Description

This qualification reflects the role of employees who work under supervision and in known routines but with a defined amount of responsibility and limited judgement.

A stablehand is a person who is employed in a harness or thoroughbred racing stable and whose prime function is to care for the animals and to meet their individual needs of feeding, grooming, exercising and transporting; as well as keeping the environment safe, clean and hygienic. In a harness racing stable the stablehand cares for standardbred horses. In a thoroughbred racing stable the stablehand cares for thoroughbreds. The stablehand works under the direction of a trainer or stable supervisor but is also able to act autonomously in certain situations requiring solutions to a limited range of problems or working as part of a team.
It should be noted that duties involve caring for highly-strung, expensive animals that can easily injure themselves or their handlers. There is therefore a degree of responsibility as well as a duty of care involved in the work. There will be occasions when a stablehand will be in sole charge of an animal in situations where a danger exists to the animal, the handler or the general public, such as unloading from a float or leading on a racecourse.

Competencies attained in the units packaged for this qualification will apply to the harness and thoroughbred codes of the industry. Consequently when performance criteria are applied they will relate to the harness or thoroughbred code and a Certificate II in Racing (Stablehand) must contain a statement as follows:

'This qualification was achieved under the conditions operating in the [insert relevant racing code - harness OR thoroughbred] code of the racing industry.'