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Being able to work with horses and riders that can be seen on the international stage is a great dream for many young people interested in horses. In European show jumping stables, such as England, Belgium, Germany and France, there are job opportunities both as caretakers and as jockeys. Some travel with the intention of working full-time in stables and others bring their own horses to combine student work with the best riders.
SportExpressen Föreningsliv has taken a closer look at horse work abroad, where hard work and great passion are two key ingredients for success. But also an industry where dishonest employers and culture clashes can make up for it if it ends badly.
Lovisa Munter was 21 when she took her first boyfriend job in Switzerland.
He was supposed to be away for six months, but he stayed, but the profession that had been his dream job for many years was briefly changed to an experience of horror.
– My second job in Switzerland was for a pilot I knew well. He was very good, but also an alcoholic and terribly controlling. He was very bad with his horses and very bad with me, says Lovisa Munter.
“Could hit horses with blood”
For nine months he worked for the rider, but in the end it became unsustainable.
– He could beat horses until they were bloody. It was very much about his mood, one day he could be an absolutely fantastic driver and you were so proud to work there. So he had just started his own company and was really expected to grow into something. The next day was a day where he had no patience and sat down and just hit and hit …
How did he treat you during this time?
– I was angry if I knew my friends and if I knew a boy, I would be angry about it. He had a girlfriend and we didn’t have a relationship, but he was very jealous of everything he did. He wanted to control who he dated. He also had a key to my apartment so he could come in while I sat down to breakfast. I never felt safe.
How did he express his anger towards you?
– He could hit me at some point. When I came home for Christmas I had a lot of bruises. When he was sober, he was great working for him and he has done a lot for me. But as soon as he started drinking, his personality completely changed. He could be drunk after lunch.
“Blacklist” in Facebook groups
In the end, Lovisa got help getting out of there from a friend who knew how the employer could behave. At first she thought it was difficult to go to the same competitions as the man, but now she sees it less and less. Her next job was in the top Stephex Stable team in Belgium, and since then she has never experienced anything like it.
– The ones I work for now are super good and I’ve worked for two great Swedish riders who have been too. Often times it is the girls and boys who are in their first jobs and do not really have the contacts that end with rotten eggs. They are known for how they behave and only get young, inexperienced people to work for them for a short period of time.
What can they pay for those who want to work abroad?
– It is best to contact contacts if you have the opportunity. Even if you do not have contact with other boyfriends and people in the sector, there are large Facebook groups where they have, for example, the “black list” of employers where you do not receive your salary, you sexually exploit your boyfriends or beat the horses. Today it is easier to discover things than 10-15 years ago. When I started, they still had a preconceived notion of what a cyclist is like, but I have to say that all my close friends work for very good people.
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Lisa Viklund is 22 years old and is investing in a career as a jumper. For six months she worked in a show jumping stable in Belgium, a job she got through her trainer. She has heard of examples of horror like the ones Lovisa has experienced, but has never experienced it herself.
– Sometimes you just think “My God, what if I worked for that person?” It’s easy if you don’t know and are familiar with the Dutch horse jumping culture, you don’t really know where it will end.
In connection with the coronavirus outbreak, Lisa Viklund had to freeze her next overseas assignments, but she hopes to be back in business soon. The year in Holland was good but tough.
There were many in the barn who worked for a long time at the same time as it could be stressful at times with the culture clashes that I could encounter. But overall, she is happy with her experiences abroad.
– What I learned there was absolutely invaluable. You had to pay as much as you wanted to experience it. There were girls who came and trained from the US, Boys from Japan and a lot of cyclists from other countries and I had to be there every day because I was working. It was very hard, but I would not have developed that much if everyone had been nice to me and let me do the same as in Sweden. I came there to learn something new and raise the bar and then you have to meet those requirements. It was hard, many times I called home and cried. For me it was more worth being there and having a bad time than being at home and not learning anything new.
Easy to use when you are young
The people SportExpressen Föreningsliv has spoken to agree: if you want to work abroad, it’s important to be prepared for hard work and at the same time be able to make demands. But the latter can be difficult for people so young.
– It is so easy to take advantage of a girl or a boy. Sometimes you meet an amateur pilot in competitions who has a young man with him who has just finished high school and you realize that he thinks that what he is doing is normal. But you can get a much better job if you are appreciated, says Lovisa Munter.
Lovisa Munter is working with national team driver Jonna Ekberg today.
Ekberg has worked abroad for almost ten years, first in England and then Belgium, where the last employer was Stephex Stable before starting her own jump stable with boyfriend Alex Duffy.
She believes that although it may sound harsh, a lot of responsibility falls on the individual and what they tolerate when accepting a job, no matter where.
– You have to set limits to what you think is a good work environment. So you have to make those decisions yourself. A lot has been written about people who have been treated badly and I think it is your own life and if they treat you really badly, you are free to leave that place. I think you can meet horrible people anywhere and you can also do it in the horse world or if you work in a restaurant. It’s terrible that it’s happening and I have no respect for those employers, but our entire industry doesn’t have to get dirty. There are so many great places to visit.
“Very in the mood to go abroad”
Hannah Åkerblom is a qualified show jumper from Hälsingland who performs jumps in Spain. She believes that you should think seriously before choosing to go abroad to work.
– It is very popular to go abroad, it always has been, but it is very easy to end badly. You have to have an open mind when you go, but then you have to have a plan and ask yourself what it is that you want.
According to Åkerblom, it is not only in the interest of the employee who is right from the start.
– Many come down with greater ambitions than others can offer. So they hadn’t even been offered the job or the internship from the beginning. Then it will be wrong. They don’t think it’s good and then they complain and then they get angry and frustrated and they don’t want to work and then I am not happy and then my team is not happy. Then this will be negative. Sometimes they come and think that more doors will open than it does.
