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Susan Ramsay

John Fisher, Stable Director
Requirements
There are many careers involving horses as equestrian sports are becoming more and more popular on the mainland. If you love animals, you might consider this job.
You don't need a university education for it. What you do need is compassion, an eye for detail and a love of animals.
Qualifications
John Fisher, who has played polo for England, has devoted  his life to the game. Being a professional sportsman can be hard as it involves constant travel and long spells away from your family. His decades-long experience with horses came in handy when Fisher took on the job of stable director at the Tianjin Metropolitan Polo Club.  'I've been riding for 30 years,' he says. 'It's not really a career, it's part of my life.'
Gaining enough equestrian experience is not always possible in Hong Kong. But there are many courses in Australia, Britain, America and other horse-riding countries. Courses there will prepare you to work with horses in different capacities. Some will even take people who have no experience with horses and give them training from scratch.
Work prospects 
The equestrian profession is a broad area. Hong Kong's horse-racing industry is big, but the real potential lies on the mainland, where equestrian sports are just catching on. There are also many careers around horses that don't require riding: veterinary work, physiotherapy, being a feed technologist or a farrier. 
You could start by asking your local stables if they need any help. That way, you can become familiar with horses, the equipment, and how a stable is run. For Hongkongers, it would be best to follow that up by seeking work with a local horse trainer or by heading overseas to gain more knowledge and experience.
Long-term prospects
From starting out as a groom (someone who looks after horses), you can be promoted to head groom and senior groom. From there, you can move on to being a stable manager. Salaries vary widely, depending on which branch of equestrian sports you join and how many horses you need to manage. For now horse racing pays best. But that could change as more jobs become available for experienced grooms.
Average salary 
A groom starts work on about HK$3,000 a month, plus board and lodging and medical expenses. A polo professional is paid once they reach a certain level. Depending on how good they are, patrons offer them fees for their services.
At a glance
Most people don't work  with horses for the money; they do it because they enjoy it. It can be a very rewarding career as it offers people a chance to be paid to do a job they love.
A day in the life of a stable director
Start times to the day vary according to the season. In summer, staff may need to be up before sunrise  as temperatures can be too high for horses during the day. 
In summer, Fisher starts work at 5am by feeding, and checking on, the horses. The stables are cleaned and the horses are prepared for their daily exercise. 
Fisher has to monitor the horses in case they need any changes to their programme or equipment. Some of the horses also need special schooling to help them learn the game of polo or correct their behaviour. The director relies on head grooms to keep him up to date about each of their animals' needs.
With 133 customers already and a further 171 on their way,  the Tianjin stable is a big operation so each senior groom looks after a number of horses. 
Everyone takes a break at 10am. But Fisher might need to attend meetings or give lessons to the club's members. 
Work starts again in earnest at 2.30pm. Many of the staff working on the mainland need to be taught new skills, so Fisher spends some time doing that. 
'A horse in a stable can't do anything for itself,' he says. 'They can't feed themselves. Sometimes this is a 24-hour job. When you have a sick horse, you stay with them. There is no clocking in and clocking out.'
His duties also include helping some of the grooms learn to ride and play polo. That way, they get to enjoy the fun side of stable work while gaining a deeper understanding of the horses, he explains.
Fisher says that one of his proudest moments recently was when the grooms were able to play a polo match against international students. For him, it was an important marker of just how far they had come in a country where most people may not know too much about horses.



Stable life - at the gallop