Has anyone ever worked for a dealer?

_MizElz_

_MizElz_

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Hey guys,

I'm going through a creative phase at the moment (can tell it's the Easter holidays, lol!) and am trying to do a bit of research for my latest literary project.

I'd really like to hear from anyone who has ever worked in a dealer's yard - experiences both good and bad. If possible, I'd like some kind of idea about how you got the job, whether it was everything you'd thought it would be, what the pay was like, how much riding you had to do, how the dealer/boss actually treated you, how many hours you had to work, how you felt about the horses, etc etc. Literally, anything you can tell me really! I'd be most grateful - and please feel free to PM if you prefer.

Many thanks! :)
 
I went on a weeks trial for one but didn't take the job. It was just mucking out and riding several horses / ponies. The horses were absolutely bonkers, not surprising as he fed them bucketfuls of chicken-feed!!!!
 
I am a dealer. Oh the tales I could tell... perhaps I'd be best saving them for my own book though? Feel free to PM if you dare.
 
pinklilly said:
I went on a weeks trial for one but didn't take the job. It was just mucking out and riding several horses / ponies. The horses were absolutely bonkers, not surprising as he fed them bucketfuls of chicken-feed!!!!
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Thank you for your reply! :)
Just out of interest, what job did you go into after turning down the dealer's yard? Did you still work with horses?
 
I did some work for a dealer, not full time employment I did ad hock riding duties as and when I was needed, he would buy horses from various places and then I would go and ride them to see what they were like, they would then spend around a month with him (a lot weren't in the best condition when he got them) being worked and got into condition then they would be advertised and I would ride them for clients.

He didn't buy nutters and try to pass them off as saints and he always had the vet out to check over the horses he bought. He struck gold with a couple - bought them for next to nothing and sold them on for good money but that didn't happen with them all!

He did get the occasional nutter horse come through, if it was worth his while to spend time re-schooling then he did, if not then they went to the nearest unwarranted sale.

While they were with him all the horses were well treated and cared for from what I saw, bear in mind that it wasn't a full time job for me.
 
I worked for a dealer for quite a few months before, i went to uni, in most of my summer breaks and then again after uni whilst looking for a permanent office job. Worked hard for very little pay but learnt a lot about 'stickability'!! and picked up a couple of bargains along the way too which i still have now(oops!) :D

A usual day involved mucking out all 20 odd boxes, feeding and watering those in, checking all in the fields, cleaning and preparing any for sales, breaking and riding any 'newbies', bedding down for the night... I was on my own most days as the dealer was off at sales a lot, and had 30-40 horses to look after... very hard work but I learnt a lot by riding and handling a lot of very different, often tricky/unbroken horses.

I'd love to go back and work for him again but couldn't afford to :(
 
montysmum1 said:
I worked for a dealer for quite a few months before, i went to uni, in most of my summer breaks and then again after uni whilst looking for a permanent office job. Worked hard for very little pay but learnt a lot about 'stickability'!! and picked up a couple of bargains along the way too which i still have now(oops!) :D

A usual day involved mucking out all 20 odd boxes, feeding and watering those in, checking all in the fields, cleaning and preparing any for sales, breaking and riding any 'newbies', bedding down for the night... I was on my own most days as the dealer was off at sales a lot, and had 30-40 horses to look after... very hard work but I learnt a lot by riding and handling a lot of very different, often tricky/unbroken horses.

I'd love to go back and work for him again but couldn't afford to :(
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You see I'd love to do a job like that, but again, it's not worth leaving the office job I do because they pay wouldn't be as much (even though my wage is pretty dam poor anyway).
 
I worked for a dealer many years ago.

Mucked out prob 15 boxes a day, rode 6 - 7 a day.
Lots of horses came in to be sold or for backing/reschooling. It was a stud as well so in the summer very very busy.

Most of the horses were purchased in the rough and given a few weeks polishing. Quite a few really nice horses that never gave us a moment's trouble were sold and came straight back having misbehaved with their new owners. One came back 3 times and he was an absolute angel, I never could work out what the problem was. He went on to be an international dressage star - he really was the nicest horse.

Employer was as hard as nails, I don't think there was a horse she couldn't ride. She was straight though, never tried to pass off an unsuitable horse. A couple of times a straightened out horse reverted to old behaviour and had to come back for futher education.

When horses came in for backing, we rode them a few times on the lunge, then off the lunge and then straight out on our own hacking and wobbling round this small block (traffic as well :eek:). Talk about a crash course :o.

It was a good time but quite hard if you got attached to a horse as they came and went so quickly.

I left as I had passed my AI (training on my day off!) and I wanted to teach. Needless to say, I work in IT now :o
 
This was how I mis-spent my youth. I worked for SJ dealers at weekends and holidays. They were often away competing so we had the run of the yard. 2 of us would muck out 25 horses and then ride 6 each. The horses were a real mix some were lovely and some had issues. I learnt so much and will still happily get on anything. My pay was a lesson a week so basically nothing, but I didnt't care.
I saw how much horses can change through correct handling, but also saw the "darker" side of SJ, though they did try to shield me from it as much as possible. Unfortunately you can't hide the scars on some of the older horses that came to us. There were only 2 horses that I was really sad when they left, but I brought 1 of them a year later.
I really do wish I could go back and do it all again! I was so lucky and got to ride some amazing horses at a very young age.
Hope that helps and sorry if it sounds a bit gushy
 
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