Helgstrand focuses on sustainability

The UN has set 17 sustainable development goals, which is meant to set the course towards more sustainable development in the world. At Helgstrand Dressage, we see it as our job to contribute to a more sustainable world, which is why we work determinedly on living up to the standards of the goals set by the UN, in any way we can. It’s a continuous process, which is why we’ll continue to include more of the partial goals in our company.

When referring to Helgstrand Dressage, it is all of our locations, including Helgstrand Dressage, Ny Ravnstrup, Helgstrand Academy, Helgstrand Dressage USA, and Helgstrand Germany.

Sustainable energy

At Helgstrand Dressage we’ve installed air-to-water heat pumps in all the places this source is deemed possible. We strive for prioritizing this sustainable energy source highly in our future constructions and buildings.

When we renovated and build at Ny Ravnstrup, we also installed solar collectors and heat pumps. The already existing solar collectors are know supplemented with five 20 kW air-to-water heat pumps, which warm up the 1.400 square meters of housing and delivers warm water to both the staff and horses.

We’ve started to change all the light bulbs from regular light bulbs to LED light bulbs, again to reduce our resources and think of the environment.

When establishing our new industrial kitchen, starting in spring 2020, we are already working on several energy-saving ideas.

Sustainable cities and communities

This part goal from the UN is dedicated to the developing countries' residential areas and their development towards becoming more independent and sustainable local communities.

This does not relate directly to Helgstrand Dressage and their effort for the local community - but yet again. Helgstrand Dressage has more than approximately 100 employees from the local community and also many local partners. We always try to use local companies for various jobs, such as new constructions, purchasing of straw/hay/horse feed, food suppliers for our canteen, etc.

We are also very aware, that the support of the local people and the area surrounding Helgstrand Dressage has been a part of the company’s success. Helgstrand Dressage gets a lot of support and understanding from the local society for their vision and actions, for example, the big international competition, Equitour Denmark, where many local unions contribute to the conduction of the event.

Climate action

All the manure disposal from Helgstrand Dressage is being reused for biogas. The facility is located close to Helgstrand Dressage and thus making the transport shorter and deduce less CO2. With the extraction of biogas from the manure, the nutrients are better utilized in agriculture and at the same time, the biogas is renewable energy which can be stored in large containers.

There are even more assets of the biogas. Also, the thinner version of slurry and the compressed dry matter from the manure is easier for the plants to absorb and thus makes them grow faster.

The neighbors to farms have often been bothered with the smell of slurry in the spring. But when the manure has been through a biogas facility, the smell is reduced up to 80%.

We only use locally produced bedding (straw) at all our premises, and this minimizes the transport of the straw and therefore also minimizes the outlet of CO2 on transportation. The same applies when we purchase hay or horse feed. From 2019 we’ve been self-sufficient with haylage after purchasing Ny Ravnstrup and therefore minimizing the CO2 outlet since the haylage only will be transported for 5 km at the most.

All our hay and haylage is produced without the use of pesticides.

Health and wellbeing

Health and wellbeing amongst our workers are one of our primary focus points - including both the physical and psychological health and wellbeing.

To increase physical health and wellbeing at the workplace we’ve taken many new actions. These actions are an ongoing process and are constantly developing.

We have a lot of focus on security at Helgstrand Dressage, including preventing injuries/accidents by using the legal signage, marked roads, provided safety footwear, and a helmet is commanded when riding and at veterinarian checks and so forth.

Furthermore, we have started a partnership with a physiotherapist and masseuse, which all our employees may use.

Helgstrand Dressage offers and encourages all their employees to have a health insurance and pension scheme through the company.

The wellbeing goal for Helgstrand Dressage is a workplace, where everyone regardless of their job description thrives and is happy to go to work every day. Therefore we also priorities the social work environment at Helgstrand Dressage. Throughout the year we have numerous social events for the staff, consisting of both those with an educational purpose, team-building exercises, lectures, also purely social events/parties with great food and fun, or a trip to the movies.

Quality education

At Helgstrand Dressage we priorities that our co-workers are educated for the job they are doing. Furthermore, we uphold the statutory requirements of certification of personnel working with machines, tools, etc., as well as educated personnel being work environment representatives, etc.

Since we are a company with various work areas and nationalities, we are - along with our partners - often in charge of the education of our personnel. For example, our new grooms are always paired with an older groom and are educated by them. The same applies to our handymen.

Our stable manager is in cooperation with our partner, Højgård Hestehospital, educated and guided in the care-taking of sick and injured horses, as well as in feeding the horses correctly by consultants from the feeding company, etc.

In addition, we have trained personnel in every aspect of the company. From the economy, master riders, animal keepers with horses as their specialty, agronomists, electricians, and many more.

At Helgstrand Dressage we have many young people employed, who are often hired for a year's time before they start their education.

Helgstrand Dressage has a great responsibility for these young people. They are asked which education they want, we check up on application deadlines for the selected education, evaluation on rejects, etc. For this job, we have a former teacher with extra education in student counseling.

Due to the above, as well as the statutory additions, Helgstrand Dressage was awarded the green smiley from the Danish Working Environment Service in December 2018. This means that Helgstrand Dressage has no unresolved issues with the Danish Working Environment service. The green smiley shows the outside that our work environment is well managed. The green smiley is valid for 3 years.