While domesticated, well-trained horses are usually obedient, docile, and affectionate, it is critical for all practitioners and clients to understand that working with horses always involves some degree of risk. As prey animals, their minds are instinctively safety-focused — meaning they can be quick to act and sometimes unpredictable by nature.

All those working with horses, particularly in the professional context of Equine Facilitated Interactions, must know how to act in a way that ensures safety for themselves, their clients, and the horses at all times.

The Practitioner's Duty of Care

Creating a safe environment requires both common sense and a comprehensive understanding of horses. Practitioners will often be working with service users who have little or no experience of being around these powerful animals. As such, practitioners are obliged to create and hold a safe space for all parties — their clients, themselves, and the horses.

This requires a solid grounding in equine behaviour, a clear recognition of the individual characters of the horses they work with, and a complete understanding of the social dynamics of the herd.

Client Safety Briefing and Consent

Before any interaction, clients and/or service users must be provided with a clear written (or illustrated) outline detailing the key safety aspects of being around horses. This document must be confirmed as understood by the client's signature — or, where appropriate, signed on their behalf by a guardian or carer.

In addition to this written guide, a verbal safety briefing must be given at the start of every session. This briefing should include recognition that horses can be highly responsive to a person's energy and emotions, and should emphasise the importance of clients being aware of how they are feeling.

Practitioner Self-Management and Awareness

Given the sensitivity of horses to human emotional states, we strongly recommend that practitioners develop and maintain routines that help them manage their own energy when working with horses. Personal strategies such as mindfulness exercises, meditation, or grounding routines before a session can be highly effective in helping to create a calm and safe environment for both the client and the horse.

Required Clothing and Equipment

Sensible and appropriate clothing and footwear must always be worn around horses by practitioners and clients alike.

• Footwear: Hard-soled, fully enclosed shoes or boots must be worn with socks to adequately protect the feet.
• Trousers: Long trousers are required to protect the legs.
• Gloves: Gloves are recommended when leading horses on a rope.
• Headwear: Even though Equine Facilitated Interactions are generally ground-based, a protective riding hat meeting current safety standards should always be made available for clients to wear if they choose.
• Jewellery: The wearing of jewellery should be avoided. Earrings, piercings, and finger rings are easily caught and can cause significant injury.
• Pockets and food: People should have empty pockets and must not carry food while interacting with horses.

On-Site and Yard Safety

On all yards where sessions are conducted, both human and equine first aid kits must be readily available, fully stocked, and their locations clearly marked. Practitioners must either be trained first aiders themselves, or work in locations where a nominated, trained first aider is present and on-site at all times when clients are present.

All visitors to the site must be made familiar with general hazards, on-site risks, and official accident procedures, and must know what action to take in the event of an emergency.

Policy on Alcohol, Drugs, and Stimulants

Horses are highly sensitive to human energetic and emotional states. For this reason, the consumption of alcohol or recreational drugs must be avoided at all times when around horses. Practitioners are strongly encouraged to implement and enforce a zero-tolerance policy in this regard.

Clients should also be encouraged to declare whether they are taking any prescription medication — particularly those of a mood-altering nature — so that risks can be appropriately managed. While everyday stimulants such as caffeine are part of daily life, their consumption should be kept to a minimum immediately before engaging in equine interactions.

Commitment to Ethical Horse Care

All registrants are expected to commit to the Register's Ethical Treatment of Horses policy. These ethical standards are built on a holistic framework known as the "five domains" — focusing not just on the physical wellbeing of horses, but also on their emotional and mental states.

This foundational commitment to comprehensive animal wellbeing