The only constant in life is change. Sooner or later your staff at your barn will change, someone will leave unexpectedly, someone may get injured, you may find yourself without help for a few hours, or even a few days depending on the circumstances.

As we all know, the consistent feeding and watering of our horses is paramount to their well being and good health. So being prepared for any and all situations is a helpful tool. In facilities we have designed, we design the stalls so anyone can feed without having to enter the stall. Water is automatic, and feed doors allow for hay and grain to be deposited without entering the stall. You may be asking why this is important? As fellow equestrians, we all know that our horse handling skills are unique and learned over many years of working with horses. Even with our years of experience, we would all feel different levels of comfort entering a stall of an unfamiliar horse. So if for some reason there is a situation at the barn and you are left short handed, we suggest you create a plan so anyone could do the feeding (including a non horse person).

I suggest you create a “Feeding the Horses for Dummies” Manual. You have seen these yellow and black books in the book store – they are a “prolific series of instructional books which are intended to present non-intimidating guides for readers new to the various topics covered”. I am suggesting you create a “Feeding the Horses for Dummies” Manual and openly display it in your feeding room.

Step One – clearly mark each stall with a stall number and create a chart with the name of stall and the horse’s name and a brief description (i.e. Chestnut Mare).

Step Two – clearly mark all feed, supplements and medications – this is really important.

Step Three – have a scoop or measurement device that is clear without any confusion so quantity of grain or medications is clear and precise – make sure you have lines on your coffee cans for measuring or even better, get a scoop with measuring lines already on it.

Step Four – step by step, write the process down for feeding. For example, if you drop hay first, explain where the hay is, draw a diagram if necessary showing the hay storage area, explain what a flake is – make the directions 100% fool proof so anyone off the street could do it.

Step Five – test it. Grab a friend or family member one day and have them run through the feeding drill. See what worked and what needs to be explained further.

By creating your “Feeding the Horses for Dummies” Manual and performing this drill you have not only tested your manual – you have actually secretly trained an emergency helper.

What is triage? Triage is the process of prioritizing in order of importance. This is what you are doing in case of an emergency – water and feed are your number one concern, turn out and cleaning the stalls can wait for an experienced horse person’s arrival. In an emergency or in the midst of a staffing crisis, your horses are fed and cared for. Leave the picking, cleaning and turn-out for the experienced horse handler – the horses will be okay left in for a day or until an experienced horse person can get to the facility.

If you have experienced horse handlers available to help in an emergency, then also create a segment in your “Feeding the Horses for Dummies” Manual on turnout procedures. Make sure you number and diagram paddocks, explain in great detail turn out schedules and pasture buddies, personalities of the horses (i.e. one likes to bolt after you remove the halter or another likes to kick out and run off) and also include booting requirements – again, write it all with diagrams and run a drill.

Jennifer K. Donovan
Principal
Equestrian Services, LLC - Developing the Equestrian Lifestyle

Posted by jenniferd at 9:17 AM | Link | 1 comment