A folder of photocopies nobody checks
Your livery agreement says horses must have up to date vaccinations and follow the yard worming programme. When horses arrive, you take a photocopy of the vaccination page and put it in a folder. The yard's worming programme involves worm egg counts at set times of the year, arranged through your vet, with owners paying for their horse's tests.
Months later, a visiting instructor asks whether every horse on the yard is vaccinated, and you realise you have no idea whose dates have passed. The folder is out of date. When the egg count time comes, you chase owners one by one for samples and payment, and several are missed.
Why dates slip on a mixed yard
Every horse on the yard has its own dates, set by its owner and their vet, and those dates move every time something is done. A folder records the position on the day the horse arrived.
- Dates vary horse by horse, so there is no single yard calendar.
- Owners hold the actual vaccination record, not the yard.
- Worm egg count rounds need samples, paperwork and payment from every owner at the same time.
- Results and any follow-up are between the owner and their vet, but the yard needs to know the round is complete.
- Nobody has time to check a folder against every horse regularly.
When the yard cannot answer the question
Yards are increasingly asked about the vaccination status of their horses: by visiting professionals, by competition organisers when horses travel together, and by liveries themselves when an illness is going round the area. A yard that cannot answer quickly looks less organised than it is.
The admin cost is the other side. Chasing owners by text for dates, samples and payment takes evenings. And when records are incomplete, the yard's own rules become hard to apply fairly, because nobody can be sure who is behind.
A due-date record with owner reminders
We build a simple record for the dates your yard asks owners to keep.
- Each horse has a record for the items your yard tracks, for example vaccination dates and participation in the yard's worming programme.
- Owners enter their horse's dates themselves, with a photo of the relevant passport page or the vet's paperwork attached.
- The next due date is the date the owner records from their vet. The system does not work out health intervals; it reminds on the date given.
- Owners get reminders before each recorded date, and again if it passes without an update.
- For worm egg count rounds, owners are sent the round dates, what the yard needs from them and a payment link if you pass on the cost, and the yard sees who has taken part.
- The yard sees an overview: every horse, each item, up to date or awaiting an update, with the date of the last change.
| Item | Owner does | Yard sees |
|---|---|---|
| Vaccination record | Enters dates, uploads the passport page | Last recorded date and next date given |
| Worming programme round | Provides what the yard asks, pays if charged | Who has taken part this round |
| Reminders | Receives them before dates | Who has not updated |
| Changes | Updates after each vet visit | Date and source of each change |
The system records dates and documents. It does not decide whether a horse is protected or what a worming programme should be. Those decisions belong to the owner, the yard's own rules and the vet.
Answering the question in a minute
When someone asks about vaccinations on the yard, you open the overview and see which horses have current recorded dates and which owners have been reminded to update. Owners who need reminding are reminded automatically.
Worm egg count rounds become a list you watch fill up, rather than a round of texts. And new liveries fill in their dates as part of joining, so the record is complete from the start.
Is your health paperwork out of date?
- Vaccination records are photocopies taken when horses arrived.
- You could not quickly list which horses have current recorded dates.
- Worming programme rounds involve chasing every owner individually.
- Owners are rarely reminded before their dates.
- Your yard rules on health records are hard to apply fairly.