Richardson High School senior Sarah Johnson is working at Petrey Horsemanship in McKinney this fall as part of the Professional Internship Program, learning to care for and train horses as well as manage a barn.
PIP allows RISD students to intern at a place of their choosing to gain experience in their desired workforce before college. Sarah plans to continue to study horsemanship at the University of Montana Western next year.
She has been mucking stalls, scrubbing water and food buckets, and bringing horses in and out of the barn to exercise as part of her internship. But she is also receiving riding lessons and learning how to train mules and mustangs, as well. She is finding something new to learn each day.
“This experience was not what I was expecting. I expected to be doing chores and not riding any of the animals. But I am doing both, which is what I was hoping for,” Sarah said.
Daisy Petrey was Sarah’s riding instructor and agreed to host her as PIP intern after seeing her dedication to and passion for the animals.
“I’d take 100 Sarahs,” Petrey said. “We have always hosted students as part-time employees, allowing them to work off the costs of riding or instruction. Sarah has been working extremely hard, and it’s been great to see her grow as she gains a lot of exposure for what she wants to pursue professionally. We have some problematic equines, and Sarah has been a part of a few different situations where she got to see first-hand all that goes into caring for these animals. She’s been one of the first people to ever ride a mustang we acquired from the Bureau of Land Management. These experiences are really setting her up to continue to succeed.”
For more information on the Professional Internship Program, please contact Amanda Adams at amanda.adams@risd.org or Amanda Gulley at amanda.gulley@risd.org. Applications open in the spring semester of a student’s junior year.
(This feature was written by RHS senior Lily Nicholson, who is a PIP intern with RISD Strategy & Engagement this semester.)
