Career Pathways

Foaling managers are responsible for overseeing a farm’s foaling units. Some farms are capable of ‘foaling down’ in excess of 200 mares a season. Much like a midwife, this role involves caring for pregnant mares during their late pregnancy through to post-foaling. You will also work closely with the stud veterinarians treating mares who may have difficult pregnancies and with any newborns that require extra care and attention.

Each year, around 5,000 thoroughbred yearlings go under the hammer at public auction in Australia with many set to be future stars of the track. The role of the yearling manager is to oversee the development and management of these young horses in this vital stage of their life and ensure that they are presented in peak condition come sale time. Responsibilities include everything from tailoring daily exercise and feeding programs to teaching the yearlings how to be hosed to how to parade for prospective buyers.

Equine vet nurses play an important role in all aspects of equine veterinary care. Primary responsibilities include assisting the stud veterinarian with surgeries and treatments; keeping accurate health and welfare records; overseeing quarantine and hygiene practices; managing vet-related inventory and stores; and nursing horses in intensive care

It takes a highly organised and skilled team of people in the office to manage the logistics and provide administrative support for farms to run successfully. As stud secretary, you’ll oversee the daily running of the stud office and become the primary point of contact for booking mares into stallions for service. You’ll work closely with the stud manager and be responsible for keeping veterinary records up to date, tracking paddock movements and organising transport. You may also be asked to control accounts and communications with clients.

Farms that stand stallions will have a ‘nominations team’. In this role, you will work to attract breeders to support your farm’s stallions with their mares and help them plan the most suitable matings to produce conformationally correct and commercially desirable offspring that will fetch a high sale price at auction and hopefully go on to perform well on the racetrack. This is a job that involves a lot of social interaction and requires you to attend all major bloodstock sales and race meetings.

Bloodstock agents are experts in physical conformation and pedigree analysis. They work as consultants available for hire who specialise in everything from selecting weanlings, yearlings and mares to purchase on behalf of owners, to managing people’s breeding portfolios and race horses. Bloodstock agents not only attend sales all over Australia but often get the opportunity to travel internationally too.