For five months local Brytt Moore had the opportunity to mix work with pleasure and has recently returned home after spending five months working and travelling in the USA.
Brytt spent her first nine and a half weeks in the USA working at Camp Loyaltown in Hunter/New York State teaching people with physical and mental disabilities how to ride and also caring for the camp’s horses.
After working for many years in childcare and growing up riding horses at pony club Brytt thought she would be well suited to the role.
She said there’s not a lot of employment opportunities in Australia that combine her love of horses and caring for young people, and so when she saw the advertisement that put the two together, she thought it was like icing on a cake.
Brytt said upon arrival she found the job to be more challenging than she had first anticipated.
“I expected to be dealing with ADHD and autism and similar conditions, but the behaviours of some of the campers were out of the park.
“People got hit, bit, everything daily,” Brytt said.
She said for many that behaviour however changed once they got onto a horse.
“The interaction between the campers and the horses was amazing,” Brytt said.
“It was great to see their faces light up when they got on a horse.
“We had a boy that was non-verbal, or we thought was non-verbal, and he ended up saying “stop” and “go” to the horse.
“It was a massive achievement.”
She said it was also wonderful to see the positive change in a young paraplegic girl who learnt to ride.
“She wanted to be at the barn everyday and she was—even if she didn’t ride that day she was at the barn hanging out with us,” Brytt said.
And despite having to work very long days (6am starts and 10pm finishes) Brytt said she really enjoyed the experience and encourages others to do it.
“It was an amazing experience and I’m more than happy to help anyone and to point them in the right direction,” she said.
After working at the camp Brytt went onto work for a month at a ranch conducting daily trail rides.
“It was really fun to work with different people everyday,” she said.
Brytt then travelled for six weeks with a group of friends from LA to New York and is now back home in Cobar looking for full time work.
