2 choices - what to do?

[hApPiNeSs]

Regarding uni next year, I have 2 main choices.

Bearing in mind that my main aim is to open a tack shop, what would you do? All my friends are telling me to go to uni, but they dont understand how much I love my horse.

HARTPURY
i could go away and do a course in equine business management. It would be interesting to learn about nutrition and other things, and the campus is very nice. Also able to have riding lessons on nice horses etc. Would also have more of a social life. However, it would mean having to give my pony back to her owner - which i cant even bear to think about. It would also mean leaving Cornwall - and i LIKE it here....

CORNWALL COLLEGE
As we live in a rural area, uni fees are only £1200 per year. I would be doing an honours degree in Business Administration, and it is only a ten minute drive away. I could keep my pony, and as the course is only 3 days per week, I could get a part-time job to support my pony and myself, instead of getting into debt at uni. Also means I dont have to leave...

what would you do. You can probably tell which one I am leaning towards..

all my non-horsy friends are trying to get me to leave and 'get away' - but they dont understand that Happy is my LIFE - that sounds sad but it's true. :o

what would you do in my situation? :(

[eventerbabe]

thats a toughie, but i can tell immediately that you want to go for option 2. really don't blame you. when i applied to uni, i had the choice of accepting a place at my local university or going through clearing and going to Edinburgh university. what clinched it was when my mum said if i went to edinburgh we'd have to sell toby. no way in a million years was i prepared to do that (and i get the feeling you don't want to let happy go back to her owner ;) ). and you being able to work part time is a very good thing. you don't want to be coming out of uni saddled with £16k of debt.

its very hard explaining to non-horsey people just how hard it is to leave your horse. i was the same with toby. i was adamant he was not to be sold so changed my career plans accordingly :rolleyes: :p and i don't regret it for one minute. having toby there to listen to me moan and help me forget all the stress was (and still is) invaluable. i'd go insane if i couldn't get away from uni to see him. i'm climbing the walls at the moment coz i haven't seen him since sunday!!!

[Wobblydeb]

all my non-horsy friends are trying to get me to leave and 'get away' - but they dont understand that Happy is my LIFE - that sounds sad but it's true. :o

what would you do in my situation? :(I was one of the 'get away' crowd when I was a teenager, and couldn't understand the people who wanted to stay where we grew up. BUT.... now I'm older and wiser I can understand much better that moving to a new city isn't the better option - it's just a different one. If you love your life where it is, and don't want to leave Happy, then don't let somebody who wants something different tell you that what they want is the best option for you too....

Oh, and by the way - it took a few years, but I came back and am much happier than when I was living hundreds of miles away from my family :)

p.s. I am still paying off student debt now and am the wrong side of 30....

[Trewsers]

I would personally stay in Cornwall (gorgeous place :D ) cos you can have the best of both worlds then - stay in a lovely place which you obviously like, keep the pone and get a part time job - what more could you want???! Don't do anything because you feel its the thing others expect of you - I made a HUGE mistake at 17 and wasted nearly 2 years being unhappy at college - and in the end I quit - it was all for nothing so to speak! I had a happy ending though cos I found a good job and everything came good. But what I'm saying is - follow heart not head. Wish I had done!!! :) Good luck whatever you decide.

[Zingy]

Go with option 2 ;) To be honest, if you want to run a tack shop, a business course is probably going to be far more use to you than an equine course, no matter how interesting the horsey stuff is. You can always supplement the horse side of things anyway by taking distance learning courses.

[Esther.D]

ditto with zingy, a business course will be more use for your ambitions than a horse management course :)

[Nikki Lou]

Just a thought, but have you considered going to Duchy College in Cornwall instead? Two of my friends went there as mature students and they managed to keep there horses at home still riding them at weekends and evenings for two years whilst doing it, travelling up and down each day?

[hApPiNeSs]

i live so far down, duchy is 2 hours away. Anywhos, they only do equine science degrees, which is something i really dont want to get into - not a sciency person at all! :eek:

thanks for your input everyone :)

[PunkRockPony]

Its a tough question - is there any chance of having Happy on livery at the first college???

In the end i think its going to come down to where your loyalties lie with Happy.

[ajhainey]

I think the 2nd option will be more useful even if you tack shop dreams fall through - it's a nice solid, generally useful course to enable you to go on to lots of things. As it's also what you want to do, convienient and enables you to have a job at the same time I can't see a downside! Go for 2!

aj xx

[shirley]

If you want to open your own tack shop then get as much all round experience as you can. Work in a tack shop if there is one near to you. This will give you invalauable experience. If you can work for a much larger concern then do so, you will learn loads loads and loads. My daughter, works in largest tack shop in Essex and has learnt so much about different things it will be invaluable for her (she does not want to do this forever, but do something else at uni).
Why not think about doing a Master Saddlers course as well and then starting up your own business as a saddle fitter. This would augment the income for the tack shop as well. If you are able to do repairs to saddles and leatherwork as well will pay well. In particular little things like leather keeps for bridles. these go and bridle is still intact, but get someone to do that small simple job is so difficult, so if willing to do these smaller jobs etc, will soon help you reputation and in turn increase your earnings et.
Look at nutition as well, so as can offer a diverse feed service / outlet for people surrounding your area.
Another thing bigger saddlery has as well is different clinics, i.e. saddle fitting, bitting, etc that also helps their revenue.
So Hartbury may not be a bad option for a couple of years. You will get exposure to lots of different horses, different techniques, training, saddlery, etc as well as the up to date information / learning within each of the give areas, as well as gaining business adminstration sense as well. The other part of getting away from home is able to stand on your own two feet, make your own decisions, be in charge of your own life. These lessons come free with moving away from home, but are essential to growing up into adulthood from being a teenagerl.
Yes you will probably go back home to Cornwall, but it will still be there. You go back grown up, mature and with a much better sense of where you want your life to be heading than even now.
I did a quick search for saddleries in cornwall and did not come up with very many,so could be that you area needs a large concern - perhaps like Robinsons, Rideaway etc, interent business as well.
So aim high and learn all you can. If you choose to stay put and learn on the job , why not think about a working pupil in a large livery yard, take your NVQ's / BHS stages as well. Perhaps even add teaching to your repetoire as well
But never give up your dream, make it ultimatley happen one day, if not within the next few years, eventually.