Going Rate for Part-time Groom

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Hollyhocks1983

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Hi All,

I am interested in getting some part time weekend groom work. This would mainly be mucking out, turning out and putting on walker etc? What is the going rate people charge for this or pay people?? Thanks very much. A
 
I get paid £30 and I have about 5 hours to do it. That's muck out 10, pick out feet, put all on the walker, change rugs if needed, occasionally turn out, do morning haynets, give lunch time hay, get pm nets ready, sweep the yard and skip out before I leave. I'm 23 and in the South East. Very informal arrangement that fits around my office work. I love it! Doesn't feel like work as learn some incredible things and boss is lovely. Actually look forward to it one day a week!
 
We have worked out we could employ a full time stable jockey in the UK.

We are in France and pay 10 euros/hour which is above minimum wage, but our lads mostly ride and love it as they have lots of horses.

The rub is in France employers social charges add 45% to the wage bill, which is why according to the Chancellor, Yorkshire created more jobs last year, than the whole of France. AND we also pay social charges on our UK Pensions.
 
I did it for £10 per hour. You need to work out minimum wage (based on your age), plus commuting costs, plus a % for holiday pay (as you won't get any otherwise), plus you really need to have personal insurance (in case of injury to you or a long-term illness, as you won't get paid if this happens), plus it is essential to have insurance cover in case anything happens to one of the horses you touch (as otherwise you could get sued for everything you have), plus third party liability (which doesn't always cover horse injuries, but should cover property damage). Note that one severe injury can ruin your ability to work for the rest of your life, and one serious claim against you can wipe out your finances.

You will also need to register with the HMRC as self-employed and pay National Insurance contributions (not much, but it still comes out of your wage). Try not to skip this step, as i have heard that they can be unforgiving!

Don't do it on the basis of a casual arrangement or agreement among friends etc. It hasn't happened to me, but I have heard of a number of instances where this fell through as soon as something happened to either the groom or the horse gets hurt. Also, if you work for less than minimum wage it just perpetuates the industry underpaying people.
Sorry to sound negative, and i haven't really had bad experiences myself (except one place where they wouldn't do contracts and were massively understaffed - only stayed a few weeks) but i have usually made sure that all bases were covered where possible. Remember that you need to protect yourself, as others won't always.
 
I pay a local freelance £8.00 per hour. I think she usually adds something on top for weekend work, and extra mileage but since I am so close and on her way home I suspect she doesn't for me.
 
£10 per hour, if they are doing a few hours no travel , if they come in for one hour ( say in the evening ) I pay fuel if they have travelled a distance .
 
I have just checked, it is £8.00 per hour for weekdays and £10 for weekends.

That is for a self-employed person who does no other work, she is very experienced and reliable, so I guess people are happy to pay this for someone so good. She also does clipping with her own equipment and will plait and turn out if required.
 
I think £7.50-£10 per hour is reasonable. I happily work for £7.50 if there are regular hours and it's in a good location travel wise. I do less hours slightly further away and get £10 per hour. If I just go for a odd hour or even less it's £10-£15 as any less is just not worth the drive
 
I Offered someone £8.50 per hour for regular part time work but they let me down at the last minute saying they were looking for £5 per stable, all i wanted done was muck out, no horse handling yes for mucking out 4 stables a job that takes less than 30 mins expected £20 per hour with a commute of 5 minutes, i declined their services
 
Marydoll said:
I Offered someone £8.50 per hour for regular part time work but they let me down at the last minute saying they were looking for £5 per stable, all i wanted done was muck out, no horse handling yes for mucking out 4 stables a job that takes less than 30 mins expected £20 per hour with a commute of 5 minutes, i declined their services
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I think it depends on bedding and how the owner wants it done, so i too wouldn't pay this per box in these circumstances. However, I did 2x aubiose stables that took 20 minutes per stable to do properly, plus 20 minutes for filling water buckets and haynets, turning out horses and tidying up i.e. 1 hour for £10 (so £5 per box essentially), but my landlady has straw and my own horse can take about 10 minutes for the bed, and there is an automatic waterer and a hayrack so very quick.
 
Just reading this thread and shocked about how much people are getting paid! I worked as a full time groom about 8 years ago, I was 24ish...I worked a 10 hour day for 5 days a week and got paid £100 a week! I didn't have experience as a professional groom but still.
 
Velvet82 said:
Just reading this thread and shocked about how much people are getting paid! I worked as a full time groom about 8 years ago, I was 24ish...I worked a 10 hour day for 5 days a week and got paid £100 a week! I didn't have experience as a professional groom but still.
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That is the problem with the industry! Many people will work for less than minimum wage because they like horses, but really they should report the employers for exploitation if something like this happens. Of course, people will be on less than minimum wage if they are on an apprenticeship, but then they get guaranteed training too.
And of course, those that run their own businesses can end up working for much longer hours for virtually nothing, but at least that is not illegal! :)
 
Velvet82 said:
Just reading this thread and shocked about how much people are getting paid! I worked as a full time groom about 8 years ago, I was 24ish...I worked a 10 hour day for 5 days a week and got paid £100 a week! I didn't have experience as a professional groom but still.
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Conversely, I am shocked at how little people are paying. I've done the freelance groom thing (8 years ago). Bearing in mind I have my stages, am an ex EVN, was insured and experienced and not 16 I couldn't work for less than £10ph and that was my yard rate whereby I got at least 4 hours a day. Private owners paid more (from £12-15ph) and I got it too. Lost count of the times I was called up by someone urgently because the person who offered to work for £3-6ph failed to show up or was completely clueless. Sick pay, holiday pay and every hour you are not working has to be accounted for when you are self employed. Heck, I was paying the guy who used to poo-pick for me recently £13 per hour-my time is worth more than that so I saw it as a good deal. Many horse people pay people as much/more to walk their dogs so I am unsure why the begrudge paying grooms similarly.
 
Wkiki: I did indeed do the job because I love horses. And because I wanted to learn. I was so willing and enjoyed the job, but I felt the yard owner took advantage. There were so many things she could have got me involved with, but didn't. Shame really.
MotherOfChickens; exactly! I don't know why they begrudge it either!
 
We pay our part time groom £10 an hour, and give her some extra petrol money too so it levels out around £15 an hour when you add it up.
 
Depends entirely on how the position is advertised too, I worked as a Groom for years. Started quite young doing it for free on weekends, after school and school holidays which gave me a huge amount of experience.
My first proper Grooms job was working at my Local Agricultural college where I actually had rights and benefits and paid more than minimum wage for my age! I only did weekends and Monday mornings as was in full time education but was a really good job and I loved every second of it!
I have worked for dealers ( Worked out my wages equaled £3.30 /hour) then went into a Working pupil position where the least said about that experience the better :( WE worked on average for 50p an hour. My Last grooms job I was paid £8/hour and I was there 3-4 hours in the morning to muck out and prep horses for shows/hunting/ridden work eyc and was paid overtime if they needed me longer and I got some nice little freebies from sponsors too :) That was good job!
I no longer work as a groom, I miss the work terribly but I have an office job now which means I work Monday to Friday, am paid well and have weekends free for my horses and family. Id love to go back to working with horses but sadly it just doesnt pay enough to run a house, 2 horses and support a family.
 
I've done this on and off over the years been paid everything from 'bales of hay' to £12 per hour. I think most people will be happy to pay you £10 per hour, horses can be dangerous after all and they are paying you for expertise/skill.
(I wouldn't do it for min wage anymore or silly exchanges!)
 
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