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The following check lists have been compiled to help the horse owner decide
whether to choose one particular agistment establishment over another, or one
particular paddock over another. Within each category except the last ('Other
Considerations'), quality decreases down the list. Think seriously about whether
you want to put your horse into a paddock which has any of the items marked by
an asterix (").
Fencing:
 | plain strand wire fencing or post and rail with electric offset or
incorporated within the fence; |
| post and rail fencing; plain strand wire with no electric; |
| sheep fencing (wire mesh); |
| barbed wire, well strained; |
| ringlock, well strained; |
| * any type of fencing that hangs loose, particularly barbed wire or
ringlock. |
Water:
| permanent large round concrete self-filling troughs or large permanent
dams; |
| improvised troughs (bathtubs, etc) that need to be checked and filled
regularly; |
| * temporary containers (plastic rubbish bins, etc) that you will have to
fill daily, either with a hose or by carrying buckets, and clean regularly. |
Shelter:
| a large paddock with plenty of trees and gullies, and shelter from
prevailing winds; |
| a small paddock with several large trees or a windbreak of some sort; |
| *a paddock of any size with no shade or shelter. |
Pasture:
| pasture improved species with a good cover of phalaris or rye (for horses
other than ponies); |
| native pasture, preferably wallaby grass (for ponies); |
| pasture with some non-noxious weeds; |
| pasture with some noxious weeds; |
| * pasture with large areas of Patterson's Curse, Flatweed, Saffron
Thistle, Nightshade, or Bathurst Burr. |
Rubbish:
| totally clean paddock (with no stumps, logs, rabbit holes, rubbish, etc); |
| paddock with some natural obstacles, such as stumps and logs; |
| paddock with some natural obstacles and some farm debris (the occasional
old fence post or abandoned building); |
| * paddock with lots of obstacles and rubbish (abandoned fencing materials,
rolls of old wire, sheets of galvanized iron, building materials, etc). |
Other Considerations:
| is there an owner or manager living on the property; |
| is someone present on the property all day; |
| is there access to a phone in emergencies; |
| are the owners knowledgeable about horses (for example, do they own horses
and ride themselves); |
| do the owners care about the management of the property (for example, do
they have a farm management plan, do they belong to a Landcare group); |
| are there facilities for riding and handling horses (such as feeding
yards, a round yard, arenas or schooling areas, washing blocks); |
| are there facilities for people on the property (such as a toilet and
shelter in very hot or cold weather); |
| are there other compatible people to ride with; |
| are there extensive areas to ride in; |
| is there somewhere safe to park your car, away from feeding horses. |
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