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3.1 Horse Holding Issues

Horse holding in the ACT operates under a dual system of ACT Government horse paddocks, which are managed under a commercial contract, and commercial horse holding facilities. The government paddocks offer basic facilities for holding horses in a paddock situation, with the owners being responsible for their care and maintenance. The commercial facilities offer a range of service levels, extending from paddock agistment, as in the government paddocks, to stabling with full daily care. This spectrum of horse holding services caters for the varying needs and budgets of Canberra's horse owners.

The planning of Canberra to date has been favourable from the viewpoint of facilitating opportunities for horse holding. The total area of government horse paddocks has increased from 361 ha in 1978 and 600 ha in 1982 to the current figure of 1116 ha. In at least some paddocks, however, horse holding is regarded by the ACT Government as a temporary use, pending requirement of the land for higher order uses. As discussed further in Section 3.2 of the Phase 1 report, several existing horse paddocks are identified for potential development at some stage in the future.

A similar situation can arise also with respect to commercial horse holding properties, both in the ACT and across the border in New South Wales. Land use pressures in some parts of the ACT could result in some rural leases currently used for horse holding being withdrawn in the future. The use of land in nearby New South Wales for horse holding is likely to be influenced by economic factors associated with development patterns, and could increase or decline according to location.

It is clearly in the long term interests of Canberra's equestrians to ensure that an adequate amount and choice of horse holding facilities is maintained close to Canberra, even if the location of these facilities changes from time to time. This is the most fundamental issue with respect to the strategic planning of horse holding facilities.

It is important also in both the short and long term for facilities to be managed to an adequate standard from the viewpoint of horse welfare, horse owner satisfaction and environmental sustainability. It is desirable for the ACTEA to be able to represent the interests of any horse owners who are concerned about such matters, if it feels that the concerns are warranted. This requires the ACTEA to have both an effective liaison mechanism with the owners or managers of horse holding facilities, and a structure which clearly identifies it as being able to represent all affected horse owners.

Based on past experience, such concerns appear more likely to arise with government horse paddocks than with commercial facilities. In the latter case, there tends to be a closer relationship between the horse owner and the operator of the facility. Furthermore, dissatisfied horse owners can take their custom elsewhere and unsustainable management would have undesirable economic effects for the operator by lowering the value of the property. These are strong incentives to adopt a responsible approach to operating these facilities.

The government horse paddocks on the other hand are managed on a short-term (three-year) contract basis which does not offer the manager a long-term incentive to invest management resources in the paddocks. The management difficulties are compounded by having seventeen separate paddock complexes spread throughout the Canberra area with no resident managers. This contrasts with the commercial situation where horses are kept within a single site, commonly with the manager residing on the property.

A further limitation on the management of the government horse paddocks is that there is a cap on the fees which the manager can charge horse owners. This can limit the level of management effort if the management operation is to be commercially viable, and can potentially place commercial operators at a competitive disadvantage.

The last point is of concern to some commercial operators and is important if the future of horse holding in the ACT is to be addressed holistically. Effective liaison between the commercial operators and the ACTEA is desirable for such concerns to be appreciated more widely within the equestrian community. The existing associate membership provisions of the ACTEA offer such an opportunity, but have been taken up by only a small number of commercial operators.

3.2 Horse Holding Objectives

The following objectives are proposed for horse holding facilities:

3.3 Horse Holding Strategy

The ACTEA is not in a position to take direct action to achieve the above objective for horse holding facilities. Rather, its future strategy should be based on successful partnerships with the ACT Government, the managers of government horse paddocks and the owners and managers of commercial horse holding facilities within and immediately outside the ACT.

The main elements of the ACTEA strategy for horse holding facilities are as follows:

1. In order to achieve wider representation of all horse owners keeping horses in ACT Government horse paddocks, the ACTEA will amend its operation to make horse paddock groups individually or collectively eligible for membership, and will encourage membership by those groups.
2. In order to achieve more effective dialogue with the operators of commercial horse holding facilities, the ACTEA will encourage those operators to become Associate Members.
3. The ACTEA will seek more effective dialogue with both the managers of the government horse paddocks and representatives of the ACT Government who have responsibilities in overseeing horse paddock management. Such dialogue is desirable for ensuring that any concerns that individual horse owners wish to raise or proposals which they seek to put forward are presented with respect to the wider equestrian context, and reflect an understanding of the perspective of the horse paddock managers and the ACT Government.
4. The ACTEA will seek more effective dialogue with the ACT Government in relation to planning and development proposals which may affect existing government horse paddocks or commercial horse holding facilities or may provide the opportunity for establishing new horse paddocks.

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