Graded unit

Planning Stage

JANUARY 24, 2016Jasmin valentine

Introduction

The course I am currently studying this year is the HND Animal Care course at Dundee and Angus College in Arbroath. It is the college’s highest form of education level and as part of its curriculum along with the final grade, it’s the Graded Unit 2 unit.

As part of the Graded unit I am to write up a report based on a case study scenario, the case study being a proposal to create an equine facility for the college that the college may use for their students taking the animal care courses, from the introduction level to the higher national diploma level. Along with this it may also be used by leisure classes for equine.

Bearing in mind, this facility will only cover education of basic equine husbandry and maintenance of their environment, not any form of agility or riding education.

The report is broke down into three parts:

1. Planning Stage2. Development Stage3. Evaluation Stage

Along with these reports, there is also a timeline working alongside it, showing personal deadlines and days where I wish to work on parts of this unit but also any forms of barriers (family, college work, ETC)

Planning Stage

As said in the introduction, this unit has given a case study where you are to create an equine Facility within the college’s Glebe. In this part, I will stage the different ideas and proposals I will need in order to kick-start my development stage. This can be broken down into:

Animal Care and Welfare Issues Facility and business management Resources (human/in-human) Barriers (personal/work related)

Animal Care and Welfare IssuesAs this is a proposal to create an educational facility with horses, obviously the basics must be looked over in regards to the horses. I will have to research and look over the following:

Where Am I able to purchase/adopted horses? How many I may require? The breed of horse suitable for educational purposes? Their basic welfare such as the five freedoms Codes of practice for horses Any form of licencing I require Their basic nutrition requirements

Any equipment required to work with them (bearing in mind, the college’s farm contains some equipment for the animals)

Their suitable living quarters, if they would be suitable to live indoors or outdoors Their basic husbandry, along with their day to day care from humans. Weighing up pros and cons of buying the horses outright or collecting them from a shelter. If collected from a shelter, if there is any issues with then either mentally or physically. If purchased from a certified breeder, how much will the horses alone cost. Vet bills Farrier bills Dentist bills The benefits of having an equine facility and also why it is good to have a reasonable

understanding of horses.

Facility and Business Management Along with the animal side of things, it is also important to think and understand that people; both college students, and possibly leisure course students will be working with the animals. Just as it is important for the animal to be safe and healthy, it is equally important for the students to be safe working with such a large animal. I will have to go over and research the following, in order for peace of mind, along with the student’s safety:

Human Health and Safety Workers within educational rights to work with the college Any form of PPE when working with the animals Any licensing for the students to be under Forms of funding from the students Any chance of Zoonotic diseases between animal and horse Any diseases due to the environment Research people’s opinions on having an equine facility by writing up a customer survey

ResourcesIn order to be able to take this off the ground and being the development stage, it’s always good to figure out what you will need in order to execute this business proposal. There is different categories of resources:

Human Resources – People with knowledge on the animal

In-human Resources

Human ResourcesEssentially this form of resources would be a collection of people within the business of working with horses, from lecturers at the college who have a vast knowledge on their wellbeing, to people who work with nothing but horses.

But this can also go for hiring people as well. Along with the horse care and the time it will take to look after then after hours, when making the shelter it is also important to find the right help in order to build the facility. But as we are on a budget, it may also be worth it to see if the college’s

joiner courses may be able to help in building the facility and also try to put it within another courses curriculum and therefore give more back to the college as a whole, plus it would cost any building fees if the horses require a stable. At the same time, I would also need to research who would be able to fix the drainage and the flooding issues the gleeb suffers from.

Inhuman ResourcesThis form of resources is more inanimate based. When it comes to researching, utilising the internet, books on horse health care, and also books and internet pages with information on the human side of the table; Health and safety, any legislation or licensing for humans, equipment etc. But also the actual tools and items I will need in order to actually build the facility plus deal with the issue of the gleebs drainage system as it is notorious for constant flooding and lack of a substantial drainage system.

