The problem
On the morning check round your hands are full of haynets, buckets and headcollars, so notes get scribbled later or not at all. Writing up a round of 20 horses takes about 20 minutes a day, and a note that never got written, such as a warm leg or a horse off its feed, can go unseen until the owner arrives.
What the AI does
ChatGPT Voice lets you talk hands-free, through earbuds, while you work. Tell it at the start that you're doing a check round and want a line per horse, then say what you see at each stable: eating, droppings, legs, rugs, anything odd. Voice works within a chat, so when you finish the transcript is there, and you ask in text for a table with one row per horse and anything needing action at the top. You copy it into the yard diary or app and tell owners as you normally would. Voice is on every plan; Go (about $9£7€8A$13C$13 a month) gives 3 hours of Live voice in a rolling 24 hours.
A worked example
A 20-horse livery yard in Wiltshire does a check round at 7am every day. The yard manager talks it through to ChatGPT through earbuds, then pastes the table into the yard's app.
Before
About 20 minutes a day writing up the check round
After
About 5 minutes a day checking and pasting the table
What it's worth
About $150£113€134A$217C$212 a month in time saved, against about $9£7€8A$13C$13 for ChatGPT Go. Write-ups drop by 15 minutes a day, 105 minutes a week times 4.3 is about 7.5 hours a month, at an assumed $20£15€18A$29C$28 an hour.
How to set it up
- Choose ChatGPT Go (€8, about $9£7€8A$13C$13 a month) so a daily round doesn't hit Free's voice limits.
- Make one chat a day called 'Check round' and say at the start: 'I'm doing a yard check round. I'll name each horse, then what I see. Ask me if I skip legs, feed or water.'
- Walk the round talking through earbuds, horse by horse.
- End the call and type: 'Make a table with one row per horse, and list anything needing action at the top.'
- Check it, paste it into the yard diary or app, and contact owners or the vet about anything abnormal in your usual way.
What goes wrong
- It isn't a vet. It records what you say; anything that worries you goes to the owner or the vet straight away, not into a log for later.
- OpenAI says voice transcripts are not word-for-word records, and wind and machinery make mishearing more likely. Check every horse's line, especially left and right.
- Free voice is limited and can cut out part way round.
- Keep owners' names and phone numbers out of it. Horses' names are enough.