RACE AHEAD TO DREAM CAREER

AS a young girl Sarah Guest wanted to ride horses. Working weekends in a stables in exchange for an hour's lesson fuelled her passion and today, Sarah, 44, works as an assistant trainer at a stables in Chepstow, Monmouthshire.

- Edited by LAURETTE ZIEMER

What do you do?

I work as an assistant trainer to John O'Shea, at a smaller, dual-purpose racing yard, which means we train horses for both jumps and flat racing.

The day always starts early, usually before 6am, with staff check-ins and yard maintenance, including mucking out (not everyone’s favourite job!). This is immediately followed by riding, and we typically exercise four-five “lots”, how we refer to groups of horses, each morning.

I then work with John, my boss, on planning our race entries, managing owner communications, and providing performance updates. When racing, I'm also responsible for driving the horsebox, preparing the horse, engaging with owners, and ensuring the horse’s safe return.

Typically, our staff do morning stables, then have a break in the middle of the day, before coming the evening stables, where we feed and put the horses to bed for the night, so it’s different working hours to a corporate job, for example. My day always ends with final checks to make sure all the horses are happy and settled.

What do you love about it?