The Telure Standard for a equestrian program

Tack inspection: girths, billets, stirrup leathers and reins

Piece by piece, off the rack and in your hands rather than on the horse. Girths: webbing, elastic and the stitching at both buckle ends, buckle tongues straight, roller bars turning. Billet straps: the leather at every hole and where it leaves the tree, the stitching at the top, and any hole that has stretched into a slot. Stirrup leathers: flex each one over its own length and look hard at the three or four holes actually in use, the buckle stitching, and the fold where the leather turns. Reins: the bit ends, the stitching or the stud fastenings, and the join at the buckle. Weekly because leather and thread fail progressively at the same few points and the lesson string uses the same tack every day, so a week gives you several looks at a stitch line before it goes rather than one look after. Anything doubtful comes out of the rotation and gets recorded as out of service, not put back for one more lesson. Part of the Telure Standard: the manufacturer's manual governs all equipment intervals.

Arena footing depth and surface walk

Walk each arena on foot after it has been dragged and before it is ridden. Push a probe or a boot heel in at the same points every time: both gate ends, all four corners, the track on each long side, the center line and the quarter lines. You are looking for depth that has moved rather than a number that matters on its own, plus the things a drag hides: a hard pan under loose top, a hollow on the track where horses turn, a bare or greasy patch at the gate, standing water, and anything foreign that has worked up to the surface. Weekly because footing moves with every lesson and every drag, and the gate end thins on the scale of days. Record the readings, not an impression, so the trend is readable a season later. Part of the Telure Standard: the manufacturer's manual governs all equipment intervals.

Barn aisle, stall and hazard walk

Walk the aisle and open every stall. Stall by stall: latches and catches working from outside and not openable from within, no protruding bolt, hinge, nail, screw eye or splintered board anywhere a horse can reach, kick boards sound and fixed, no exposed wiring or bulb without a cage, feed and water fittings secure. Then the aisle itself: crossties and their fastenings, nothing stored where a horse passes, hoses and cords off the floor, footing not slick, doors running on their tracks. Weekly because horses generate these hazards themselves, continuously, by chewing, kicking and leaning, so this is a hazard that renews itself rather than one that wears out. Record the stall the finding is in, not just that a finding exists. Part of the Telure Standard: the manufacturer's manual governs all equipment intervals.

Riding helmet condition, fit and replacement-date check

Every helmet in the lending pool, one at a time and turned over. Outside: cracks, dents, deep scuffs, a soft spot under thumb pressure. Inside: liner intact and not compressed or crumbling, harness webbing unfrayed, buckle closing and holding, the retention system adjusting and staying where it is set. Then read the manufacturer's label and date stamp, record what it says, and compare the replacement date the manufacturer states against the registry. Fit each size on a head, not on a shelf, and confirm the range you are lending covers the riders you actually have. Monthly rather than weekly because shells and harnesses are handled every day but change on the scale of months, and the replacement date is the half that only moves on a calendar. Any helmet that has taken an impact is retired on the spot against the manufacturer's documentation, whatever it looks like. Part of the Telure Standard: the manufacturer's manual governs all equipment intervals.

Fence line and gate walk: paddocks, turnout and arena

Walk every perimeter on foot, on the inside, with the horses off it or at the far end. Posts for rot at the ground line, lean and movement under a shoulder; rails for splits, ends off their nails and a broken run somebody has propped; wire and tape for tension, breaks, sagging and where it has been walked down; electric fence for insulators, grounding and an actual reading at the far corner rather than at the box. Gates: hinges, latch working one-handed, gate hanging square, no gap a leg fits through, no hardware at chest height. Monthly because frost heave, stock leaning and weather all work on the scale of weeks and the failure is not gradual once it starts. Record the run, so a corner that keeps appearing is visible as a pattern rather than as five separate notes. Part of the Telure Standard: the manufacturer's manual governs all equipment intervals.

Mounting block, arena rail and gate furniture check

Everything a rider or a handler puts weight or a hand on that is not the horse. Mounting blocks and ramps: stand on each step and shift your weight, tread surface not polished or slick, no rock at the base, and the ground under it not hollowed out by use. Arena rails, kickboards and letters: fixings tight, no splinter, no bolt or bracket standing proud into the track, nothing at head height for a mounted rider. Gates and their latches worked from horseback height. Grooming bay ties, crossties and their breakaway fittings. Monthly because these are load-bearing objects that loosen with use rather than break, and the base of a mounting block wears a hollow under one foot over weeks. Part of the Telure Standard: the manufacturer's manual governs all equipment intervals.

Hay, bedding and feed storage inspection

Into the hay and feed store with a light. Push a hand or a probe into the stack and feel for heat, and look and smell for damp, mold and dust; check the stack for lean, for bales that have slumped, and for clearance from lights, fittings and any electrical run. Feed room: bins closed and latched against a loose horse, nothing decanted into an unlabeled container, supplements and grain in date, scoops not shared between medicated and plain feed, and evidence of rodents or birds recorded honestly rather than assumed away. Bedding stored dry and away from the same fittings. Monthly because a stack heats over weeks and a rodent problem builds over weeks, both of them silently, and because the store is the one room nobody has reason to walk into daily. Part of the Telure Standard: the manufacturer's manual governs all equipment intervals.

