Meredith Manor - Any opinions?Is it worth the money?

[Annie_B]

lol. thanks everybody!

I plan on going to college and getting a degree in something non horsey. I would like to go into photography. I was thinkning about the needing a job to fall back on idea before and I was trying to think what else I can/would like to do. I figured that if I got certified in Equine Massage that I could offer that as a side business as well as lessons if I needed to, or if I didn’t do well in training race horses.

What all does it take to be a trainer? Like what kind of stuff do you have to know? Right now the closest racetrack is Lone Star Park. And how would I get into an apprenticship (sorry for the spelling)?

and thanks so much!
ya’ll have been very helpful.
Annie.

P.S. Meredith Manor is DEFINITELY ruled out!!

[ESG]

Glad to hear it. I’ve never encountered an MM graduate that was worth spit, with the horses. IMNSHO, MM is for wealthy dilettantes who want to play at being horse trainers and need a piece of paper to validate all the money they’ve spent, learning to be one. :winkgrin:

[AmandaandTuff]

I really wanted to go to MM, now I’m working on my Pre Vet and working on a degree in Buisiness.

[Annie_B]

What does IMNSHO mean?

thanks =)

[khp_vol]

[QUOTE=Annie B.;4261237]
What does IMNSHO mean?

thanks =)[/QUOTE]

I would guess “In my not-so-humble opinion”

[ddashaq]

The lone MM graduate I have known was an absolute joke. Could not ride, could not teach, and was an overall mess when it came to handling horses.

Midway College has an equine rehabilitation degree now, the OP might want to look into that.

[ESG]

Honestly, there is no substitute for an apprenticeship with a good trainer. Go work and do up-down lessons for an AA trainer for a year or two, and then go to college. This will do two things for you:

1. It will give you a realistic idea of what it really takes to be a successful trainer.
2. It will make you appreciate the fact that you have career options, and you can take advantage of those as you see fit.

There is no substitute for experience in the horse business, no matter how much the pricey equine colleges say differently. Save your money, get paid for an apprenticeship, and then go to college and get a degree with a major that will support you. Better yet, go to a technical school and get a two year associates degree in something REALLY beneficial, and you’ll save even more money and not have student loans to deal with after graduation. If I had it to do over again, that’s what I’d have done.

JME.

[sararoses]

Meredith Manor- Warning!

I attended Meredith Manor for a quarter and a half, leaving halfway through my second quarter. I really wanted to give this school a chance, but was incredibly disappointed with my experience. The riding lessons were amazing and I have nothing negative to say about the instructors. Almost all of my teachers were inspiring women, although I would say the english department outshines the western. I feel this is because the western department is starting with a lot of students who had been riding in their backyard with no formal lessons, while the quality of the english rider starting out had more of a clue as to what they were doing. The negatives: This school is a money making scheme by Ron Meredith. It is run to benefit him financially, not with the horses in mind. They like to say that it is a functional facility, not pretty but has everything you need. It is a dump basically. The arena footings are basically old manure, so that is what you are constantly breathing in. Stalls leak and flood constantly. Students are free labor. Responsible for all of the equine care. So if a student doesn’t feel like cleaning their stalls that day or does a poor job, the horse suffers. Which happens a lot. I was expecting to be surrounded by other hard working individuals who would inspire me to be a great horse person, but many students are lazy, there because it seemed an easier route than college, and are not at the level I was expecting. What was the final straw for me was the fact that during breaks, a one week spring break, one week summer break, and a two week christmas break horse stalls are not cleaned at all. I repeat, for two weeks over christmas, when the students are gone, stalls are not cleaned and the horses have to stand in their own feces. This was completely unacceptable to me and made me realize that this was not a place that I wanted my name to be associated with. It is bad enough that stalls don’t get cleaned on the weekends, because students aren’t expected to work on the weekend and they do not hire anybody to clean the barns, but for two entire weeks? They said the stalls have a filtration system and they bank the shavings on the sides so that the horse can pull down what they need. After returning from the first break I was horrified at the conditions I had left my horse, the smell of ammonia, and the nastiness she was standing in. When Christmas break was coming and I learned that the same thing would happen, but for twice as long of a period I knew that I had to get out of there. How is it acceptable that they are teaching students that it is okay to do this? Do not attend Meredith Manor. I was very disappointed and I feel sorry for students that are still there. Many of them are fairly clueless and just decided that they wanted to be a horse trainer even though they have never shown taken lessons, or know what that even means. And Meredith Manor is teaching them that it is okay to not clean stalls over weekends and holidays and brainwashing them that other forms of riding are wrong and that their way is the only way. Do yourself a favor and work at a horse barn, where you will get paid for your work and can learn just as much, or get an actual college degree. Don’t waste your time and immense amount of money like I did.

[AffirmedHope]

My advice: Go get a degree in something worthwhile all these equestrian colleges churn out students who usually don’t have a clue and if are lucky, end up working at hinkey dink lesson barns, barely scraping by, on a job they could of gotten right out of college without the massive debt. The true horse people usually don’t stay in the equestrian programs but switch majors to something worthwhile. I can’t tell you how many people I encountered that had never even been around horses but thought it’d be something fun to major in!

