Its aGrooms life!

[helencheshire]

I have worked as a groom for about 6 yrs now on various types of yard mainly for the love of it.

What I cat uderstand is why we grooms are usually badly paid and treated like skivies. I have been quite lucky on the yards I have worked on but had a couple of bad experiences along with close friends.

Personally we always make the horses/ponys our priority and often end up working way over set hours to ensure horses are happy ect.. always at no extra charge!!
I know not all grooms are fantastic but on other hand everonehas to learn/start somewhere, and with horses theres always something new to learn !!

It is always hard work but we do it as personaly for me you get satisfaction from seeing the hours and graft u put in roll out in your horses well being.

So come on if you employ staff.... be nice to us!

would be intresting to hear other peoples storys.

employers and staff a like.

Helen xx

[Cochise]

I wasnt a groom, but a horse trek guide. I was told to stop wasting time when I gave each horse a cuddle and a kiss each night before I turned them loose into their paddocks at night. COme on!! THe poor things need some affection after having people bumping around on them all day!!
Also I was told off for wasting time in warming up each bit in my hands before putting it in the horses mouths, and for stretching out each horses legs when doing up the girth!!
I understand that they are trying to get the horses out as quick as possible, but isnt it rude to suddenly drag them out of their paddocks and shove gear on them and send them off for a couple of hours without so much as a good morning?!

[rache]

yes i totally understand at 16 i moved out and moved onto this yard with 4 other girls in flat, my room mate as great but she didnt work on the same yard as me so that wasnt great, we had a 23yr old which we called our mum even tho she wasnt the oldest.

but i felt it very hard and it has put me off horses in some sense i did loads of over time teachin kids to jump etc, and i got no extra cost i got between £10-12 a day which is absolute S**t really.

But after a month i called it a day not just cause of the money but i was being bullied the girls are such bithes on the yard- i THINK the reason was that they had been there what 3 months and have only just done their stage 1 and i was there a month and they were putting me in for it.

i love the horses there and want to rescue them in one sense. as its such a busy road.

the girl that took my place handed in her notice within 1 week so it just goes to show really.

[mojo]

I worked on 2 yards over a period of nine months shortly after taking up riding (only 18 mnths ago) and after moving from London to a village, so it was a complete change for me. Had previously worked in an office and been to university. so I was quite a bit older than the average groom.Having always loved horses I thought it was going to be a dream job. Boy was i wrong!!. I was treated like S**t and at the first yard i worked I felt desperately sorry for the horses. I wont go into details as I have written about this in other posts. At the second school I was taken on as a trainee (NVQ) on a part-time basis, the horses were much better cared for but I ended up getting hurt as I wasnt properly supervised and asked to do things that someone with my level of experience should not have been asked to do. I am apalled at the level of pay and total lack of respect given to trainees and grooms. They are often totally exploited because yard owners know that they love and cherish horses and can get away with it. Often a lot of the staff are young girls straight out of school who dont know that in a normal working environment they are entitled to a certain level of respect, pay and work conditions. After working in other environments i was shocked at how backward the horse industry is. Needless to say I left totally disillusioned, with bruises to my body, confidence and pride. The first yard owner tried to get away with paying me £3.60 an hour until I informed her that the minimum wage for a person over 18 was £4.10 ph (£4.20 now I believe) so technically she was breaking the law. This didnt go down well!!, 4 members of staff left in the same month that i did leaving only 2 to run the yard. How they coped I don't know?! I totally sympathise with grooms as the work is physically demanding (incredibly so!) and in some cases emotionally disheartening. I believe there are some good yards out there, although I think they are few and far between. If anyone out there is thinking of taking a job with horses I would suggest trying to find out what the staff turnover has been like. If it has been high I would think again as this is usually an indication that things are not right.

[*Shantih*]

Sorry to hear about your bad experiences Mojo. What are you doing now? I too would love to work with horses but have become disallusioned with a lot of the horse industry.

