Equine students at Enniskillen Campus of CAFRE have great opportunities to take up internships with some of the leading equestrian businesses in the world.

The College of Agriculture, Food and Rural Enterprise (CAFRE) is Northern Ireland’s specialist land-based college with dedicated equine facilities at Enniskillen Campus offering Equine Internship programmes for graduates.

Internships give graduates the opportunity to learn from some of the best equine organisations in the world, as they kick-start their equine careers.

This year will see the largest number of graduates taking up positions all over the world on CAFRE-linked internships.

Nearly half of the graduating Honours Degree students have started or are due to commence internships in Ireland, England, Australia and America.

Gayle Moane, lecturer in Equine, said: “Having a number of internships available for our students on an annual basis gives our graduates openings to showcase their talents and grab opportunities that come their way.

“It’s great to give graduates the opportunity to travel and experience work in highly-respected equine establishments.”

The CAFRE/Coolmore Internship has been running for more than eight years, with 10 internships being provided over this time. Interns spend six months in Australia and six months in Ireland, learning all aspects of the global breeding industry.

Coolmore is one of the world’s largest and best thoroughbred racing and breeding enterprises, and CAFRE is grateful for Coolmore’s continued support to the CAFRE Internship Programme.

The Curragh Racecourse has taken two lucky graduates for the summer of 2022. The graduates have opportunities to showcase their talents and build knowledge in customer care, event management and marketing.

They are involved in many prestigious racing festivals and get the opportunity to experience how one of the top racecourses in Ireland runs on a day-to-day basis.

Weatherbys Ireland joined the CAFRE Internship Programme this year and will provide the intern with six months of experience in this vast organisation.

Steeped in equine industry history, it is one of the main equine registration bodies in Ireland and creates and updates the ’General Studbook’.

The intern will also get the chance to work with their laboratory technicians when looking at DNA samples relevant to issuing passports for stock.

Sir Andrew and Madeline Lloyd Webber own Watership Down and Kiltinan Castle Stud.

Managed by Simon Marsh, this thoroughbred stud farm deals with top-calibre stock. The intern will spend six months based at Watership Down Stud, Berkshire, England from July to December, and then move on to Kiltinan Stud, which is based in Fethard, Tipperary, from January to June.

The intern will be immersed into the thoroughbred breeding industry and will spend time preparing yearlings, mares and foals for top thoroughbred sales.

From January, they will be foaling down broodmares and getting plenty of hands-on experience in the day-to-day running of a top-class thoroughbred stud at Kiltinan Stud.

In 2019, a number of students and staff visited Lexington, Kentucky. They got the opportunity to build up many links with industry providers. As a result of this trip, Enniskillen Campus have launched the CAFRE/Juddmonte internship, and three graduates are flying out to Lexington, Kentucky to begin a year’s internship at Juddmonte.

This vast enterprise spans over two farms, which are four miles apart from each other, and boasts an impressive 2,000 acres.

This gives the interns a truly global view of the thoroughbred industry, letting them experience Kentucky as ‘the horse capital of the world’.