Working & Winning with Erin Callahan

This article is from the March 2020 Horse Deals magazine.

Erin, what does a normal working week look like for you in your job as a Dentist? I am generally with patients from 8.30am to 5.30pm each day, or 10am to 7pm one day per week. And then all the admin and management tasks have to be squeezed in around those scheduled appointments.

What commitments do you have at the stables before and after work? In the morning before work, I just feed up, change rugs as required and check all horses. Generally, they all live outdoors. Only occasionally do I have any stabled, sometimes pre-competition or due to injuries or when we have really foul weather. Generally, all the horses are at home, except occasionally when my numbers are too high and some youngsters/broodmares get farmed off to friends’ properties. I don’t tend to ride in the mornings, except for one day a week, as I don’t like being on a tight schedule when working the horses. Of an evening I’m lucky to have help to get the horses done. I usually get home somewhere between 6 and 7pm, and a horse will be ready for me to start riding straight away. My groom Emily does all the grooming, tacking and un-tacking, washing, feeding, lungeing, cleaning gear etc so that I can just ride. She will also ride with me when doing fitness work, and hop on horses to warm up/cool down.

How many horses do you have in work and what is their workload? I generally have three to four horses in work, I can’t manage much more than that. Usually only one horse at any given time that is competing at a higher level, another that will be doing one star (105) or below, and then one or two will usually be youngsters that are not yet out competing or are only just beginning to get out.

Eventing preparation takes a lot of time and effort. How do you make it all happen and keep your horses fit in limited time? The higher level horse is always prioritised. Its fitness and training is most important, and if anything has to miss out on a given day because of my lack of time or the weather conditions etc, it will be the youngsters. I’d be lost without the lights on my arena at home, as I am commonly still on a horse at 9pm.  As the days get shorter, fitting in fitness work and jump training does become more difficult. I have to utilise my one later morning work start, and weekends to fit those in. A treadmill and indoor are on my wishlist! I do try to have a good fitness base established earlier in the season when daylight is on my side. Bringing them back into work after a winter break is always the most challenging part of the year for me. Short days and poor weather can make it very tricky. 

What are some of your proudest moments in your riding career and in your job? In recent years I’ve had some success in Young Event Horse classes with horses I have produced, and this is something I find incredibly rewarding. All of my star-class horses over the years I have produced myself (with a lot of guidance from some excellent coaches) as I was never in a position to buy an already-going competition horse of the quality I would like. I’m hopeful now that these promising youngsters will fulfil their potential. Bringing a horse through the grades is a slow process, and it can be frustrating and/or heartbreaking when your big hopes turn into big disappointments. Professionally, it is the little day to day achievements that I find incredibly rewarding. The clinical cases that have excellent outcomes and create happy patients, the relationships you build over the years with patients and their trust in you that develops as a result, are very satisfying.

Do you have a strapper to help you on the day of a competition and what jobs do they assist with? Generally, I can manage up to three horses on my own as long as I am super organised, but at the three day events or bigger shows, I will take a groom. They will help with absolutely everything usually — general grooming, cleaning boxes/yards, feeding, washing, walking horses, iceing, plaiting up, cleaning gear, videoing and debriefing!

What do you do after a weekend comp to prepare for the next weekend’s comp? I try to be very orderly when I am packing up at a comp to reduce what then needs to be done during the week at home, and to make packing for the next weekend easier and more efficient. As much as possible gear and equipment are cleaned as it is put away, or it is done on a Monday, which is a quieter riding day after an event. All the washing is done early in the week and as much as possible re-packed in the truck, including feed and hay, so that come Friday I only really need to pack saddles, bridles and the horses.

Out of your four weeks annual leave, how much of that is used for competitions? A decent chunk of it. I am lucky to not be restricted to a strict four weeks leave per year, however by the same token, there are many years when I would actually take less leave than that. I do like to have one ‘normal-person’ holiday per year, even if it is just a week somewhere warm during winter.

How many events would you do in a year? Probably 15-20 horse trials competitions per year, and then I also try to get to quite a few showjumping shows as well. But they do range from the smaller local comps as outings for the youngsters, through to the three day events. Most of them will be in Victoria, and as I am fairly centrally located, travel is generally only between one and three hours. There may be a few interstate trips per year for the CCI events or three day events. 

Do you do anything in the off season with your horses? The off season is when I focus more on the young horses. When there is no pressure to keep the work up to the competition horses, I’ll put a bit more time into the youngsters, often taking them on their first few outings etc and handling the unbroken ones too.

How do you balance work, family, social life and competitions? I don’t know that I do. Unfortunately, you cannot always do everything and have to prioritise what is important to you at any given time. Obviously you always have to work to pay the bills, but I may take more time off during the season to compete and train, but then work harder in the off season to make up for it. I’m also more likely to stay back late at work early in the week, whereas closer to a weekend of competition I’ll be trying to finish at a reasonable time. Leading up to a three day event, that horse and its preparation really does become the number one focus, and needs to be. I’m lucky to have family and friends that are very understanding and supportive of my lifestyle, even if they don’t quite share my passion, and I will always make every effort to be at the important social functions — weddings, big birthdays etc, but you do miss out on a lot as well

What sacrifices do you have to make to do it all, and do it all successfully? Television! For me to fit in work, business, horses, competing, property upkeep, family and friends, there is no time for Netflix or keeping up with the latest series. The only time I’ll usually watch a movie is on a plane and read a novel is on holidays.

Do you do any fitness work other than riding? I do try to get to the gym three times a week, usually early mornings, and do a mixture of cardio and weight training. I love running too, but do much less of it than I’d like to.

What words of advice can you give to other amateur riders who want success in all aspects of their lives? Commit to continual learning. Find good coaches and mentors to work with on a regular basis and be very self-analytical as to where you can improve, in both your sport and your working life. Having big goals is fantastic, but also be realistic that they will often take many years to achieve. And a lot of work. So hopefully you enjoy the process, the training and the learning, as much as the end results.

Sign up to our newsletter