The horse business is a fascinating industry but it’s a fulltime job that involves a lot of work. Horses count on human care but that’s only half of what is involved in stable management. The other side of it is managing the paperwork. Collecting all the relevant information about the horses and keeping all records also takes time and energy. Good stable management is therefore not a luxury but a necessity. This blog will elaborate on the concept of stable management and the various activities that it contains.
In short, stable management involves all horse management activities. It includes different aspects such as care, shelter, exercise, medical follow-up, and so on. Good stable management is also essential for the well-being and health of the horses. After all, horse owners and caretakers must always be aware of the needs of their horses. For example, each horse has its own feeding schedule, exercise program and some horses even need specific medical care.
You can imagine that a large horse company constantly takes care of all these tasks so they must be properly coordinated. It’s therefore to your horses’ advantage that stable management runs as efficiently as possible.
What’s actually involved in stable management? Here is an overview of the most important activities:
The most obvious activity within stable management is providing the necessary food and water for the horses. A horse drinks on average about 25 to 60 liters of water per day. So they must always have sufficient fresh water available.
In addition, the horses naturally need the right food at regular time periods. The diet of horses consists of roughage, such as hay and concentrates. Most stables follow a feeding schedule of 3 times concentrates and 2 times roughage a day.
Caring for horses is about providing the best environment in the safest way as possible. This may include regular grooming, attending to their health needs and keeping their personal areas clean. Horses should be cared for in ways that minimize fear, pain, stress and suffering.
This gives the owner a responsibility to keep their horses looked after in line with ethical horse standards.
Every horse needs its own space to stand upright, to turn comfortably or to lie down. Providing and managing this space is also the responsibility of the stable managers. They see to it, for example, that the drinking trough does not leak in the stable, that the stables aren’t damaged so the horses can move around safely without getting injured, and so on.
Bedding is the material used in stables as a base to provide the horses with the necessary warmth and comfort, and protection against the cold weather and injuries. Bedding consists of different materials such as straw, wood shavings and flax stems.
It goes without saying that the stables have to be mucking out a few times a day. Droppings, wet litter and dust must be removed, and the stables should be completely disinfected multiple times a year. Also ensure your stable is free of vermin so they do not get the chance to infect the food and drinking water with certain bacteria and diseases.
When riding, the animals must always be provided with suitable equipment. The maintenance of this equipment, which is often made of leather, is very important for the general hygiene and the durability of the material.
Competition horses must be fully prepared for the shows. This doesn’t only involve the preparation of the correct equipment, care and the application of protective bandages for transport but also ensuring that the horses have been properly vaccinated. In addition, a lot of administrative and organizational tasks are involved in preparing for competitions. For example, passports must be taken care of as well as flight schedules, a truck must be available, hotels must be booked and the competition entries must be completely arranged.
Proper organisation and administration are the beating heart of the horse companies in this business. After all, the administrative tasks not only include the medical follow-up and record keeping, but also feeding, training and competition scheduling. The health of the horse is even an important are to record to help evaluate their performance. Certainly, this last one is not to be underestimated if you have a stable with many owners or even horses who are co-owned. The financial follow-up consists of invoicing, managing all kind of expenditures as feeding, maintenance, general and competition expenditures and so on. At the end is proper collaboration and efficient communication of this crucial information to internal employees, farrier, vet, owners and customers and suppliers is therefore extremely important for a good stable management.
Now, in an era of innovation and technological progress, smooth communication about stable management is not a stumbling block. You can simplify your stable management through digitalization and thus work more efficiently. For example, stable management software can help you coordinate and communicate all activities in and around the stables. This means that you can collect and manage all information regarding the health, nutrition and training of your horses in one place. Moreover, you always keep a clear overview of all costs, invoices, media and you can analyze and report your data.
Would you like more information about stable management and how you can organize it efficiently with stable management software? Then contact us quickly. We are more than happy to advise you.
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