Last November, Horse Racing Ireland’s Industry Education and Training Department in conjunction with Behaviour & Attitudes research house, conducted an education and training survey across the racing and breeding industry.

The purpose of the survey was to ascertain feedback from people working within the industry to gain a better understanding of the educational and training requirements along with the challenges faced by people working in the industry in accessing education and training opportunities.

The online survey was conducted from November 4th to December 16th last year, and was supported by the the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board, Irish Stablestaff Association, the Irish Racehorse Trainers’ Association, the Restricted Trainers’ Association, the Irish Thoroughbred Breeders’ Association, the Jockeys’ Association, and RACE.

Of the 699 respondents who took part in the survey, 170 were employers in the industry, 482 were employees and 47 were students.

Gráinne Murphy added: “This was the first-time people working across the horse racing and breeding industry were surveyed for their feedback on their experience of and requirements for education and training to support them in the current roles and career ambitions.

“The survey provided us an opportunity to hear directly from people working in the industry and has been hugely informative.”

She said that the survey results have informed HRI’s Education and Training Strategy 2020-2022 which is founded on the following three pillars:

  • Attract: Attract people to join our industry to meet existing and future requirements
  • Develop and Grow: Develop our people to deliver and grow their skills and career in our industry
  • Sustain and Retain: Support employers to retain their people to deliver and grow within our industry

    • “Improving provision of training and education opportunities must be a shared endeavour and we look forward to working collaboratively with our industry partners to address the issues highlighted within this survey,” Murphy said.

    “We very much hope data from this survey along with future surveys can help drive change. A huge thank you to everyone who took the time and effort to complete the survey, and the organisations who encouraged their members to take part.”

    Carol Nolan, HRI’s director of people and industry education, added: “We are delighted the survey generated such concrete information and data, which will really help us shape our future education and training plans to support the industry.

    “In addition to the provisions of education and training, the career pathways that we provide for the employees in the industry are hugely important and are a substantial contributor to our ability as an industry to attract and retain key people across our racing and breeding operations throughout the country.

    “We are hoping through increased awareness and information that employers across the industry can continue to develop career pathways, development opportunities, collaborative workplaces and competitive conditions of employment to recognise the great work that is happening across our industry.”

    Profile of the respondents

    OF the 699 respondents who took part in the survey 170 were employers, 41% of which were breeders, 47% trainers, 5% racecourse managers and 7% other.

    Of the 482 classified as employees seven identified as jockeys, 50% identified as racing yard stable staff, 14% stud staff, 6% administrative staff within a training yard, 4% administrative staff within a stud farm, 6% staff working within an industry association, 5% racecourse staff, 2% staff within the Racing Academy and Centre for Education, and 6% identified as ‘other’.

    A total of 47 of the respondents were students. The majority of third-level students who completed the study attended CAFRE, Kildalton College or Maynooth University.

    Gender and age profile

    Based on the data received from survey respondents, the employers who responded were predominately male at 72%. Employees who responded were more mixed with 57% of employees female.

    The gender breakdown in the colleges show a slightly higher proportion of females at 62%. One observation is this gender profile is an important consideration and should be reflected in future plans.

    Some 47% of employer respondents were aged 50+ while 58% of employee respondents were under the age of 34. This would suggest a significant number of the employees who responded to the survey are digital natives and have grown up in the digital age with a strong awareness of technology.

    This is an important consideration when assessing training and education delivery methodologies to ensure there is balance to meet the needs of both populations.

    Interestingly almost 50% of employee respondents have less than five years’ experience in the industry. Further investigation is required to understand this better.

    Why did they join the industry?

    Respondents were asked the rationale for initially wanting to join the racing and breeding industry. Love for racing, horses and horse riding were the main reasons given by employers and employees for initially joining, albeit employees’ love of horses/riding is much stronger. For employers, wanting to join the family business was also key. One in 10 employees were approached by someone within the business (mainly stud staff).

    The decision to enter the industry is primarily emotional, driven by an interest and love of horses. Interestingly, when asked what roles they held in the industry during this time, half of all students have worked as stud staff, while 40% have worked as racing yard stable staff.

    Skills required for current roles

    WHEN asked what knowledge, experience, and skills are required for their current role, there were noticeable variations in the skills required for each role. However, communication skills, work/racing yard safety and racecourse care and exercise are key for both employer and employee cohorts.

    Both employers and employees rate themselves positively on horse/stable management. Employers are more positive in terms of their knowledge on horse health. Personal skills and business skills are not as positively rated by either cohort.

    Trainers claim to be the most knowledgeable across a range of skills, except for business skills. Note, business skills is an area in which jockeys and racing yard stable staff also feel their skills require development. Racecourse managers rate horse stable management and their knowledge of horse health below average.

    A study of the challenges employers and employees face in order to gain further education and training to support them in their career progression revealed that funding was a challenge.

    Some 45% of employees cited no mechanism to recognise skill attainment as a challenge to accessing education and training. This requires further research to understand this further and analysis.

    Biggest challenges

    Asked about the challenges facing people entering the industry in their respective fields, income levels rated high amongst all areas. Hours of work was identified by 61% of employees while career progression rated highly for both employees and students. This is of notable concern, given 49% of employees have less than five years’ service. It is important to understand and identify possible solutions to these challenges to retain employees and attract new employees into the industry

    Summary

  • Love for horse riding, horses and horse racing are the main reasons why employers, employees and third level students initially joined the industry.
  • Financial challenges are top concerns for all cohorts, while work hours are also a challenge for employees.
  • The skills required by employers and employees vary, with employers’ skills being more business and horse health related, while employees require more practical skills
  • Communication skills, work/racing yard safety and racecourse care are key skills for both cohorts however.
  • Third level students have also received training across a wide variety of areas, however they too feel that their skills are lacking across a number of equine and business areas. Particularly horse breeding and care of breeding stock, financial/ accounting skills, horse riding skills, equine nutrition and fitness/strength and conditioning.
  • The main challenges employers face in order to gain further training are staff shortages and getting time off, while employees’ main challenges are lack of financial rewards, low income, getting time off and lack of incentives.
  • Blended learning courses is the format most suitable for employers and employees. Employers also show some preference towards seminars, while employees prefer practice-based learning. Online programmes are also acceptable to both cohorts.