The Thriving Equine Professional | Career Connections, Equine Industry Resources, Career Advice. · JodiSpeaksLIFE: Speaker, Career Success Coach, Podcaster

62 | How an Internship at Disney Changed the Career Path for Equine Professional, Ariel Trinder

·41 min·2 clips

Disney has trail horses, draft horses, and six white ponies that pull Cinderella's coach.

1. The Thriving Equine Professional episode centers on Ariel Trinder's career path from Walt Disney World to the equine industry. 2. Host Jodi Lynch-Findley introduces Ariel as a Texas connection from a NextGen event and frames her as a guest with a strong network. 3. The episode asks how a Walt Disney World internship and horse experience shaped Ariel's career choices. 4. Ariel says her Disney internship at the Animal Nutrition Center is the highlight of her career and a frequent resume question. 5. She describes starting backstage at Disney at about 5 in the morning and preparing diets for animals in an AZA-accredited zoo. 6. Ariel adds that the work also covered animals at a resort and fish diets for Disney's aquarium. 7. She says Disney selected her partly because she was a horse girl with horse experience. 8. Ariel explains that Disney told applicants there were 600 candidates for the professional internships and only four selected. 9. She links that selection to a research project on iron in black rhinos and notes that black rhinos and horses are both hindgut fermenters. 10. Jodi compares the Disney nutrition work to her own time at Purina and Missouri brand zoo feeding. 11. Ariel says Disney later moved her into the horse side of the company, which many people do not realize exists in Florida. 12. She names the 45-minute trail ride at Fort Wilderness Park, the draft horses that pull Magic Kingdom carriages, and the six white ponies used for Cinderella's coach. 13. Ariel says she met her husband through Disney because he had worked there before she did and later returned to Texas. 14. She describes growing up with hunter jumpers and pony club, then moving into the cow horse world and equine reproduction work in Texas. 15. Ariel says Disney internships are six months long, include one day a week of research work, and push interns to network at mixers for future jobs. 16. She says the company has internal cast-member job postings and that she moved from the barn into a riding position. 17. Ariel says working guest rides taught her customer service, especially that the guest is not always right and that Disney staff are trained to find the right helper. 18. The interview is conversational and practical, with Jodi drawing out details about internships, technician work, and career pivots. 19. Listeners interested in equine careers, internships, and career pivots will get the most from this episode. 20. Listeners looking for a purely technical veterinary lecture may skip it.

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