I'm coming to the conclusion that its probably best to keep horses and riding as a hobby (for me anyway).

[mojo]

Hi Shanthi,
Please dont let my experiences put you off completely. There are some nice people/places out there. I ride at an agricultural college and there are a lot of young girls training there who are very happy and want to go on to be instructors etc. My instructor there is also one of the nicest people I've met so it just goes to show nice people do survive in the horse industry, Thank God!! I dont know how old you are, or how far you are wanting to go? Instructors can command better pay/respect than your average groom/stable hand can. I tried to go into the horse industry late on, as I am in my thirties. A combination of age, disilussionment and fear (after bad experience) eventually made me decide that it wasnt for me. I am in quite a fortunate position at the moment in that I only have to work part-time. Hubby has good job. At the moment I am doing a local delivery job and have just registered with some agencies to do temping work. I hate office work but it isnt so bad if its only part-time, and as I say I am lucky!
I suppose at the end of the day you have to decide how much you really want to be around horses and whether you would be happy enough to do another job. Lets face it most other jobs are better paid and would certainly help you finance your horse/riding.
Have you actually tried working at a yard/riding school? You never know you may get lucky and find a decent one. I would say give it a go and see how you get on, if you havent already that is. But dont let anyone talk down to you or put you in a position you feel you are not ready for. Its a shame really, as for as long as good people like us are put off working with horses things will never change. So its catch twenty two. I wish you luck with whatever you decide to do! Theres nothing wrong with keeping horses as a hobby. I am much more knowledgable and a far better rider than I was when I was at the riding schools as I have not had the same amount of pressure/stress to deal withand have been able to follow my own beliefs. Best of Luck!!

[eml]

I am really sorry for those of you who have tried to find good horse jobs and failed. From the employers point of view there are an equal amount of good jobs looking for the right people. I have been lucky that my staff turnover is low but I do try to be fair, five day 9 -5 job or part time at weekends etc with training.
Even so its not the sort of job that everyone takes to...looking after a number of horses is never the same as doing your own and I have had a number of people come on trial who clearly couldn't cope with the constant physical work. Mojo I had an older person like yourself for two years who was a gem...had never seen a horse when she started and ended up with NVQ3 as head girl...(she told me it was the 'girl' part she liked of the title) Even though she loved the job and we got on really well I couldn't afford to compete when her old company offered her a high paid office job.

[Charleymouse]

hi

i started work at my current yard about 18 months ago. I started as a two saturdays a month girl then went to every saturday and now fidays and saturdays.

I july I am starting my NVQ's as training.

i think im quite good in the practical work like mucking out tc but i do really need help with my riding as i have only had about 4 lessons in the whole time ive worked there!

I get paid £15 a day. I think that works out as £1.86 an hour!
it went from £10 - £12 - £15.

I do private liveries on both of the days i work. with these i earn nearly £15 so i make about £45 a weekend!

[Mehitabel]

i worked at a yard for a long time, did my exams in my gap year and ran the yard after that for 7 years - i loved it, but eventually had to get a better paid job. we did work hard and long hours, but that's the job - animals need looking after even if you were supposed to finish half an hour ago.
it is a shame about the pay, but again, that's the industry. there's a lot of money going through it, but they are so expensive to keep that very little of it stays in the yard's pocket!

as eml said - a lot of the turnover is nothing to do with bad yard practice - some people just aren't cut out for it. i know several people who found that they had no energy to ride their own, or that it was becoming a chore, etc etc.

yes, some yards do take advantage of the goodwill of young horsey girls, but others try to do the best by their staff in payment for a hard job and dedication.

it goes both ways though - we are a training yard and i have taken countless people through their exams - a lot of them have wanted to ride all day, don't want to muck out or sweep the yard, start late and finish early, unwilling to do extra in an emergency like colic, don't take advantage of things like vet visits to learn more, and generally aren't willing to put themselves out at all but expect the employer to provide them everything on a silver plate. (not that you can tell i've had a few of them to deal with!;) )