Volunteer Safety

[coconut]

Hey all, We've got lots of new volunteers & I'd like to address Horse Handling Safety.

I googled Horse Safety but I didn't really care for any of the results so let's see what you all think is important to think about.

I'll start off...

SAFE policy now is that any volunteer who is handling a horse at Jaime's Farm needs to wear a helmet. This includes grooming & groundwork in addition to riding. The potential is too great that someone can get hurt in a split second & while we have many very experienced volunteers, we all know anything's possible & we'd just like to be safe (in many ways!) Since these are a personal fit item, it's suggested to bring one if you have one, however, we are working on getting some out there to be shared.

Footwear:
Rubber boots when mucking/cleaning in the muddy paddocks

Appropriate riding boots w/1" heel for volunteers who are riding the SAFE horses.

I would also like to suggest that folks bring their own gloves. The inexpensive knit gloves with rubberized palm/fingers are great for doing chores.

Dressing in layers is also a good tip for working out there. Even on cooler days I get warmer as I work & the layers begin to peel off. My husband makes fun of me and my 5-6 layers of winter clothes when I head out to the barn but I would be miserable without it, personally. As the sun comes back like the last few days, think about sun protection as well.

I realize those are more personal safety & comfort tips, NOW....let's see your best horse handling tips.....

[schwung]

I realize that the new helmet policy may seem a bit extreme and I want to explain the reasoning. A good friend of mine has been volunteering with exercising several of the horses during the week. She is a very experienced rider and horseperson who has worked with many young and remedial horses. A week ago she was grooming Little Miss in the stall. Little Miss was relaxed and enjoying her grooming. She was brushing her neck when somehow, she doesn't even know how, Little Miss sent her flying across the stall and the back of her head slammed into the stall wall. Because of LM's recent unpredictability, she was being extra careful with her and WAS wearing a helmet. Even so, she ended up in the ER and had to have a cat scan. Thankfully she is ok, but is now suffering from neck/back pain and hasn't been able to ride since the incident. Needless to say, we all shudder to think of what would have happened if she had NOT been wearing a helmet - she probably wouldn't even be here today. My friend doesn't necessarily always wear a helmet when grooming a horse, but she does with horses she doesn't know or have a history of issues, and thank goodness she wisely decided to wear one when grooming Little Miss that day.

We do not know what happened that day, what caused Little Miss to react that way. She did not kick her, she somehow slammed into her with her head and neck. She may have spooked, or it could have been intentional...we just don't know. Dr. Hannah came out a few days ago after the incident and did some bodywork on LM. She is very sore in her beck and does not want it touched and gets aggressive when you try to adjust her there. Because her temperment and behavior is so unpredictable and such a change from last summer, she also took blood to run a hormone panel to look for an ovarian tumor that could be causing the issues.

Dr. Hannah and NWESC has graciously decided to take Little Miss on as a special project. They will triage her (vet, farrier, and training) and work with her to try and address whatever may be causing her issues. For now, we are not having volunteers work with her until we know more.

I want to express that SAFE takes these two incidents (Allison getting kicked and what happened with my friend) very seriously and the safety of our volunteers is our upmost concern. The horses that come into SAFE usually have not had much handling/training or have serious training issues. We are doing absolutely everything we can to keep people safe - including evaluating volunteer horse skills and making sure that they are matched appropriately with horses, and they are aware of the individual issues of the horses they are working with to the extent with which we know of those issues. We have quite a few wonderful volunteers who do not have a lot of horse experience, and for those we may not have any horses that are calm and safe enough for them to work with when they volunteer, so these volunteers will be assigned to mucking, watering, etc.

I hope you can understand our reasoning and continue to work with SAFE as we value and appreciate our volunteers!

[hooti4me]

If anything I respect SAFE more for this step in safety. Sometimes you can never be too safe, around such large animals, who have minds of their own. I really applaud SAFE for an outstanding BOD, and group!