Equine Groom Apprentice
(Kent Equine Hospital)

Role Overview – to provide care and welfare to horses admitted to the clinic to ensure the smooth running of KEH and to maintain the yard and site. You may be required to carry out tasks in other teams and occasionally at other sites such as clients’ premises.

• The main aspects of the role include (but are not limited to):
• Introducing yourself to owners/clients as horses are admitted to the clinic.
• Mucking out, taking wheelbarrow loads to muck heap.
• Ensuring adequate bedding for horses and carrying bedding to stables.
• Ensuring horses have adequate clean and fresh water.
• Feeding and administering oral medications to horses under the instruction of the Line Manager.
• Carrying hay or haylage to stables.
• Responsible for general maintenance of the yard and entire site, such as strimming, mowing, weeding, spraying, sweeping, raking and painting stables etc.
• Paddock maintenance including collecting horse droppings.
• Use of any machinery associated with the position (training provided).
• Assisting with intensive care cases in isolation.
• Checking all horses are identified appropriately and replace any missing tags.
• All aspects of handling different horses (including colts/stallions/foals), e.g. movement of horses between boxes, trot-up areas and exam rooms/theatre.
• Holding horses for veterinary inspection/veterinary procedures.
• Trotting up and lunging horses for lameness investigation.
• Ensuring each in-patient is groomed and feet picked out every day.
• Ensuring horses are clean and tidy before they are discharged or communicating this need to the yard/nursing team. You will be required to groom cases, wash legs off, pick feet out at end of day or prior to their discharge.
• Liaise with Nursing Team and vet in charge of case at any time during the horse’s admission/discharge and whilst resident at KEH regarding any concerns you may have to the needs/welfare of that horse.
• You may be asked to apply stable bandages to in-patients, at the discretion of the nurse or vet in charge of the case. Appropriate training will be given.
• Responsible for adhering to Infection Control procedures and ensuring compliance procedures in place, advising owners to follow biosecurity protocols in relation to infection control and COVID.
• Ensure maintenance and management of laboratory equipment, in conjunction with Nursing manager and nursing team.
• Follow post discharge Infection control procedures.
• Steam cleaning stables and ensuring that stables are maintained in clean state, i.e. wipe blood/diarrhoea/medications from walls.
• Completing in-patient feed and care sheets with feed, urination/defaecation/medication information and notify nurse/vet in charge of case with any problems or changes.
• Complete timesheets accurately and submit to Pharmacy Manager.
• Responsible for general cleanliness of the yard areas in which you work and participating in daily and weekly cleaning procedures when appropriate and in conjunction with your colleagues.
• All KEH staff are required to have a flexible approach to their duties and may, at any time, be required to cover absence and illness in closely associated departments across the site, sometimes at short notice including general horse care.

Hours: 

• 40 hours per week worked between the hours of 8am and 5pm Monday – Friday (1-hour unpaid lunchbreak). The role holder will be part of the weekend and bank holiday rota (1 in 2 weekends and 2 weekday night duties per week).
• Other hours may be required in accordance with the business needs.

Future prospects