When we lived in FL there was a big stable that trained and raced trotters. When they got tired of me hanging around underfoot to be around the horses they put me in one of the carts, taught me to drive, and let me exercise the trotters. I was in heaven and worked for free as probably the youngest cart jockey in history. Thus my love for horses. 😂 Poor Dad.
Hunter-Jumper stables used to the same thing. They called us “working students” and we mucked stalls and did other barn chores in exchange for riding lessons or the opportunity to school some of the client horses when they couldn’t make it out to ride every day. I have such great memories of those days and made lifelong friends. It’s my understanding the big show stables no longer do working student programs due to insurance liability and instead hire illegals to do the barn chores. The other factor was the revelations that came out a while back (long before the MeToo movement) that some of the working students, particularly at world famous trainer Jimmy Williams’ stable in California, were being raped and told to shut up or they would lose their opportunity to show. He raped Olympic Show Jumper Anne Kursinski the first time when she was 11 years old and it went on for years.