Rylin Medcoff: Normandy, France
I recently spent two months doing an internship in Normandy, France. I lived and worked at Haras Du Lieu Des Champs, owned and managed by Richard Powell. Living and working abroad gave me a unique perspective of how a foreign thoroughbred farm operates. I lived on-site above one of the barns and helped monitor, clean, feed, and care for all the farm’s horses. My daily routine consisted of feeding and examining mares and foals in different paddocks each morning and helping with daily chores including mixing and preparing feed for the next day. I also assisted with daily medical procedures including providing small wound care, administering reproductive medications, respiration treatments on foals when prescribed, administering vaccines, assisting with post-surgical care, X-rays and ultrasounds, and assisting the farrier. In the afternoons, I helped feed and examine all the broodmares, yearlings, and retired horses in paddocks around the farm.
Besides enjoying the experience of living in a foreign country, I fed my passion by spending all my waking hours working with mares and foals. I formed strong bonds with the foals and loved their reactions each morning. In addition to learning to live on a farm, I was fortunate to help prep 2-year-old horses for sales as well as exhibiting horses at the July Arqana sale. It was an amazing and life-changing two months, and it reaffirmed my desire to pursue bloodstock, consignment, and breeding work. Finally, I attended several horse races with Mr. Powell where I not only observed the spoils of his hard work (i.e., watching his horses race), but I also learned what he did behind the scenes as a racehorse owner and manager of horses owned by others. Throughout my experience in France, I learned so much about breeding, raising, selling, and owning racehorses. This once-in-a-lifetime opportunity only happened because of Mr. Powell’s generosity—he opened his home and farm to me, and I will forever be grateful. I am blessed to have lived in France for two months to pursue my passion. – Rylin Medcoff