You’re Doing What With Your Major?

Spotlight on UK Alumna Anne Pennington

Major:  Equine Science and Management (2010)

Current Career: Registrar and Social Media Curator

Description of Career Path:

After graduation, I transitioned from a job teaching riding lessons to working as a part-time customer service and operations agent at Equibase, the racing information and statistics division of The Jockey Club.  After six months, I was promoted to a full-time quality control coordinator, managing and distributing racing data and part-time employees; I also got my first taste of website design and management working on the new Equibase site that premiered Spring 2011.  I worked my way through the hectic Triple Crown Season, learning to handle a busy corporate environment and teaching myself basic website and graphic design along the way.  When I made the move to Maryland in July 2011, I was hired (thanks to a contact at Equibase) by the Maryland Horse Breeders Association, which also encompasses Maryland Million and the Mid-Atlantic Thoroughbred magazine.  Not only did they require a registrar with experience in data control for their state-bred programs, they recognized the need for someone who could navigate the realm of social networking. As such, my job description continues to evolve; I manage the website and social media, connect with thoroughbred farms and owners for social marketing, help organize events and develop new strategies to promote thoroughbred breeding and racing in Maryland.

Favorite UK memory/class etc.:

In 2009, I spent the summer studying grass as an intern for the UK Equine Initiative Pasture Evaluation.  Working with UK faculty and graduate students, I sampled for tall fescue toxicity, identified weeds and grasses, and provided pasture management techniques based on current forage research to farms. Not only did I get to spend some time on some beautiful horse farms, but the addition of forage knowledge I believe is a unique and useful skill.

Class I wish I had taken at UK:

I wish I had taken a graphic design class, because I think I would have fallen in love with it and changed my major (for the fourth time).  Then again, I’d probably still be in school.

           

Future Dream Job:

Working on my own farm, raising my own horses.  Cliché I know, but I didn’t grow up with my own horse, so it’s still a life-long dream.  Perhaps some graphic and web design freelancing on the side, when I’m not riding.

What I know now that I didn’t know as a student:

Networking is important, but merely socializing isn’t always enough.  If you prove that you are willing to work hard and always strive to improve yourself and your work, people are going to remember you.

Advice to others considering a job or career change:

Don’t be afraid to seek out knowledge for yourself and don’t be limited by the curriculum provided to you in the classroom.  Seek out new, different experiences on your own.  Learning a somewhat related skill set (or completely unrelated in my case with web design) could prove instrumental in securing a future career.

Favorite books:

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien and Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café by Fannie Flagg

Favorite blogs:

Currently obsessed with the Retired Racehorse Training Project, http://www.retiredracehorsetraining.org, which is proving that off-the-track thoroughbreds (OTTBs) can be inspiring and valuable in a second career.