Equine Summer Study Abroad Programs in Scotland

I had an amazing experience in Scotland on the equine program. The anatomy & physiology course was very informative, although much of the non-horse specific content was a review from previous courses. Although initially preparing for the assessment was slightly stressful, the assessment itself was fair and Louise and Rowan well-prepared us for the assessment. Both of the instructors for the course were amazing and I couldn't speak higher praises of them! The fitness course was all new material for me but Jen and Gillian presented the information and provided feedback in a manner that helped us to grow and understand the new field! They were both amazing instructors and helped us to correct our fitness plans and complete our workbook assessment without too much of an overload of new content at once. I loved living in the Scottish countryside with ample hiking opportunities and great food (although there are a lot of chips). The accommodations were private with private bathrooms which was very nice but we still had community areas available to utilize. The temperature was warmer than I expected with an average of 60s Fahrenheit. I wish I had brought more warmer weather clothing than I did. There is no central air in the flats, but I didn't mind the temperature at all. As someone with limited riding experience, I was worried for the riding portion but Sam was always very supportive of everyone and tailored the lessons to your skill level and comfort! During my free weekends, I visited Inverness and the Isle of Skye and Northern Ireland and I highly recommend both locations! One point to note is that the Oatridge campus is in rural West Lothian and it takes approximately an hour to 90 minutes by bus to get to Edinburgh depending on the wait time. We did spend a lot time waiting on buses and taxis which showed up sporadically sometimes rather early or late. The X18 bus into Edinburgh from Uphall was particularly bad at showing up on time. Although I was able to plan my time, I do wish that the full itinerary had been released earlier to allow for more planning and cheaper prices as much of the accommodation and many tours were booked out by the time we had the schedule. Overall, I had a great experience and everyone I met from the faculty and staff to my new friends here have been great, kind, and supportive! I highly recommend this study abroad to Scotland!

I loved the staff at SRUC!! The professors were warm and welcoming and they did a great job at making sure we had a healthy balance between school and fun. This program has a fun aspect of allowing you to choice what you want to do, which i really liked. If there is a tour or a city you want to go to you have the freedom to do so! I really liked the independence. super friendly staff, sadly felt like they tried to cover too many topics in such a short time. Which is a shame since i felt like i had more whistle stop tours on a topic then indepth education.

I recommend this program to anyone interested! I had no horse experience prior to this trip and felt extremely at ease throughout the program with what we were learning and doing. The staff of the campus was amazing. The teachers were phenomenal instructors that showed that they cared about their students. The trainers were so patient and accommodating to the differing levels of experience within the group. Some things that I wish I had known prior to this trip:
-Campus is relatively far from the city. If you use public transportation, it takes around an hour to get there. You can either take 2 buses or you can take 1 bus, walk 20 minutes to Uphall train station and then take a train to the city. Taxis are also an option but can be slightly expensive at times.
-Pack a VARIETY of clothes--light jacket, warm jacket, lightweight pants, jeans, shorts (for good days), TONS of layering clothes! The weather is unpredictable.
-BRING SUNSCREEN and wear it

I loved being able to take the time to enjoy the country as an adult compared to the last time I came at the age of 16. I got to explore so much more both independently and with the other members of my group. All of the staff and professors were really kind and gave wonderful feedback and advice for anything you could possibly ask for. My biggest irritation came with the public transportation system and cab companies due to the campus being so far out. It would take a fair amount of preplanning around bus times and the cabs were typically late by around 20 minutes. After a while we learned to role with it and still managed to fully explore all the things we wanted. I had a great time with everybody on my trip and would highly recommend this to anyone involved in animal science or with an interest in horses. The staff and professors were amazing in everything they did and were always willing to help with whatever they could if you asked. I will remember this trip for the rest of my life going forward and hope many people in the future can experience the same opportunity that I did.

This program in many ways met and exceeded my expectations, but there were a few components of the program that were different than I expected. The riding style was different than what I understood it to be going into the program, and public transport/ease of getting from campus to Edinburgh was not as easy as it was described. However, the staff was very welcoming and went above and beyond to make our experience an amazing one. I will miss the country, horses, and people here. My favorite part of the program was our weekend trips. I loved hiking and photographing the Isle of Skye. Sadly, the tour I wanted to go on was booked out by the time our itinerary was released the month before we left, but we made the most of it. I am still amazed that I was able to spend a month riding horses in Scotland!

I enjoyed my time during the Adelante equine study abroad trip. I found that I learned even more about horse anatomy and physiology and getting to go to the yard during our classes and apply what we were learning with the horses in front of us was extremely helpful. I also enjoyed how much riding time the program allowed us to have, I was thinking it would be once a week but it turned out to be a lot more! Everyone on campus is extremely kind and willing to answer any questions or concerns that you may have and were even willing to drive us to where we needed to be. I would tell future students to be prepared for a busy schedule as most days are 9-4pm with a lot going on in between.

I really enjoyed studying abroad in Scotland, I felt as though I really walked away with knowledgeable information about Equine. The staff was extremely supportive and you could really they really wanted you to succeed, this was showed by built in study hours, showing us where the on campus academic support was, and also helping us out as much as they could during exam time. They also really wanted us to experience they city and the wonders that Scotland had to offer. The took us to the Royal Highland show and the Kelpies and the perth races which is something I thought was really really cool.

I had an amazing time here. I learned a lot and had so much fun traveling around here. I had never ridden english before so this was all new. They were very patient with us. I came in with some equine A&P knowledge but I definitely was able to broaden that knowledge. The equine fitness was all new to me. I learned a lot about making a fitness plan to get a horse ready for different types of competitions. I really enjoyed traveling around Scotland. I did a lot on my own but also had some prearranged trips with the program that i really enjoyed as well.