Fruitcake
Well-Known Member
Quite. The paperwork required for the new riding school licencing criteria is, frankly, ridiculous and doesn't impact the welfare of the ponies in any way I can see (other than perhaps taking time away from tasks directly related to their care in order to complete pointless paperwork). How on Earth are documents such as individual written exercise plans in any way useful in a small riding school of a few safe, experienced ponies doing a few hours of lessons a week? I can see the need to record things such as worming, vaccinations and veterinary info, but this list of criteria goes way beyond those basics. As you say, if an owner is "hands on", these things are pointless. Surely, the veterinary inspection side of the licencing would show up any issues with care.But my question is did it make the welfare of the ponies better that somewhere in a file there was a piece of paper stating that only x or y could make changes to field allocation or feeding, or would the same have been accomplished by proper management? If someone does not heed a verbal instruction that they are not allowed to change these routines then I doubt that they would be looking in a file to check the protocol. I would guess that all the staff knew was that they should check the boards for up to date info on feeds and paddocks, they probably had no idea that there was a file somewhere to keep within the red tape.
The yard where I keep mine has nothing set down in paper at all. Owner lives on site and checks everything daily. If I want some change to turn out / feeds then I just drop an sms to him or the groom. If I need something done differently or some extra service I just ask. I really do not see how a piece of paper telling the groom what to do in case of a problem with my horses would achieve. The system relies upon the common sense of all involved: if they think one of my horses needs a vet they call me, if I am not available they call my vet if it is something that cannot wait. I simply cannot imagine anyone going to look at the file in this situation.