Barriers As we know, not everything runs smoothly in life. No plan is accomplished without different factors turning their heads and holding back your initial plans. That’s life, to understand these issues I need to look at different factors within my life at the moment and treat them as a possible barrier that may cause my proposal and my development to not be accomplished as expected or if there is a complication that holds back progress. In my life, this would include:

College work out with graded unit Family life; particularly with my mother Socialising with friends out of college Moving away from home. Volunteering Driving lessons within the next month. Issues with the internet or other communications Caring for my own animals: Cleaning, caring, feeding, grooming etc. If any days I am off sick or ill Holidays Moving preparations

These are all forms of barriers that may cause the development of my equine facility to go underdone or with little progress. Anything that may come up, will be written within a timeline along with any comments and issues with the project, along with how the barrier was dealt with on that day.

Solutions are these aren’t simple. In my case, due to my mother suffering from agoraphobia and other mental issues, much of my time, particularly when I am off is dedicated to also staying home if I am required to go out shopping for the house, along with any doctor’s appointments/meeting. Though my time is dedicated to helping the household, I have a few solutions when dealing with the above barriers:

Planning days where I would research and work on my development stage around any appointments or meetings with doctors.

Setting a single day per totally dedicated to my mum; shopping, support etc. Try to use written resources when at home for research on the animal side of the plan if

there is an issue with internet connection during any form of research with the project. Set aside a few hours a day for tending to the animals, along with every 2 days for daily

cleaning and their own husbandry.

Using the timeline for any other college work required alongside this plan. This would include any assessment revision, report writing or any assessment resists/remediation. Generally Reports would take a full day to write up, so I would be able co-work these with any phone calls I would have to make for my research, but it for the animals or for peoples safety.

For moving preparations, thought I wouldn’t be moving till after I have finished my course, I would need to use my timeline to allocate time for any phone calls, viewings and meetings with the landlord, as this takes a long time. 5 days to a week would be required.

Holidays; Within the Easter holidays, when it comes near the end of the plan, I will have more free time. This can get filled with helping mum, volunteering with vets & guide dogs or family functions. Again time will be allocated on days where I am free for myself via my timeline.

As stated above, all solutions with any barriers stated will be placed in a note with how I was able to overcome the barrier.

Below are the timelines for this project:Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday28th 29th 30th 31st - New

year's eve 1st - New year's day party

2nd - Traveling home

3rd

4th 5th 6th 7th 8th 9th 10th

11th 12th 13th - GU; Timeline; written draft & Resources

14th 15th 16th - GU - Planning stage (Barriers)

17th - GU - Planning Stage; Management

18th - GU - Planning stage; Animal section

19th 20th 21st 22nd 23rd 24th - Submit Planning stage for GU

25th 26th - Diagnostic Test; parasites & GU; planning stage

27th - GU; Planning Stage deadline with timeline

28th - GU; Customer Survey

29th - Finish business plan

30th - SAC; Finish first report

31st - SAC; Work and complete reports 2&3

Notes 26th Jan: had to go shopping after college. Started work on Planning stage moment I arrived home.

27th-30th: Mum Will be out of town.

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday1st 2nd 3rd - SAC; First

draft reports due

4th - GU; Breeds of horses

5th - Work on FM Report

6th: research places for horse collection

7th: Resource research

8th - GU: Write up Animal notes

9th - GU: Research Animal and

10th: Research business

11th: research insurance

12th: Drainage options

13th: Pric ing research

14th: Valentines day

15th: Returning home

16th: Other college work

17th: have 20 completed customer surveys

18th - Write up Development Stage

19th - College work

20th - College work

21st - College work

22nd - College work

23rd - college work

24th - College work

25th - College work

26th - College work

27th - College work

28th - College work

29th - Deadline for Facility management reportNotes Comments: Please note, will be away from 8th to the 15th for a holiday. Also note, will be handing out customer surveys to friends while on holiday