Horsemen Project
The Horsemen Project was designed to meet the needs of Travellers, Gypsies and Roma young people in the area of vocational training. Traditionally, these communities have been associated with horses and feedback indicated that a training programme based on the care of horses would be a useful way of engaging with young people in the communities and provide them with skills relevant to the labour market in each of the participating member states, Ireland, Spain and Hungary.

The Project drew together training providers to Travellers, Gypsies and Roma, community based organisations, community representatives and experts in the area of horse care in a way that ensured wide ranging consultation and engagement from the outset. The project was coordinated by the National Coordination Unit of Traveller Training Centres.

The overall aim of the project was to develop a module for use as part of vocational training. Exchange House was asked to coordinate the consultation phase prior to module development, to assess the needs of young people and potential employers. The specific objectives included engagement with the Traveller (Ireland), Gypsy (Spain) and Roma (Hungary); to identify the skills present within the various communities in relation to horse care, to determine the level of interest in the care of horses among young people in the communities and to make recommendations for the development of a module for use with the target groups.

William McDonagh, Barney Power and Helen Campbell, visited Traveller and Roma communities in Holland, Hungary and Spain as part of the transnational work of Horsemen.

Our consultation confirmed that here was a high level of interest in horses, with Ireland showing the highest degree of experience in horse care among Travellers. There was a definite willingness to learn in key areas such as safety, training etc and a high-level of interest in a course related to caring for horses.

As far as employers were concerned, the attitude and interest of the young people was more important than actual skills, as they could develop that on the job. Their preference was for some experience and basic skills in stable routine as well as a knowledge of safety hygiene and general feeding.

Exchange House presented the final consultation report at a conference in Hungary in 2004, and as a result of that, the module has been developed.

In addition to the actual experience of participating in a transnational project, very useful contacts were made at national and EU level, including the Travellers site in Emmen referred to elsewhere in the Report. It is likely that TYS will use the Horsemen module as part of their work with young men in conjunction with local equine centres around the Dublin area.

To find out more about the Horsemen Project click here

View the Horsemen Project Booklet
To download the full Horsemen Project booklet PDF please click here.