Spring may have sprung and the daffodils on display, but for most equestrian businesses this time of year, whether riding school, home yard or stud, April is always about hard graft and elbow grease.

The yard is coming back to life after the long winter months, the foals are on their way and the competitions are beginning. But what does it really take to get the yard back into shape after the colder months?

Andrea Etter and her talented team offered some advice about the annual spring clean at Belmont House Stud, Co Offaly.

Home to a successful international breeding programme and to top-class stallions Radolin, Stetter and O-Piloth amongst others, and with 37 stables, four arenas, a horse-walker, a horse-solarium, round pen, cross-country course and a hay and straw shed to clean, there seemed like no better place to examine the spring-cleaning regime and discover a definitive to-do list we can all make use of.

The Belmont House Stud ‘to do’ list

  • Empty all stables, remove rubber mats

  • Remove all cobwebs

  • Wash down with power hose, preferably hot water, use toilet cleaner to remove the dirt

  • Disinfect stables with Steri 7 or Equisept

  • Clean, wash and disinfect drinkers and feeders, in stables and in fields

  • Paint gates and fencing

  • Repair electric fencing and remove bushes and grass so that the electricity works, check power

  • Harrow fields

  • Roll fields (maybe top fields if needed)

  • Take soil samples and apply fertilizer and lime accordingly

  • Wash and disinfect lorries and horseboxes (disinfect inside only)

  • Check that there are no leaks in water drinkers in the fields

  • Worm dose horses about three days before letting them out (take dung sample first and dose accordingly)

  • Trim horses feet before they are off to grass

  • Cut tail, pull mane

  • Check teeth, especially older horses

  • At Belmont House Stud at this time of year, we loose jump the horses before they go out to see how good they are and if they are fit and healthy, show no lameness

  • Wash and disinfect horse-walker, removing all dirt where possible (high infection risk as walkers are used by multiple horses)

  • Clean out feed bin and feed trolley, wash and disinfect them (rinsing thoroughly)

  • Put salt licks and mineral licks in fields

  • Spray weeds (dock leafs and ragwort)

  • Remove any fallen branches in fields before the grass grows too high and such hazards are hidden

  • Remove any loose stones in fields before grass is too long

  • Get a plastic box ready with all the emergency things for foaling, leave in foaling barn

  • Clean lab thoroughly (where the stocks are), disinfect, paint if needed

  • Wash down the stallions sheaths (should be done with older geldings as well...)

    • Although this is the Belmont House Stud spring regime, it is certainly not only for the spring months, it really gives us an insight into the on-going maintenance programme and hard physical work that goes into the daily upkeep of a successful breeding yard with the highest of standards necessary to produce top-class international horses.

    Andrea Etter hails from Switzerland, where at a young age she began her horse training with her coach, lifelong mentor and - most importantly - father Gerhard Etter. In 1992 she was entrusted with the Irish Etter Horses operations located at Belmont House Stud. Prior to this, Andrea became a qualified saddler and worked and trained with various top trainers, including Daan Nanning in Holland and Katie and Henry Monahan-Prudent in the United States, as well as in the Etter home yard in Switzerland.