Vero Beach, Florida – The Professional Riders Organization has entered a partnership with the Equine Management Training Center (EMTC) located at Sandy River Equestrian Center. The program features comprehensive training and certification for students who wish to become professional grooms and stable managers. EMTC will be an affiliate of the Professional Riders Organization and PRO will assist with student internship and job placements as well as offer their group accident and disability insurance and other professional member benefits to graduates of the program.

“The Equine Management Training Center’s two part program is an essential step in providing comprehensive education, practical training and certification for professional grooms. Their faculty brings a depth of knowledge and experience that is unparalleled on the world stage of equestrian sport,” said Samantha Lendl, executive director of PRO.

Suzanne Lacy and Samantha Burton Henley have established the Equine Management Training Center at Sandy River Equestrian Center. The first eight-week session will begin at Sandy River Equestrian Center in Axton, VA in September.

“We are very pleased to be able to offer this comprehensive groom training program which is new to our facility and the United States. The need for professionally trained grooms is evident and we are delighted to have an opportunity to fill that void,” stated Suzanne Lacy, Owner of Sandy River Equestrian Center and creator of the groom training program. Samantha Burton Henley, Program Administrator at the Equine Management Training Center, states, “While traveling with horses throughout the area, I have seen a variety of needs. As a professional groom myself, riders and owners frequently approach me for recommendations. The two-section program offered through the Equine Management Training Center, will allow me to confidently recommend and place grooms in a variety of equine related work environments.”

The comprehensive curriculum developed by Lacy and Henley will be shared in two eight-week modules and will cover both classroom instruction and practical experience. A four-week internship is required upon completion of each of the two curriculum modules. In addition to the founding faculty, Max Corcoran (International Groom) Joanie Morris (International Groom and current USEF Eventing High Performance Director); Richard Picken (International Horse Transport Specialist); vets David Tuggle (Farrier); Mark Wallace and Paul Erwin; Carol Nolan (Equine Therapist); Cathy Wieschhoff (International Eventer and ICP certified Level 4 Instructor); and Sarah Zimmer (Associate Administrator) will be involved as faculty and support staff. 

“One of the hardest positions to fill in the equestrian world is that of a top-class groom. The array of equine management skills, horsemanship, and leadership required is extraordinary. It is also remarkably rare because most of it is truly only gained from the experience of working with horses under the watchful eye of someone very educated in that role. As a result, we are an industry of mostly “on-the-job” training, which is both time consuming, wasteful and inefficient, and contributes to the devaluation of the “groom” position as an occupation,” said eventer Will Coleman. “What the training center for grooms could do for the professional horse industry, by providing an educated, certified, ready-to-hire equine management practitioner, cannot be understated. It would allow countless people who dream of a job working with horses to learn and acquire the skills necessary to do so, all the while providing horse business owners or hobbyists with a steady supply of reliable candidates for grooming positions in their barns. It would satisfy an enormous need in our growing industry.”

Two $500 scholarships are being offered for the first session. They will be offered to the first two students who have registered and request tuition assistance for the first session. Enrollment for the first session of the training program in September is now open and applications may be downloaded from the website. As space is limited early registration is encouraged. To learn more about the Sandy River Equestrian Center and the program offered through the Equine Management Training Center please visit, http://www.SandyRiverEquestrian.com