Posted: 20th August 2015 | Back to news feed
Hard work and determination has really paid off for 22-year-old Laura Marsh –helping her to secure her dream job with HAYGAIN hay steamers.
After three years, Laura has graduated with a first class honours degree in Equine Management from the Royal Agricultural University (RAU) at Cirencester.
Based near Cheltenham, Laura also won the award for ‘Best Dissertation on forage and the stable environment’ for her study on ‘Investigating and mapping bacteria levels in dry and soaked hay samples.’
Laura confirmed her delight by saying: “I am over the moon with a first, and to win the award is just incredible, it makes all the hard work so worthwhile.
Having ridden since a child, Laura has always had a strong passion for horses. Currently, Laura has two horses, Bobby a 13-year-old Connemara x Thoroughbred, who is a great all-rounder, enjoying hunting and one day events, while 17-year-old Irish Draught x Thoroughbred, Lego is a happy hacker.
“Before I started at the RAU, a friend had a HAYGAIN that she allowed me to use because Lego would occasionally cough and I had heard it was healthier for the horses than soaking. However, we also found it much easier than soaking so decided to put all the horses on the steamed hay and they love it!”
“During my course, we were taught in detail about the huge health benefits of providing clean hay to horses and read I the published research papers on HAYGAIN. I soon realised the advantages of feeding steamed hay were even bigger than I first thought!”
“Part of the course criteria in the second year is to undertake a 20 week work placement in the Equine Industry.. So when I heard HAYGAIN were offering a place I immediately applied and was delighted when they offered it to me, especially as I knew it was a popular placement.”
“Working for the company during this time gave me an incredible insight into customer service and how a business is run. The highlight was working at the World Equestrian Games where HAYGAIN had both an exhibition stand and were an official provider at all different equestrian locations. Overseeing the use of HAYGAIN in the stables by the top riders in their fields was a fantastic opportunity and I learned a lot” said Laura.
After the work placement Laura continued to work for HAYGAIN one day a week and she will join the team full time in September as Assistant Company Administrator.
“I am really excited about my new role, HAYGAIN is a great company and I am delighted to join them full time. My favourite part of the job is talking to potential and existing customers about the products and I can put the theory I learned at University into practice, combining both the science and business elements,” she added.
Dr Meriel Moore-Colyer Dean of the School of Equine Management and Science, confirmed how well Laura performed on her course saying: “Laura was an enthusiastic, hard-working student that took advantage of all the RAU has to offer. The strong links the RAU has with the equine industry allows students to choose a placement that is relevant to their aspirations while giving commercial companies the opportunity to source well educated young people, clearly a contributing factor to the 98% employment rate of our graduates. Laura’s work placement with Haygain gave her valuable experience in a commercial environment and has set her on an exciting and progressive career path.”
HAYGAIN Director Brian Fillery said: “We are delighted to welcome Laura to the team, she has done extremely well at the RAU and we are very pleased she has joined HAYGAIN full time. Her 20 week work placement turned out to be the longest interview on record!” Brian joked.
“Laura is young, bright and customer focussed, she will start out with us as an Assistant Company Administrator but as the company grows we expect her role will develop to include more technical aspects. Her scientific knowledge will be extremely valuable to help translate the ongoing research into HAYGAIN and related products, and help us develop and promote the whole subject area of stable health and welfare to our potential and existing customers.”
For further information please contact HAYGAIN hay steamers on 0333 200 5233 or www.haygain.com
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