For most people, farming represents an alien landscape of mud, early starts, low wages, rural isolation, bad smells, and a lack of opportunity for anyone outside of its traditional demographic. Even among those growing up in the countryside it’s rarely seen as an aspirational career choice. It might not surprise you to hear, then, that even in Wales – where 88 percent of the land area is in agricultural use and the industry has a comparatively high rate of regional employment – just 3 percent of farmers are under the age of 35.

Most readers, when reflecting on their school days, will remember that some subjects seemed to be inherently gendered. Few and far between were the boys who chose to study Food Technology or Textiles, and girls very often gave up Physics the moment they left their GCSE examination, never even thinking of the opportunities that this subject would present should they pursue it to a higher level. While society may have moved on from splitting careers into gender binaries, at school level there are still huge divides in subject participation, with half of state schools having no girls at all studying for an A level in Physics. This has serious impacts on women’s university education and subsequent working lives, with just 14% of Engineering graduates being female, and 24% of graduates from core Science, Technology, Education, and Mathematics courses being women (2016/17 graduation year).

Interview with Recycled Racehorses Falconry for Horse and Rider magazine