Bachelor Thesis - Christina Kuenen - Hufpfleger

5. DISCUSSION
The results of this research are compared and discussed with the existing literature within the following
chapter. Further limitations and difficulties as well as the research method of the study are discussed.
5.1 Hoof Treatment and Education
The missing regulation in alternative hoof treatment is a common problem in many countries (EFFA, 2010).
In Germany the government tried to solve the problem with the development of a new farriery legislation.
The effort to develop a certain standard within the hoof treatment industry through the new farriery law and
its regulations can be described in the context of the change in adult further education as strategy of
continued existence keeping (“Bestandserhaltungsstrategie”) according to Kil and Schlutz (2006). This
means that the responsible people tried to develop the further education to set certain standards and develop
the client orientation within an existing frame. This did not work out due to the resistance of alternative
education institutes and hoof treatment practitioners.
The satisfaction of the participants in terms of the farriery legislation is low to medium, therefore the need
and potential can be assumed to be high. It is doubtful if a regulation which limits the variation in the hoof
treatment sector is a profit for the animal. Furthermore the new legislation in hoof treatment is mentioned as
a problem. The combination of all educations in hoof treatment seems to be difficult as already expected due
to the constitutional claim in 2006 (BVG, 2006). The differences between the target groups are significant in
answering this question. The traditional group prefers a combination, whereas the alternatives would like to
keep the variation in education. The variety in the sector and the specialisation of different practitioners is the
most often mentioned strength within both studies. Therefore other possibilities of regulation have to be
taken into account. Another option could be to introduce regulations only for alternative hoof treatment
practitioners. The high scores of importance in developing new regulations let assume a high potential for
improvement.
The development programme for further education of the BMBF (2008) includes the missions that further
education should become more pervious and better interlocked. This should be realised in the hoof treatment
sector. Further they want to lower the entrance limitations for further education. In contrast to this the
changes in the new farriery law raise the entrance limitations. This is also the reason for the difficulty in
finding new talents what lowers the level of expectations for the future in TE and TP.
The different educations in the alternative hoof treatment sector are not standardized. The differ recognizable
in length, organisation, examination and fee. This takes the risk of lacking basic knowledge as mentioned as
a problem by 48.1 % of the experts and 33.3 % of the practitioners. Further the unclear picture and insecurity
of horse owners can be derived from this. This is also an often mentioned problem. The most important item
according to the interviewees is the regulation of an examination. Whereas the survey detected the highest
importance in the development of quality standards. Using the strategy of continued existence according to
Kil and Schlutz (2006) the alternative education could be developed through one of the following items:
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−
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examination before begin of education
final exam at end of education
exam before being allowed to start up business.
This would prevent lacking basic knowledge and clear the picture for the horse owner. The examination
before the begin of an education would be comparable to the introductory and preparation course of the
certificated education (BRD, 2006a). A final exam for farriers has already been introduced in 1940 in
Germany. From then on everyone who shod horses had to take an examination (Reichsgesetzblatt, 1941;
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