NC Horse Care

A practical foundation in horse care on which you can progress to employment or other SRUC courses. ***Applications are closed for September 2025 entry for the Barony campus. Applications continue to be considered for Oatridge campus.***

Locations: Barony, Oatridge
Study mode: Full Time (1 year)
Start date: September 2025
Duration: 1 years
Agency code: HRC1

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Course overview

NC Horse Care is designed to give you a practical foundation on which you can progress to employment such as yard, stud or livery or other courses such as the Advanced Certificate in Horse Care or the HNC in Equine Studies.

You'll undertake early morning and weekend yard duties as part of the course. An acceptable level of fitness is required so you can ride, and carry out yard duties, safely and effectively.

Virtual Experience

Take a look around the SRUC Virtual Experience for lots of great student videos and examples of what it’s like to study our courses, along with campus and facility tours.

SRUC holds open days regularly. Visit our listings page for details of our up-coming events.

Entry requirements

You'll be expected to have a minimum of 3 National 4s (preferably including English and Maths) plus two weeks of practical work experience.

You'll need to submit recorded evidence of your riding ability. This must include a minimum of walk, trot, canter and jumping.

What you'll learn

A range of topics will be covered during the course including:

Safe horse handling
Grooming and clothing
Preparation for ridden work
Trimming, turnout and clipping
Equitation
Watering and feeding
Care of the horse at grass

Meet the lecturer

Gillian Turnbull

A lecturer for 25 years, Gillian holds a BSc (Hons), PG Cert, BHSSM and BHSII.

Gillian is based at Oatridge Campus, lecturing and tutoring final year Higher National Diploma students. She specialises in business management subjects on our horse care courses.

Outside her teaching, Gillian runs her own yard and is involved in the wider equestrian industry. She has excellent industry links and enjoys helping students to gain equestrian experience to help them become more employable at the end of their course.

View Gillian's Pure profile

Course Funding

Full-time students of NC Horse Care can apply for a Further Education Bursary.

Once you’ve accepted a place, we’ll email the bursary funding online application. Complete the application and return it along with any required documents. You should apply even if you're still waiting for exam results.

Tuition fees are waived for students who qualify for a bursary.

More information about funding your course

Find out more about your payment options for this course in our fees and funding section

Fees & funding

Other possible routes to funding

Care experienced bursary: Any care experienced students studying full time can apply for a bursary of around £202.50 per week. Find out more from our student funding teams at registryfunding@SRUC.ac.uk
Education Maintenance Allowance: Students between the ages of 16-19 who meet specific criteria may be entitled to an EMA. This means-tested allowance depends on the income of the home the student stays in.
Discretionary Fund
Childcare

NC Horse Care

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