Click here to register for Agri Careers 2017

The Thurles native that represented Ireland in the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janerio and at the 2015 European Show Jumping Championships in Aachen Germany will be speaking on the panel alongside some other well-known faces from the equine world.

These include Patrick Ryan the co-ordinator of Horse Racing Ireland’s Careers and Racing Education Department and Clodagh Kavanagh of Godolphin Flying Start, which is a training programme which specialises in international thoroughbred racing. Leo Powell, editor of The Irish Field newspaper will chair the panel.

Having grown up surrounded by horses, Greg Broderick started riding at a young age. When he was 16 he competed in the Dublin Horse Show and a year later won the Young Rider Class, carving out a successful start to his career.

Patrick Ryan has worked with Horse Racing Ireland for over ten years, and is the co-ordinator of CARE (Careers and Racing Education Department) which works with industry stakeholders in the evolution of an education, learning and development strategy for the equine industry in Ireland.

Meanwhile Clodagh Kavanagh is the general manager of the Godolphin Flying Start programme, formerly known as Darley Flying Start, which is a two year full-time international management and leadership training programme for the thoroughbred industry.

12 candidates are selected every year for the programme which is run in conjunction with Smurfit Business School and receive a scholarship which includes course fees, accommodation, transport, health insurance and a monthly allowance.

Mark Costello, Editorial Manager of The Irish Field, commented: “The racing authorities say there are 14,000 working in the thoroughbred sector and that it is worth €1 billion annually to the economy. Another 11,000 are said to work full-time in the sport horse sector (show jumping, riding centres, hunting).

“So it is clear that the equine industry is a big employer but it also faces major challenges. Much of the work is manual labour and the hours are long. Opportunities to progress along a career path are often limited and too many people walk away from the sector as they can’t see a long-term future for themselves working with horses.

“At Agri Careers we intend to thrash out these issues. We have put together a strong panel who can give advice to anyone looking to work in this very exciting area.”

Agri Careers 2017 will take place on Thursday 30th March 2017 in the RDS Main Hall, Ballsbridge, Dublin 4 brought to you by Irish Farmers Journal and open eir. Click here for more information.

Click here to register for Agri Careers 2017