Hello!

I work at a horse barn and today I will be sharing the top 14 jobs I do there. Some are things I do every single time and some are ones that I do every once in a while based on what my boss has me do, how much time I have and other variables.

This barn is owned and ran by a very talented dressage rider and her husband. She owns 2 horses and there are two other ladies that each board their horse there as well. So, a total of 4 horses. One of the boarders is a member of our Pony Club, she has worked there at the barn for a long time, she takes lessons from the owner and recently moved her horse there. She was the one to get me started working there since she was starting college and would have less time. Both of the boarders are very active around the barn. The Pony Club member still works there regularly and at least one other girl works there every so often as well.

The owner has been going out of town a lot lately for a family issue so when she’s gone I take care of the 2 dogs they own. They’re both really sweet and have such funny personalities. The German Shepard always has something in his mouth for you to throw, a lot of times it’s a piece of mulch or something silly and he just lays it at your feet, waiting for you to throw it. He loves playing ball with the throwing stick! The Akita is a big, chunky, funny puppy!

There’s 4 horses, 5 cats and the 2 dogs.

I work at the barn two mornings a week. I’m trying to get faster at a lot of the jobs because I’ve been taking too long on them. It’s a work in progress.

So, let’s get into the main tasks I do when I work there!

1Give the horses hay and grain. The first job when I get there is to give the horses all a little bit of hay which helps their stomachs- instead of eating a bunch of grain right away. I used to clean and refill their water buckets if they were below a certain amount full but I don’t do that anymore in order to get the horses out faster. After they have their hay, we give them each their grain. One gets just grain, one gets grain and a supplement type thing and now two of them get just alfalfa. At the feeding before we get the grain measured in the scoops and soak the alfalfa (and one of the horse’s grain in the morning) so it’s ready to go.

2Cleaning the horse’s paddocks. This is in winter so all the horses go in sand paddocks for the day. In the summer, some of them will be turned out on grass and we wouldn’t have to clean that everyday. But it definitely helps keep things nice when we clean out the poop everyday. We also rake up any hay that’s gross- I end up cleaning more than I should. Sometimes the owner or a boarder that feeds when the owner is gone will have the paddocks done the night before, I had been still checking the hay though because it felt like they didn’t get enough. I don’t need to do that probably. At this time one of the horses is being brought out before I get there so I don’t have to do that paddock right now. This is a job that takes too long for me and a lot of time I end up wasting time. It’s definitely a pain when the sand is all wet and also when everything is frozen. Not the easiest to get up! I’ve also struggled getting the wheelbarrow through snow in the past.

3Filling the hay. This is pretty quick, it’s just a matter of either bringing hay out or taking some from the lean-to that two of the paddocks are connected to and shaking it out a bit. I have the amounts that each horse gets, that I know of, in my head, I don’t know if everyone follows them and I don’t always fill it to the full amount or at all depending on if they have some leftover. Sometimes they have over than the amount that I think they get leftover so that’s why I don’t know if everyone follows it or if I have the wrong amount in my head!

4Cleaning the Outdoor Automatic Waterers. This is one that I need to get faster and better at. There’s three automatic waterers outside among the paddocks. This has been my first experience of those. You just take the top off, give the bowl a scrub and put the top back on. The water should be coming out even with the bowl removed, recently I’ve learned that not much water should be getting down in the bottom area. Maybe it’s just for in the winter with the heater. But you hold down the ring where the bowl sits in order to stop the water flow. I don’t always do it the best. It’s probably been a good experience to get to know these things a bit. I’ve had trouble with them steaming and smelling like burning which was probably the water going down there.

5Taking care of the cats. Apart from the horses and the dogs, there’s also around 5 barn cats that live there. There used to be another one but I think it’s gone. And one time I saw an extra cat that was not seeming to get along with one of ours. Anyway, we basically just add more food to their bowls, clean their litter boxes if needed (they’re not usually that dirty because they do their business in the stalls, in the arena or outside, they wander pretty far away I think) and fill up and sometimes scrub out their water. They’re pretty easy to take care of although they love attention very much!

6Cleaning the stalls. Next is the part that probably takes the longest. It’s a work in progress to get it to go faster too. All 4 horses stay inside overnight so they get their stalls cleaned everyday. It’s down to a pretty efficient process though because they use grinded wood as the shavings and we bank it high on the walls so most days you can just pull down what you need, you don’t have to refill shavings everyday. I also loveee the shavings because it’s super easy and quick to sift through.

7Clean water buckets and fill hay. This is where I add the horse’s hay to their stalls which sometimes takes some coordination. One of the horses doesn’t eat all his so the stuff that I end up saving goes to another horse. I take the water buckets out of their stall, scrub them out, dump them and refill them. I also usually scrub out a smaller bucket we have and use it to top the waters off once they’re hung up to get them even fuller. This is where I’ve mainly been doing all my water jobs, in doing the cat’s water and adding water to the feed that needs to be soaked.

