If you've looked at my list of qualifications and certificates. You may have seen a Groom Clean certificate. This isn't quite what it sounds like; it's not grooming your horse to perfection (though I am rather good at grooming and turning out for a show). It's actually about keeping equestrian sports clean and, in turn, the yard.

For example, if you compete, do you know which substances are prohibited under the rules of your governing body regarding your discipline? This includes not only the usual drugs such as sedatives and Bute/Dandon but also other compounds that may be present in your horse's feed or supplement or even in their field. When you hear of cases of doping in the equine world, it is often assumed that it is deliberate. However, it is quite often accidental.

This means keeping a record of your horse's medication and feed, including batch numbers, while keeping buckets and bins clean. (It is often better to store your feed in the bag in your feed bin to make it quicker and easier to clean out). Keep stables and paddocks clean and only put horses into clean fields and stables, especially when travelling. It is essential that any rider competing under rules, ensures that their feed has an endorsement from the Universal Feed Assurance Scheme (UFAS) and the Beta NOPS (Naturally Occurring Prohibited Substance).

Did you know that your horse could get a positive dope test if your dog, on medication, goes to the toilet in your horse's stable? Speaking of our canine friends, most people know it's not a good idea to let them eat horse poo, especially if that horse is on medication or has recently been wormed.

On from that, how often do your horse's water buckets, drinkers, feed buckets and feed bins/utensils get washed? Is it as often as your own plates and forks? if not, why not?

What about saddle pads? Do they at least get a brush off after each use or just get washed when they can stand up on their own? Does each horse have their own saddle pads? Does your horses bit get rinsed after every use, or does it still have some of that grass on it that your horse snatched last year? Although this isn't necessarily part of the Groom Clean topic, it will aid your horse's comfort and could be seen as a welfare issue.

What about those of you with multiple horses, how do you limit contamination? Do your horses have their own feed buckets? haynets? utensils?

Once feed is prepared, if you stack the bucks, then the dirty bottom of one bucket may contaminate another. Suppose the bucket had been placed in some spilt medication powder. That powder could be transferred into the bucket below and fed to a horse that shouldn't receive that medication.

I often get laughed at as all of my horses have their own colour-coded feed buckets, haynets, saddle cloths and even grooming kits. Even if you want to have the same colour haynets or feed buckets, a bit of coloured tape or ribbon is a handy way to identify buckets. This means that if one horse is on painkillers or antibiotics, you know they've only been in that horse's buckets and that that horse has only touched certain haynets.

Using separate feed stirrers and utensils for horses on medication is a good idea.

It is possibly not essential for the everyday owner, but it is likely not a bad habit to get into.