What does a workday look like?

I work at my job from Monday to Friday, always from 8 AM to 2 PM. The workday begins at 8 AM when the horses needed for the first two rides are brought in from their paddocks and fed. Once they have eaten, we start grooming and tacking up the horses. When we are done with that, the horses are given a blanket because it can be really cold here in the mornings.

Then at 9 AM, there is always morning tea, where the day is discussed, and the leaders and sidewalkers are assigned for the rides. As a leader, you are responsible for the horse during the ride and lead it. As a sidewalker, your job is to take care of the child before, during, and after the ride, focusing mainly on safety and assisting with activities. Sometimes, however, you can also be both a leader and a sidewalker if no one else is assigned to that role.

In total, there are 4 rides per day with a small break between the 2nd and 3rd rides. When you are not on a ride, there are other smaller tasks to complete, like bringing horses back or preparing for the next ride, sweeping, picking up poop, or refilling water buckets.

In the afternoon, there is still riding instruction, where we don't always have to help. That's why we usually have free time from 2 PM onward and can go to the beach or to Tauranga.