8Sweep aisle. The next job is where I take the big red push broom (one of the dogs is obsessed with this broom and will not leave it alone!) and sweep the center aisle and sometimes the little walkway near the tack room door and hay pallets. At some point I sweep most of the sand that got tracked from the indoor arena back into the arena or along the door. Then I take the normal broom and sweep that walkway, around the pallets, some of what I missed in the aisle, around the outside of most of the stalls, etc. It’s very rewarding once both steps are done, it looks sharp! I also have to sweep up the wash stall and I don’t always do that great right outside the wash stall area. This is kind of a continuous project as I’m working towards being done because stuff gets back out onto the aisle so I have to keep touching it up. I need to be more efficient.

Extras:

The next jobs are the “extras”- ones that I don’t do every time.

9.

Groom horses. I do this quite a bit though. Basically it’s giving them a good curry and then on one horses I use a soft brush next which I’m not sure I should do because on the other one I do a hard brush and use the soft one on his legs, belly, face and stuff. My boss had said for him to use a hard brush. She said with his winter coat he probably wouldn’t feel the soft brush anyway or something like that. But I use the soft brush to smooth the hair down on those sensitive areas. So I don’t know, I need to clarify a bit. I’ve always done a soft brush on the other one but maybe because that was started in the summer. I also sometimes add a spray and work it in to one of the horse’s tails because he always rubs there and gets it all messed up.

10.

Sweep and dust tack room. This involves giving the tack room a good sweep, both in the main tack room area and in the back tack room where the owner of the barn’s equipment is kept. It’s also giving the shelves that hold frames and different stuff on them a dusting, they’re under the viewing windows that look into the arena. One is this green shelf that shows dust really well. I don’t always get to all of these things in one sitting so I have to work on that. I’ve also found out recently that there’s different levels on the dusting, whether it’s a “good dusting” or a “quick dusting”.

11.

Cobwebs. This job is where you take a broom and you can also choose from a variety of other tools and take down the cobwebs from the stall front grills, the grills on the inside of the stalls, the fans in the stalls and in the aisle, the lights in the aisle, near the top of the stalls, basically anywhere there’s cobwebs. This job I need some clarification on too, now I know that I have to do more areas because before I was not getting everywhere. I’m still not sure about a few spots though. My Pony Club friend said in the summer she has to do them two days a week whereas in the winter she can do them two times a month or something like that. Those spiders keep busy! It’s annoying!

12.

Dust stall fronts. This is a pretty quick and easy job, it’s just a matter of taking a little rag and dusting in between the base of the grills on the front of the stalls. They’re black and they show dust very easily, plus it does not take much time for them to get dusty again. It’s a rewarding job though, I enjoy it!

13.

Dust arena whites. I haven’t done this job too much and the times I have, it has taken way longer than it should so I still need to work on it. The one time it was spread out over several days. But anyway, along the indoor arena are these white shelves so the job is just taking a brush or a rag and wiping off any debris and stuff. There are also some mirrors above the shelves in spots so we’re just supposed to reach as far as we can under there. I think she’d also like us to take a vinegar mixture and rag and get rid of big spots but I haven’t done that much yet and I will need clarification.

14.

Taking care of the dogs. Finally, as I mentioned before, the owner has two dogs and when she is out of town, on the mornings that I work I am in charge of taking care of them. I get them from the house in the morning, giving the one her two vitamin treats, give them lots of attention, throw the ball for the German Shepherd, and when we’re about done for the day I groom them with this little comb thing, wipe them off and put them in the house, then give them food and water. She definitely wants us to give them lots of attention! One of the last times she was gone, every morning I was there, at a certain point I would bring the dogs to the indoor arena and throw the ball for the German Shepard who loves it and let them explore and run around. A few times when she was home she’d have me do stuff with the dogs to get me used to them or when she took one dog out with her and had the other at home alone.

What’s something you liked about it (and why)? I love all the horses, they’re so sweet. I also like being on my own which is peaceful and I like being outside.

What’s something you disliked about it (and why)? I’m not really a fan of the cobwebs job! It’s hard to hold up and manage the broom in all these places- and then when you have to get the fans and lights that are directly above you that’s a challenge!

What was your biggest takeaway or lesson? This whole experience has been a challenge with getting faster, doing things too much and communicating with the owner about things I feel I should tell her. But it’s been a great opportunity to work through that, to get better and get different tools. This is also random but before working here I did not know how much a flake of hay was and now I’m pretty good at breaking them off from the bale and I try to estimate how many flakes a loose pile of hay is by looking at it and moving it around. I’m still not great at it when the flakes are confusing or telling whether it’s two or something but it’s been nice to get better at! I’ve also learned more about how the owner keeps her barn and handles things around the barn.

What is something you’re curious to learn more about as a result of this experience? I’m curious to learn more about barn and stable management! If I were to work in a profession with horses someday, that might be one of the options is being a barn manager. I like how orderly this barn owner keeps everything!

I hope you enjoyed! Thank you!

Lucy