Those of you that work with horses

[matt_m]

I know this is quite a vague question, but I'm hoping those of you that work with horses (particularly as grooms) could give me a bit of insight into what your day to day job is like?

I'd like to hear the pros and cons and get as realistic an idea as possible as to what working with horses is really like...

I've been offered the chance of a trainee groom position at a dressage yard. I know it's long hours and 6 days a week. I've also received another job offer which is probably far more 'sensible' - less hours, more money and working for my local council.

I'm in a right dilemma and don't know what to do. The yard would pay for my qualifications down the NVQ route rather than BHS's, I don't know how these may help down the line and am not really sure about progression routes with horses or if they even really exist.

Any input is greatly appreciated.

Obviously I'm passionate about horses but it is very difficult to weigh up whether I would enjoy the job enough to warrant accepting it over something else that to me seems more secure.

 

[Laafet]

Seriously I'd take the council job and keep horses as a hobby! I am still working with horses, trying to get out, am getting too old for the long days etc, little time off to compete my own horse. I've given up riding for work as it stopped me enjoying my own horse.

 

[Lavender]

When I was employed as a working pupil I disliked the long hours and having so little time off. I particuarly disliked working weekends. I got fed up of 7.30am starts and regularly not finishing on time because there was too much to do and not enough people to do it.
Bad weather and low pay are both cons but I could cope with them.

For me, the pros are: working outside when the weather is good, getting to ride whilst working, not having to be too mentally challenged (eg when mucking out, I can go into my own little world).

In terms of what my day-to-day job was like:

7.30am start
Catch in horses from field (not fun when they are fresh and you are expected to lead several at a time)
Muck out 4-10 boxes (10 would be a bad day!)
Sweep the yard
Tack up
1hr lesson
1hr lecture
Turn out horses/do medical treatments
Lunchtime yard - give horses hay & feed
1hr lunch break
Grooming/treatments/get horses ready for night turnout
Turning out/tacking up
Evening feeds/hay/rugging up
5.30pm finish but usually more like 6pm!

There are also those days when you have the farrier/vet/feed delivery and the routine gets messed up and you spend your lunch hour catching up on morning jobs

I'd also recommend you taking the council job!!

 

[Honey08]

I'm another who would say (from experience many years ago) to ditch the horsey job and go for a secure job that pays more and would enable you to have your own horse and lessons/get a mortgage etc. Having said that, you'd have never persuaded me to not work with horses for the first six or seven years!

 

[Suelin]

Take the council job for sure. Earn some nice money and enjoy your horses.

 

[littlemisslauren]

I am a groom.

It's not work I recommend to anyone to be honest!

The work can be really really hard going, my back hurts constantly from october - march, I have trigger finger in 6 fingers from constantly gripping things (brushes / forks / muck sacks / lead ropes) and I sniffle all year round. Summer is easier but then you have to combat the heat and sweat... alot!

The hours are not too bad IMO, mine are certainly very reasonable but the early starts can really zonk you out if you dont sleep early enough.

Ridden work is not all rosy. I am lucky, the horses I exercise are very well mannered and generally behave themselves. Many grooms / WPs are used as 'crash dummies'. You will get sick of riding eventually. By the time you get to do your own horses you will be sick of the sight of horses and have no energy left.

I know I sound very doom and gloom, but working with horses is not easy and it never will be! It is also not a long term job, I am 24 now and I can't see myself doing this past 30.

I do (believe it or not!) love my job, if I didnt I couldnt do it. Walking onto a full yard first thing on a moning and have 20 hungry horses nickering to me is the best part of my day!

Go for the council job, keep horses as your passion!

 

[misterjinglejay]

I worked my way up from groom to yard manager, and I would say withou hesitation - take the council job, and keep horses for a hobby.

The work is blooming hard, from dawn to dusk, 7 days a week, in all weathers. The pay is less than minimum wage, and no one says thank you!

Enjoy your horses when and how you want - do not work with them!

 

[Capriole]

Another one here who has worked full time with horses, and another one saying go for the council job, keep horses as your hobby

 

[nic85]

Again, im a groom.....go for the council job!!

I love my job, it pays for my horse but there is no chance of progression, paid holidays, any sort of benefit.

There are not that many grooms over the age of 30 I dont think, you are either a yard manager after 30 or looking for employment else where. Its also difficult to find yards who can pay a decent wage, those that do tend to hang on to their grooms for a very long time.

Im 27, I dont want to be a groom for the rest of my life but I do enjoy the physical work and spending my days outside....need to find something to incorporate both but not easy!

Good luck with your decision!

 

[Rowreach]

Going against the grain here ........

I started off with proper jobs (like Daddy wanted me to ), and yes, I worked for the council!! I hated it so much and ended up doing part time horsey jobs around the real one, so I was working 5.30am till 8pm with half an hour for lunch.

I was tired, fed up with not doing enough with my own horse, so I jacked in the proper job and went to a full time groom position. I worked long hours (sometimes 4am to 10pm, or even later if we were travelling), I was permanently knackered, extremely happy and extremely unwealthy, but I loved it.

I am still working with horses 20 years later.

