Currently Accredited sites with HSA
Accredited Sites
Attunga Camps, Canyonleigh NSW School and holiday camps for youth
Burnelee Excursions on Horseback, NSW Trail riding on their property near Canberra
Centennial Glen Stables, NSW Trail Riding on their property in Blue Mountains
Jesters Flat, Margaret River WA Trail Riding and Tours
Kiah Park, near Gympie QLD School and holiday camps for youth
Mill Valley Ranch Youth Camp, Tynong North Victoria Youth camp for schools and holidays
Teen Ranch, Cobbitty NSW School and holiday camps for youth
Thredbo Valley Horse Riding Trail Riding and pony rides
Tunnel Ridge Ranch, Landsborough QLD School and holiday camps for youth
TAFE NSW Taree Campus
TAFE NSW Scone Campus
Wieland Adventures, Gelantipy, VIC Lessons and clinics, training and Trail Riding
Wirraway Homestead Youth Centre, Strathalbyn SA School and holiday camps for youth
There are many more sites who are working on their site accreditation and are part of the way through the process. They will appear on our lists once they have completed all components of the requirements.
Horse Safety Australia Site accreditation is available to anyone with a horse facility: whether a riding school, trail riding facility, agistment centre, training facility or public space provided for horse riding activities.
Enquiries: Contact us here
Site accreditation documents are in self-assessment format and then the site audit is available for a fee. It involves a consultant visiting your site and assessing all aspect of its safety. The areas covered include:
* Qualifications,
* Age and experience of instructors,
* Provision of helmets,
* First aid,
* Construction of facilities
* Suitability of horses and equipment for purpose
* If trails are used: suitability and accessibility in emergencies
* Humane treatment and appropriate care of horses
* Appropriate ratios
* Risk management procedures (especially for beginner riders) and WHS requirements
* and more
Cost for a site audit is $990 plus staff travel, and renewal occurs every 3 years and costs $660 (normally a desk audit every second time). A certificate and sign are provided for sites once all requirements are satisfactorily met. The consultant who accredits your site has access to provide you with templates to help you meet the requirements and can work with you to help you solve any compliance problems you might have.
Site accreditation must be reviewed and re-issued when there is a change of ownership/management of the site. If the procedures, site and staffing are fundamentally unchanged the cost for this will be $660; or if there are major changes in place from the initial accreditation process (eg a trail riding business which adds in holiday educational riding programs) this may require a full re assessment process at the cost of $990.
General Links
- Adventure Activity Standards (national)
Scroll down to horse trail riding PDF - Equiculture
- Horse SA
- Horse Talk TV
- Horse Welfare and Wellbing Toolkit
- Safe Work Australia's Guide to managing risks when new and inexperienced persons interact with horses
Relevant to working with those new to horses - Safe Work NSW Code of Practice
For working with those new to horses in a workplace - South Australian Trails
Endorsed Products
- Breakaway Stirrups
Avoid the risk of being dragged in a fall - Rescue Swag
Great equipment (saddle pack) for first aid to carry with you on trails and/ or keep in your tack shed
Accredited Sites
- Academy of Dressage, Bridgewater SA
Horse riding instruction: classical dressage - Attunga Camps: Canyonleigh NSW
School and holiday camps for youth - Hillcrest Christian College, Clyde Victoria
Equestrian program integrated in the school curriculum - Kiah Park, near Gympie QLD
School and holiday camps for youth - Mill Valley Ranch Youth Camp, Tynong North Victoria
Youth camp for schools and holidays - Teen Ranch, Cobbitty NSW
School and holiday camps for youth - Wirraway Homestead Youth Centre, Strathalbyn SA
School and holiday camps for youth
Started in the accreditation process
For Australian site accreditation – all types of sites (not NSW): HSA site-accreditation- rev120
NSW has extra requirements due to the SafeWork NSW Code of Practice, so businesses in this state need this version: HSA site-accreditation- highlighted NSW -2020
Our site accreditation includes the requirements contained in Safe Work Australia’s ‘Guide to managing risks when new and inexperienced people interact with horses’. Additionally, the Adventure Activity Standards has a section on Trail Riding and their requirements are also covered in the HSA processes, and for those in NSW, the Safe Work NSW code of managing risks in horse activities in the workplace is included. We also consider the Australian Horse Industry Council’s code of practice for horse activities, HorseSafe and some extra areas mainly covering horse welfare have been taken from Horse Safety Australia’s own Standards and Animal Welfare legislation and guides.
Those sites which have achieved full accreditation should be congratulated for their efforts. We hope in the future that many sites will see the merit in undertaking this process as an external audit of their operations.