I started as a double major but quickly dropped down to a minor when I saw all the brattiness, entitlement and laziness in the program. I did not want to have a degree associated with that. Most respectable trainers will not hire equestrian graduates because of the inflated sense of self worth (they graduated from a horsey college! don’t you know they know best!?) The only reason I stuck it out was because I was required to have a minor and the horses were wonderful even if the people weren’t.

Out of all the people I graduated with only a handful are working in the horse industry, one was a Big Eq rider before she came to college and is doing great now at a big barn in the North East, but another one who was a decent rider got the dream job of a lifetime with a BNT but didn’t even last a week because of her laziness and holier than thou attitude. One girl got her own facilities and program started right out of college, but it was funded by her parents 100%. Some have some jobs teaching up down lessons but most don’t even work in the industry. Some of the other people that majored in equestrian only took it because they wanted to go to vet school after undergrad and focus on large animals, which is not a bad path to take if you want to be a vet.

My advice for all high school grads: If you really want to work in this industry, save your money and just go get a job as a groom or stall cleaner and work your way up. The horse industry is not one of those industries that values a college degree because what you need to know to survive cannot be taught in any classroom, it is 100% hands on experience that gets you clients and horses, not some piece of paper.

[ladyj79]

No. Just no. If you want to really learn about horse management and training, go be a working student for a real professional. These equine studies programs turn out a lot of kids who know very, very little about the realities of the horse industry.

[Belmont]

Tarleton State is a great school. I regret not going everyday. Stephenville is also a wonderful town. If you are looking into rehab, there are facilities in the Ville and within 30 minute drives. I’m not sure how many are hiring without experience, but you could always volunteer or intern.

Keep in mind TSU is more ‘cowboy’. They have a wonderful rodeo team, but their lack of English riding was part of what kept me from going. I know people who went and loved it though. They have awesome traditions and a small campus/community feel with quality education.

I’m currently going to school online for my RVT. From there I will internship with a equine clinic (while working my current job as a VT for a small animal clinic), and then I am planning on taking additional classes through AAEP. I plan on following all this with a massage therapy certification (which you can get by attending a special class for a week). I would just rather have my RVT as a massage therapist to help me put a foot in the door at a more specialized clinic.

I’m a semester away from my large animal internship period, but I’m already in talks with a local vet who does mostly track work. He really likes my plan because he said that is something that could bring business to his clinic. Will I wind up working for him? Who knows! It took me years to figure out what I wanted to do. I changed my major 4 times in one year! I think you just have to try things. Maybe getting a job on the track would make you love or hate it.

I’m never going to be rich as a RVT. I will be able to live and love what I do. There is rarely money in horses, but for some people there is a lot of enjoyment.

I think most race horse trainers are taught on the track, not a class room. I suggest going to school and working or interning for a track trainer while you decide if it’s for you or not. Just remember school will always be there. I wish someone would have drilled that into me when I got offered a few WS jobs fresh out of high school.

[Appsolute]

THE ORIGINAL POST IS FROM 2009!

This thread is from 5 years ago - OP said that they were going to peruse other options.

The thread was bumped up by someone who has attended MM - and it was a shit show (pun intended).

A fellow boarder of mine just sent her daughter there disheartening to read that it sounds like a bad investment (but it wasn’t my place to make comment).

[OnDeck]

Deleted. Old thread.

[EKLay]

Deleted. Old Thread.

[cnvh]

I know the thread is old, but isn’t Meredith Manor the place where some of the “dorms” are storage containers and converted buses??

Just answered my own question. Why yes, yes it is.

How does ANYONE take this place seriously???

[Mara]

The thread may be old, but it’s worth a bump now and then just to keep it out there for poor unsuspecting folks who think Meredith Manor is a horse lover’s dream college experience.

It’s also pretty damned expensive, especially when you consider value (not much) for money (a lot).

[MMall]

Some of us actually learned something when I was there,my instruction was western dressage and training.I cannot speak for all the students but when I went in the 80’s it was the best time
.Our senior instructor was Bodo Hagen one of the best German dressage riders of his time…

[Loopy]

[QUOTE=cnvh;7612413]
I know the thread is old, but isn’t Meredith Manor the place where some of the “dorms” are storage containers and converted buses??

Just answered my own question. Why yes, yes it is.

How does ANYONE take this place seriously???[/QUOTE]

Oh my life would you look at that! That’s pretty…rustic.

[Kwill]

Seriously?!! I thought it was a joke at first.

Just …wow. Hey, but they have indoor toilets, and apparently “more room than a dorm.”

[ddashaq]

It is actually really neat that Bodo taught there, I would have loved to have known that when I researched him a few years ago for work!

Since I first posted on this thread, I have met two more graduates who are actually even worse than the first one I met 15 years ago. They are dangerous and incompetent at best. If they are indicative of what the school is churning out, it needs to be closed down.