If you have the passion, do it. There are some superb jobs out there, and tbh it's not the qualifications which will get you them but your attitude, ability and the experience you will pick up along the way. Don't expect an easy well paid life, but if you are good then there are plenty of employers out there who WILL appreciate you, and who knows where you might end up.

Maybe it would be sensible to work for the council, but you only live once. Go with your gut.

 

[NaeNae87]

A typical day for me is...

5.00am wake up and off to work
5.30-6.00am arrive at work
Between 5.30-6.00 and 10.00-10.30am I make morning feeds, feed horses, change rugs, turn out, muck out stables & yards, scrub water bucket and refil them, put hay in the stables & yards, rake stables and top up with saw dust as needed, sweep breezeway, make night feeds, empty the wheel barrow for the 5th time and give all the horses outside hay.
10.00-10.30am-finish I clean tack, sweep, saddle up horses, hose down horses, lunge a few horses, ride 2 horses, throw in a few loads of washing, clean and organise the tack room and finish around 3.30-4.00pm.
I then have lunch and go and exercise my own horses. I get home at about 7.00-8.00pm have dinner, take my dog for a walk and then got to bed.

The work is physical, and hard, the hours are long and the pay sucks.

However you get to work outside, you learn a heap, and if you have a good boss then the experience is invaluable.

It's your decision, maybe do it for 6 months and see how you like it. If you don't like it or it doesn't make sence financially to continue, you can always quit and get a different job

 

[Toast]

When I worked with horses the hours were long and the work was hard. A typical day for me as head girl of a big stud would be:
On the yard for 8am, feed, haylage and turn out the first few stallions.
Organise other staff and make sure they were doing the same for the other horses on the yard.
Muck out ten full beds
Sweep yard and fill nets
In winter, muck out youngsters pens, in summer get mares through the stocks for scanning
Swap stallions on the horse walker/in field
Fifteen/thirty min break depending on how quickly we'd got done
Organise staff, allocate jobs, swap stallions in fields.
Collect semen required for mares on site aswell as those to send, process for fresh ai and chilled. Make sure staff has the right mare in the stocks for insem.
Work horses, either by lunging, long reining, hacking.
45 mins lunch
Tack up horses for YO to school, allocate staff member to do jumps for YO
Work on the horses in for breaking
Check all fields with horses in
Swap stallions in fields/walker
Answer phonecalls, take visiting mare arrivals, deal with college and uni students, keep tabs on staff, inject mares with oxytocin at hourly intervals, keep the liveries happy....
5 mins break
Bed down 10 stallions, make sure staff are on time bedding down the rest of the yard
Haylage and feed
Sweep yard
Check all yards and lock everything up
Finish somewhere between 5:30 and 7
Do my horses
Collapse

Then during the stud season foal watch shifts throughout the night involving organising the shifts, assisting foaling, staying up if there were any complications... Then back out on the yard for 8 the following morning.
I loved my job. The work was hard, the hours were hard, my boss was vile, and the pay was crap. But I loved it.
I now work in a sheltered house for the elderly. The job is easy and the pay is good, but I miss working on a yard and I'd trade it all to do it again.

 

[WestCoast]

One thing I've noticed is that there are some truly scary bosses in the horse world - obviously there are fantastic ones and abusive ones elsewhere, but only do it if you can take getting yelled at for something that isn't your fault, smile nicely and say you'll never do it again and not mither about it afterwards.

Me I'd take the council job, work my way up and have my own horse. At least in the council if your boss is abusive you can get the union in. Oh and you'll always ge paid in time and never get sacked on the spot.

Paula

 

[madmav]

If you are young, I would go for the equine job and to do for a year or two, hopefully to get working with horses out of your system. Then I would look for a 'sensible' job and have horses as a hobby.

 

[Coppershoes]

I went into working with horses over 20 years ago when the very day i left my last day at school .although i spent different times at different yards looking after different types of working horse in the years to follow ,nearly every job started at 4.30 to 5am and never stopped untill 9pm (sometimes later if travelling home from events ) all 6 days a week and i still had my horse to look (had since being a kid) after, inbetween and on my day off........ after 8 years i had burn out i was tired i had no life and it almost killed the passion ,however i would recomend working with horses towards your quals then using it to either have your own yard or own teaching business ...we all get old/er and need a life inbetween and it doesnt mean your not dedicated it just means things change .not sure what other peoples views are but iv had many friends who have gone the same bath as me and also burned out

 

[splashgirl45]

i am also bucking the trend...i did the sensible thing and got a proper job saved up and bought my own horse...trouble was i was too good at my job and got put on the promotion ladder, the job got more demanding, lots of overtime, lots of working at home.....didnt have the time or energy to ride my horse although still looked after him, mucking out, grooming etc....eventually after many years had a breakdown and took early retirement...worked with horses for 5 years and loved it....only stopped because i was getting too old for the hard work BUT i wished i had done it when i was younger and now realise how much of my life i had spent in a job i wasnt happy in.

why not try horses while you are young and try to get as much experience as poss to decide what your long term goals horsewise could be.....maybe teaching, show groom, course building, stud groom.......

 

[Miss L Toe]

The only career with horses is in racing, they have a proper wage structure and it is a business. That said you will have to try several yards before you find a good one, and you will have to be good to rise above stable lad level.