At 6.40am, on a dark and dreary morning in the middle of September, I drove down the long avenue leading into The Castlebridge Consignment’s main yard, situated between Trim and Kildalkey in Co Meath.

I had that sickly feeling associated with the first day in a new job, one which stayed with me for a few days. It was probably because this was a completely new situation for me.

While completing the diploma course at the National Stud in Newmarket I gained invaluable experience caring for and handling mares and new-born foals but had never really touched a yearling.

But as I drove into the yard and spotted the Castlebridge lorry bearing the legend ‘Europe’s leading sales consignor’ on the back, I thought to myself that I was in the best place possible to learn about sales preparation.

Owned by Bill and Tara Dwan, Castlebridge runs like clockwork on a day-to-day basis under the supervision of farm manager Michael Martin. Other valuable members of the team include Andrew Mead, Marion Goodbody and Camilla Evetts. I was in an extremely privileged position to be involved on sales day at several of the foal and yearling sales that took place during my time there, but even more privileged to have been involved behind the scenes seeing what went into their preparation.

Each horse was treated as an individual with different exercise and diet regimes. These are monitored on a weekly basis and feed and work levels are adjusted depending on each animal’s development. It was brilliant to watch each horse progress through the prep and see them transform from unfurnished colts and fillies into muscular, well-developed shiny yearlings.

I was very impressed by the emphasis on routine at Castlebridge. They are keen believers in keeping things as simple as possible, and this approach helps even the most temperamental and highly-strung horses to learn to relax and settle. That is vital in the preparation of a sales horse as they must be both mentally and physically ready for sales day.

Some horses appeared to settle into their routine immediately while others were given more time and it was a balancing act to get these animals to the sales looking their very best. A lot of emphasis is placed on feeding. ‘Little and often’ is the motto here, with feed times ranging from early morning to late at night.

In terms of exercise, some yearlings had rollers and side-reins to help their development. Some were lunged more often than others, again depending on the animal’s development. Due to the constant changes in temperature, we had to come back late in the evenings to put rugs on all the horses. No detail is overlooked in getting the horses to the sales in peak condition.

My personal favourite yearling was the Exceed And Excel colt ‘we’ sold for €400,000 at Goffs to Shadwell Estate. He is a full-brother to Group 1 winning sprinter Margot Did. I was also amazed with the amount of pre-sales veterinary requirements made of yearlings offered at the premier sales. These include full sets of x-rays and video scopes, all of this work being done at the farm before the animals departed for the sales.

Once the yearlings went to the sales, their stables at Castlebridge were washed and disinfected and we commenced prepping mares and foals for their corresponding sales. It was interesting to see the different methods in prepping a foal as opposed to prepping a yearling for the sales. Obviously the feed and exercise regimes were totally different. I spent hours getting both myself and the foals fit, hand-walking them around a specifically designed walkway which was made of sand and chopped rubber which was not hard on the foals’ joints.

I was shocked at how busy the foals were at the sales and now understand why they had to be hand-walked daily at home. Some of the foals were quite young and had to be brought along slowly, similar to the yearlings in many ways, depending on their physical and mental levels. The mares were more straight forward and needed to be fed plenty. Again, like the foals, they had to be fit for the sales.

My time spent at Castlebridge has been absolutely brilliant. I feel very lucky to have been involved with such a busy and well-respected business and to experience at first-hand the sense of pride and achievement felt by all when a horse you’ve been with every day for the past eight or nine weeks is knocked down in the sales ring for good money.

In the couple of weeks before I started at Castlebridge, friends and family were wishing me luck and asking if I was looking forward to it. I had replied that I was nervous, more so about the people than the horses! I’ve always said that horses are the easy part, it’s the people that can be tricky! But I honestly couldn’t have asked for a nicer bunch of people to have spent the last three months working (and sometimes socialising!) with.

I have learnt so much in such a short space of time and I can’t thank Bill, Michael and all the staff at The Castlebridge Consignment enough for helping and mentoring me during my time there. My next port of call is Coolmore Stud.

To find out more about the Young Irish Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association Apprentice Scheme, visit the yitba.ie website