have also had a few daytime foaling’s, which is unusual but not unheard of. It is a great chance to learn more about foaling procedures.

This weeks lectures for the students have been very interesting. We were joined by the Godolphin Flying Start Programme to interact in a workshop based on ideas they have created to improve the industry. This allowed us to interact with likeminded people and share ideas. We were also joined by ITV Racing presenter and Thoroughbred Tales founder Sally Ann Grassick to learn about media training.

Overall, this week at the Irish National Stud was pleasant and educational. I look forward to many more like this to come.

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