INTERNSHIP FAQ

1. How structured is the program?  Are there exact start times and finish times?  How many hours of instruction per day, per week?  How much of that is riding time?  A typical day is from 7:30am-5:30pm, M-F.  Interns are welcome and encouraged to stay for dinner each evening!  Interns have weekends OFF.

2. How much do your instructors ride?  How accomplished are they in this style of horsemanship?  Shayne heads up the teaching and has ridden in over 400 Buck clinics over the last 20 years.  He is currently on his 7th bridle horse and is diligent about becoming a better rider and a better teacher every day.  Des and Roby also assist in the majority teaching and both have ridden with Buck on several occasions and have both advanced horses to the bridle.  We ride every day, all day long and ride multiple horses of all levels of education.

3. How many different horses (at different levels of education) will I be riding per day, per week?  We have over 100 head of horses at the ranch and nearly 70 of them are ridden in our internship program.  Horses are meticulously chosen by Des each day for interns based on multiple factors.  Interns often comment that the horses they ride help them to learn and feel exactly what they need to on a given day!

4. Will I be starting colts?  At McGinnis, we believe that a person should only be starting colts if they have already proven themselves in being able to ride correctly on other, more educated horses and have had some experience in personally advancing a horse.  Then, they may have some real good stuff to offer to a colt.  So this would be based on the individual and the amount of time they are able to stay for their internship. 

5. Are there job opportunities after completion?  Currently, 95% of wranglers staff is made up of previous interns that have come through our program.

6. Will I learn the parts of shoeing, doctoring, nutrition and general animal husbandry?  Yes!  Our program is extremely well rounded and you will learn many parts and pieces to what makes a ranch like this work.

10. How long have we been doing our internship program?  The program was started in 2014 and we’ve had over 50 interns come here from all over the world!  And yes, they are from EVERY age group and EVERY walk of life!

11. Do we offer funding for interns?  We are currently building an internship fund that will help to sponsor or offset the cost to individuals who demonstrate outstanding performance/work ethic and drive within the horse industry.