Elite Vocations

Elite Vocations is a ten-week program that prepares American Veterans for a career in the equine industry as a professional groom (and in other related areas). The curriculum is based, under license, on the internationally-recognized Groom Elite horsemanship education program which has been training grooms at racetracks, breeding facilities, community colleges, and correctional facilities since 2001. While the Groom Elite training will prepare our Veteran students to enter a career working in the racing and commercial breeding industries (and other intensive fields), our focus area of employment will be with individual horse owners, boarding stables, smaller breeding operations, and similar equestrian businesses on California’s central coast that embrace the natural horsemanship approach and would love to offer a qualified Veteran a live-in position on their ranch. With this focus in mind, our Elite Vocations program combines the Groom Elite program with additional natural horsemanship training techniques to further enhance participants’ skills and knowledge, enabling them to take on training roles in certain fields. All of the horses used in our programs are retired racehorses (a.k.a off-the-track Thoroughbreds or OTTBs) that have ended their racing career due to injury or lack of performance. In addition to providing training for the Veterans, the Elite Vocations program will provide re-training for these horses, all of which will be adopted out to suitable homes at the end of each three-month program. In addition to our ten-week certified vocational horsemanship training program, we will be facilitating several equine-assisted workshops for Veterans and their families. The two-day programs will initially focus on:* Veterans who have experienced personal trauma * Spouses / significant others of Veterans * Teens (aged 14 to 22) of Veterans Learn more on our website: https://elitevocations.org