Barn chemical, fuel and medication storage inspection

Inspect the storage and the handling route for everything in the barn that is not feed. Fly sprays, disinfectants, dewormers, poultices and hoof products labeled, closed and in date; medications locked, in date, and separated from anything a horse or a child can reach; sharps container present and not overfull. Fuel and flammables for the tractor, drag and mower in a closed metal fuel container with its cap and vent intact, stored away from the barn's ignition sources, with spill absorbent to hand. Then the people half: safety data sheets current and findable, the eyewash flushed with the flush dated, and the PPE staff are expected to wear stocked and serviceable. Monthly because stock turns over constantly and the shelf drifts back to whatever was quickest, and because a container that lost its label lost it weeks ago. Part of the Telure Standard: the manufacturer's manual governs all equipment intervals.

Horse suitability and lesson rotation review

Horse by horse, standing in front of each one in the aisle rather than at a desk. Hands on the back, withers and girth area for heat, soreness, rubs or a girth gall; feet picked out and looked at, shoes on and clenches down, farrier date read back against the record; teeth and bit fit due date read back the same way; and the horse trotted up in hand on a hard surface if anything in the first three raised a question. Then read the rest of the row back: any out-of-service periods since the last review and the rider levels written against this horse, and record whether what you have just felt under your hands still matches them. Monthly because suitability changes with soundness, workload and condition over weeks rather than days, and because a month of work is long enough to show in a back, a foot or a girth area and short enough to catch before it is a lameness. A horse coming off the string is recorded as off, with a reason and a date, not left as something everybody knows. Part of the Telure Standard: the manufacturer's manual governs all equipment intervals.

Saddle fit and tree condition across the lesson string

Saddle by saddle, and then each saddle on the horse it is actually used on. Off the horse: flex the tree at the points and the cantle for movement or a creak, sight the tree points for symmetry, press the panels for lumps, hollows and uneven flocking, and check the stitching where the panels meet the tree and where the stirrup bars are set. On the horse: clearance at the wither and along the gullet with a rider up, the saddle sitting level rather than tipping, and no bridging or rocking down the panel. Quarterly because a horse's back changes with condition and workload over a season rather than a week, and because a tree fails slowly and silently once it has started. Record which saddle went on which horse, because that pairing is the whole finding. Part of the Telure Standard: the manufacturer's manual governs all equipment intervals.

Trailer, hitch and tow readiness inspection

With the mats up, because everything that matters here is under them. Floor boards or aluminum planking probed from above and looked at from beneath for rot, corrosion and soft spots, especially at the rear and under the mats where urine sits; then mats back down and flat. Divider, butt bar and breast bar fittings, latches and their pins; escape door and rear door catches; interior with no protruding bolt or torn lining; ventilation and lighting. Running gear: tires for tread and for age read off the date code rather than assumed, spare present and inflated, wheel nuts, bearings, brakes and the breakaway battery tested. Coupler, safety chains, jack and every lamp worked with a second person watching. Quarterly because a trailer deteriorates fastest while it is parked and unused, and every one of those failure modes is invisible with the mats down and the doors shut. Part of the Telure Standard: the manufacturer's manual governs all equipment intervals.

Barn fire and evacuation readiness check

Walk the barn as though you were going to have to empty it in the dark. Extinguishers in place at every exit, unobstructed, charged and in date, with somebody on shift able to say where they are; smoke or heat detection and any alarm tested to whatever its documentation says; exits and the route to them clear, doors opening, and aisle lighting working. Halter and lead rope hung at every occupied stall and reachable without entering. The evacuation plan itself: where horses go, who calls, where the muster paddock is, and whether the gate to it opens. Then the ignition half: electrics, heaters, kettles and fans, nothing run off a daisy chain, and no smoking signage where it belongs. Quarterly because readiness decays silently and continuously, and because the only evidence it has decayed is that somebody looked. Part of the Telure Standard: the manufacturer's manual governs all equipment intervals.

Instructor and staff credential review

Person by person through everyone who teaches, leads a ride or works alone with horses: which instructor certification each person holds and its expiry, first aid and CPR currency, safe sport or safeguarding training, background check date, and which of them is cleared to lead a trail ride, to run an arena alone, or to supervise a mounted lesson for beginners. Record the renewal date for each item so it counts down rather than waiting to be noticed, and schedule renewals before anything lapses. Semiannual because renewals cluster at the start and end of a season and a half-yearly pass catches both waves with time to book a course. Telure records what you tell it and when it lapses; it does not issue, verify or endorse anybody's credential. Part of the Telure Standard: the manufacturer's manual governs all equipment intervals.

Full facility, arena and structure inspection (qualified person)

Book a qualified person once a year for the parts of the barn nobody can assess from the aisle: arena base and drainage under the footing, roof structure, trusses and any suspended fitting over an arena, the barn's electrical installation, water and heating, the muck and manure store, and the fence line as a system rather than as a run. Have the arena assessed with the footing material and the base treated as one thing, because a base problem reads as a footing problem for a year before it reads as itself. File the report against this task, record who performed it and the qualification they hold, and open a corrective-action item for every cited deficiency, naming who owns it and when it is due in the item note, so each closure is on the record. Where your own jurisdiction, your landlord or your insurer sets the frequency or the inspector's qualification, that governs. Telure records the inspection; it does not issue, verify or endorse anybody's qualification. Part of the Telure Standard: the manufacturer's manual governs all equipment intervals.