BHS Complete Equestrian: Volume 3

Chapter 1

Yard Management

General responsibilities

Adherence to legal requirements

Employment rights

Summary

Yard Management

As your training progresses you may find you are given more responsibility for organising the general running of the yard under the guidance and support of a yard manager or senior supervisor. Your responsibilities are likely to be many and varied, depending on the type of yard and how the yard is run, and they may increase as you become more experienced. Some of the areas you might be given responsibility for at various levels are outlined in this chapter.

General responsibilities

Horse welfare

The welfare of the horse should be at the heart of everything you do. The Animal Welfare Act (England and Wales), Welfare of Animals Act (Northern Ireland) and Animal Health and Welfare (Scotland) Act states that it is the duty of the person responsible for an animal to ensure that the needs of the animal are met to the extent required by good practice. These needs include:

Need for a suitable environment.

Need for a suitable diet.

Need to be able to exhibit normal behaviour patterns.

Any need the animal has to be housed with, or apart from other animals.

Need to be protected from pain, suffering, injury and disease.

As part of your daily duties you are responsible for ensuring all horses in your care have all their needs met.

Monitoring stock levels

The amount of storage available will dictate how much feed and bedding can be kept on a yard. For yards with limited space, restocking might have to be done weekly, whereas for yards with ample storage restocking may happen every few months. It is useful to have an understanding of approximately how long the stock you have should last, so more can be ordered in plenty of time.

A rough estimation can also help you work out if you are going through stock too quickly and if you need to investigate why it is happening.

The time of year and weather conditions will have an effect on how much feed and bedding are used. If the horses live out in the summer less will be used, therefore you need to beware of over-ordering feed that may spoil before you can use it. When new stock such as feed is ordered any existing stock should be checked for the use-by date and stored so that the bags with the shortest date are used first.

Facility maintenance

This is an ongoing job and is essential in order to keep the facilities in good repair and prolong their lifespan. It also helps to keep the yard safe, clean and tidy and create a professional image.

Create a rota of jobs that will need doing daily, weekly, monthly and yearly along with the routine tasks of running a yard, to help keep track of what needs doing and when. Some examples might include:

Daily: sweeping out the feed room and tack room, harrowing the school, removing droppings from fields.

Weekly: weeding, cleaning out the drains.

Monthly: cleaning windows, de-cobwebbing stables.

Yearly: painting, washing and disinfecting stables.

Depending on the size of the yard and the tools available to you, some of these tasks may be done more or less regularly. As well as planned maintenance there will be running repairs, such as broken fence posts, which should be dealt with promptly to prevent them becoming a more serious problem.

It is useful to create a rota of jobs that need doing, such as harrowing the school; this may be a daily job if the arena is in regular use.

Supervising junior team members

No matter what your role in the business you should always endeavour to set a good example by following best practice procedures and working to a high standard. Take pride in every aspect of the job, from how you dress to your conduct around clients and staff. This also includes the use of social media; remember everyone has access to this so be careful what you post and how it may be perceived by the wider public.

A large part of working on a yard involves working together as a team, often with people who have a wide range in age and experience. For the team to run efficiently, roles and responsibilities should be discussed and clearly defined so that everyone understands what is expected of them. Rules of the yard and health and safety procedures should be made clear and followed by all members of staff at all times.

Get to know your team and find out about their motivation and aspirations for their careers to help identify potential training opportunities and ensure that all team members receive adequate support.

The smooth running of a yard relies on good communication between all team members. All instructions need to be clear and contain enough information to allow the task to be carried out successfully. Equally important is the ability to listen to feedback or concerns from other team members. Regular team meetings and one-to-one sessions are a good way of creating an opportunity for staff to raise any potential issues or concerns.

As part of your role you may be required to deliver training to junior staff members.

It can be difficult to deal with a member of staff whose work is not up to standard. In the first instance, try to find out why the work is falling short of what is expected. There may be a lack of understanding of what is required, or perhaps they are lacking in confidence when it comes to working with a particular horse. It might be that a bit of extra support or training is required to prevent an issue from happening again. If you are concerned about a particular member of staff, seek support and guidance from your manager.

An essential skill of being a good supervisor is organisation. You need to ensure that everyone knows what they are doing and when. This could take the form of creating a daily list and allocating tasks amongst staff according to their experience, to ensure that they are carried out safely and efficiently. When allocating tasks, consider each person's level of fitness as well as their experience - remember it will take a person new to mucking out longer to complete a stable than a more experienced member of staff.

Adherence to legal requirements

The yard manager should be aware of all the legal requirements associated with the running of the yard, including employment law, and responsible for seeing that they are adhered to but you should develop an awareness of these issues, in your own interests and those of other staff and clients.

Equity, Diversity and Inclusion

The Equality Act 2010 legally protects people from discrimination in the workplace and also in wider society.

The Act covers nine protected characteristics:

Age

Disability

Sex

Sexual orientation

Gender reassignment

Race

Religion or belief

Marriage or civil partnership

Pregnancy or maternity

If you feel you have been discriminated against or have witnessed discrimination speak to a senior member of staff. If you don't feel you can talk to your employer there are organisations you can contact for advice such as Citizens Advice or the Equality Advisory Support Service.

Equality this means the fair treatment of everyone and creating equal possible outcomes for all.

Equity recognises that each person has different circumstances and allocates the exact resources and opportunities needed to reach an equal outcome.

Diversity is the mix of people.

Inclusion can be described as the culture in which people can come to work and feel comfortable and confident to be themselves. An inclusive environment is one where everyone feels valued.

Discrimination is treating someone unfairly because of who they are.

Health and safety policy

The Health and Safety at Work Act (1974) is the main piece of legislation you need to be aware of. It details the basic general duties that all employers and employees must follow. If there are five or more staff members it is a legal requirement to have a written Health and Safety Policy. However, although not actual employees, the number of volunteers in any workplace will also need to be included - for example two volunteers each helping for 2½ days a week would equate to one full-time employee.

The policy is designed to inform people about how to deal with health and safety issues that affect what you do and how you carry out your work. It is there to show the business's commitment to health and safety and to identify who has what responsibilities within your business. Most policies are split into three sections:

The statement of general policy on health and safety at work sets out the business's commitment to managing health and safety effectively, and what it wants to achieve.

The responsibility section sets out who is responsible for specific actions.

The arrangements section contains the detail of what the business is going to do in...