{"id":1705,"date":"2017-05-04T13:54:10","date_gmt":"2017-05-04T17:54:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uat.woodbine.com\/corporate\/2017\/05\/04\/a-career-with-racehorses-hotwalker-program-at-woodbine\/"},"modified":"2017-05-04T13:54:10","modified_gmt":"2017-05-04T17:54:10","slug":"a-career-with-racehorses-hotwalker-program-at-woodbine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uat.woodbine.com\/corporate\/2017\/05\/04\/a-career-with-racehorses-hotwalker-program-at-woodbine\/","title":{"rendered":"A Career with Racehorses: Hotwalker Program at Woodbine"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong><em>\u200bBy <\/em><\/strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.twitter.com\/jensblog\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong><em>Jennifer Morrison<\/em><\/strong><\/a><strong><em> for WoodbineEntertainment.com<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<div><span style=\"font-size:8pt\"><br \/><\/span><\/div>\n<div>TORONTO, May 4 &#8211; Laura De Bellis has lived just minutes from Woodbine racetrack for many years but she had never visited the home of the Queen\u2019s Plate. In a twist of fate, the 52-year-old, who has made a living travelling and teaching in the medical profession, is one of the newest students in the innovative Horsemanship Training Program.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\n<div>More than a dozen members of the community are close to completing the Introductory Hotwalker course, funded by WEG and the Horsemen\u2019s Benevolent and Protective Association, and presented in conjunction with Groom Elite. <\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>On May 15, the three-week Groom Program begins and De Bellis is hoping to move on to that next level.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\u201cI got laid off from a job that I loved,\u201d said De Bellis. \u201cI had travelled and taught doctors about pacemakers and defibrillators. This landed in my lap so I decided to make a change.\u201d<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>This is the second year of the Horsemanship Training Program and the first time that the two courses have been separated and instructed by four of Woodbine\u2019s trainers. Dr. C. Reid McClellan, executive director of Groom Elite, a Kentucky-based education program also instructs and assesses students.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\u201cWe started this program last year to help train people from the community to come to Woodbine and work safely with horses,\u201d said Jessica Buckley, Vice-President Corporate Affairs and Community Relations for WEG. \u201cTrainers have a shortage of workers at the track and these are jobs that you need experience to deal with these Thoroughbreds daily.\u201d<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Last year, 14 people graduated from the program and nine found jobs on the backstretch.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Each course requires a $50 down payment with $25 returning to the student at the completion of the course.\u200b<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"\/PublishingImages\/hot2.jpg\" alt=\"\" style=\"margin:5px;width:480px;height:320px\" \/><br \/><strong><em>Renee Kierans (cap) working with a group of new students&#8230;<\/em><\/strong><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><span><\/span>The Hotwalker course (a hotwalker is a person who cools down a horse after exercise) introduces registrants to the basic handling of a horse including how to put a lead shank on, how to lead and walk a horse and be comfortable, yet aware around the animals.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"font-size:8pt\"><\/span><\/p>\n<div>\u201cWe have men and women from all walks of life signed up,\u201d said Buckley. \u201cPeople who just want to make a complete career change. We had someone who was a painter in a hospital who has always wanted to work with horses and now he\u2019s working as a groom for one of our instructors, Jamie Attard.\u201d<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>De Bellis admits she was intimidated by the track ponies that are used in the course at first but says she has learned a great deal during the Hotwalker course.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\u201cI\u2019m wanting to learn about the industry,\u201d said De Bellis. \u201cI had a chance to visit the backstretch with another student and watch the morning routines. I have just loved it. This is a beautiful course they are offering.\u201d<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Ren\u00e9e Kierans, a trainer, former amateur jockey and television personality, is an instructor along with Attard, Sarah Sullivan and Paul Attard. <\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\u201cWe need people on the backstretch,\u201d said Kierans. \u201cWe need a workforce of hotwalkers, grooms and exercise riders to work with trainers. With the number of horses back there, there just aren\u2019t enough people to go around.\u201d<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Kierans enjoys teaching the newcomers about basics of horsemanship in this first course and will be taking on a group of her own for the Groom Program<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\u201cI find that people aren\u2019t that afraid of horses, they just need the knowledge. The commonality among all of them is the love of the horse.\u201d<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><span style=\"font-size:8pt\">There are still spots available for the Groom Program. For more information, <\/span><a href=\"\/corporate\/WEGCares\/Pages\/WBHorsemanshipTraining.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"font-size:8pt\" rel=\"noopener\">click here<\/a><span style=\"font-size:8pt\">.<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p> \u200b<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u200bBy Jennifer Morrison for WoodbineEntertainment.com TORONTO, May 4 &#8211; Laura De Bellis has lived just minutes from Woodbine racetrack for many years but she had never visited the home of the Queen\u2019s Plate. In a twist of fate, the 52-year-old, who has made a living travelling and teaching in the medical profession, is one of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":1782,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1705","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>A Career with Racehorses: Hotwalker Program at Woodbine - Woodbine Entertainment<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/uat.woodbine.com\/corporate\/2017\/05\/04\/a-career-with-racehorses-hotwalker-program-at-woodbine\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Career with Racehorses: Hotwalker Program at Woodbine - Woodbine Entertainment\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"\u200bBy Jennifer Morrison for WoodbineEntertainment.com TORONTO, May 4 &#8211; Laura De Bellis has lived just minutes from Woodbine racetrack for many years but she had never visited the home of the Queen\u2019s Plate. 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