I need to know how to get a job at a horse stable. Any people with experience?

Question

For a while when I was in 4th and 5th grade I went through an obsession with horses. It's something every girl does, just a phase that's natural to go through. I'm a 12 year old in 7th grade now, and one of my best friends recently bought a 5 acre plot with a barn and 3 horses. Riding those horses made me remember how much fun it is, and how I'd love to become better at it. I understand that I'm a bit young, and the chances that I'll be able to find a job at this age is slim, but I need advice for when I'm older, too.

Coming from someone who knows horses and the business of owning them, do you think there's any way at all that someone would want to give me a chance? If I give someone a call, what do I tell them? What sort of work would they most likely be having me do? Do you think they'd consider hiring me even though I'd only be able to work on the weekends? All answers are appreciated!

Answer 1

Because it is common for girls to love horses, it is also common for stables to employ young girls as stablehands, cleaners, etc.

12 is young, but you can definitely increase your knowledge and gain experience; but you probably will not get paid. Call the various horse stables in your yellow pages, including trail riding places. Also try breeding stables (you will have better luck looking online for breeding stables). Say you are 12 years old, you've always wanted to work with horses and gain experience to some day pursue a career, and you gladly offer your services for free in exchange for the opportunity to gain experience. Tell them you will gladly do the dirty jobs, and be honest about only being able to work on the weekends.
Write a resume if you have any experience (baby sitting is good). Don't be afraid to encourage them to speak briefly to your parents, who will (I'm sure) gladly tell them that you are mature and responsible.

You may get a lot of "no's" but you may also come across a great opportunity! When I was young, I was lucky ; I took horse riding lessons and an arab breeding stable. It was kind of a dumpy stable, a little rundown, but it had amazing horses. No other employees, though, and the stable owner took me under her wing. I was only able to go in the summers but after high school I moved there and worked there every day (I still wasn't getting paid - but I was riding a lot, and learning so much).

Anyway, be profesional. Don't be kiddy and say "I really really love horses!" act like you have something to offer them, and like you want to LEARN. Say you are capable to working on your own and won't need to babysat.

Good luck :)

Answer 2

depending on the stable, some will just want you for grunt labor, others will want to hire someone who aspires to have a career in the horse business. These jobs typically do not pay above minimum wage. People take these jobs for the pure love of the horse, not the pay. You will need to apply in person, you may need to show the boss the extent of your skills. A lot of people say they have horse skills, but are very lacking with anything other than the horses they are used to. Prepare a resume outlining your experiences and what you hope to bring to the facility, your long term goals. Most stable jobs will require you to be there early in the morning. We start work here by 6:30am so we are finished with all the feeding, stall cleaning, raking and clean up work before the first client would get here, typically by 9am. After that, there is grooming, clipping, turn outs, lunging, riding, tacking horses for the trainers, cooling out and untacking when they are done etc. Feeding in the pm. The days are long, so if you don't really love it, it's just a bunch of hard work for little pay.

Answer 3

i was kind of like u i love horses and wanted to work with them i just finnished yr 11 and i didnt want to do yr 12 so i needed to get a job i was lucky i wrote a fax and then called the horse stud that i wanted to work i told them what experience i had which was the riding of the horse everyso often which wasnt really much as it was a racing stud anywhere from breeding to breaking to racing i was lucky they said yes it was only weekends to start but that was enough once i left school i started there full time the first few months i got stuck with all the crapy jobs eg stables cleaning yard and only a little bit of horse work but as soon as i got better the better my job became i have learnt so much from the stud i have gone to tafe to learn what i can about the horse industry and this yr i am doing equine massage.
but this is what i think u should do call up a horse stud even if u just have to clean stable s atleast that is a start most place s might find u a bit young so why dont u ask if u could work one day on the weekend exchange of maybe a riding lesson or something the stud will see u grow and might offer u a proper job so yeah thats what i think.
just a quick note if u tried at a riding school just letting u know they dont really make that much money to offering help exchange for a ridding lesson is a good start .
ps i love my job and love working with horses

Answer 4

I agree with most people here. 12 is a really good age because you are mature enough to handle animals alone. What I've always done is not even mention money or riding. I just said that I want to be around the animals because it relaxes me and gives me time away from school and home to be alone. I offer to muck stalls (honestly not that bad, plus good excercise!) and mention that you do know how to groom horses.

Nobody in there right mind would turn down a free stall mucker. And over time they will probably ask you to groom, and as you befriend the owners you can then talk about work to ride. If they dont ask anything more of you after a few weeks, politely leave and try a new barn. A good barn will befriend you.

I've done this several times, and had it go both ways. The good barns were great, and worth the sweat time!

Answer 5

ok, well i hope i can help you out. i got a job at a horse farm when i was 14 and i only worked on the weekends. just go to a farm near you and tell them that you want to work there on the weekends doing what they need done because you want to learn more about horses and horse ownership i'm sure someone will hire you. it's better to go to a smaller barn instead of some really huge one because ppl are nicer. you'll probably be doing things like cleaning stalls etc. not exactly fun but it gets you near the horses. after about a month of me working at the horse farm i was allowed to ride one of the horses there and pretty soon after that i had access to around 6 horses i was allowed to ride. so if you work there for a while and then mention that you'd like to ride. you probably won't get paid to ride but you can do it after you work. they will probably let you. good luck and have fun

Answer 6

The neatest part about working at a stable is learning the biz and riding. But, its all very hard work. Mucking stalls is not for the faint-hearted. You'd be better off to start lifting weights before you start mucking. If you like to be knee-deep in horse manure and can stand the numerous flies landing on you in the summertime, then this is the job for you. This is only the beginning to working at a stable. You will have to learn to pull your own weight, which means you will have to learn to work as hard as an adult. Carrying around hay bales, loading straw from the tractor to the loft, and bucket feeding are all muscle building activities. Only you can decide if all that is worth it for a little bitty 1/2 hour ride when the boss says you can. You won't be riding everyday, either.
The best advice right now is to learn all you can for free from your friend and make friends with other people your age who are into horses.

Answer 7

I would strongly recommend looking at the Parelli courses. My mom took a few classes and she's improved an amazing amount. She is now in love with handling horses and wants to spend time with them as much as she can. When you call someone, tell them that you've had past experience with horses, and you loved them as a kid. But be aware of what you might be expected to handle: you could be very close to a horse that doesn't trust you and becomes hostile, or you could have to shovel manure all day. You might first want to work on keeping yourself and the horse safe, and then you can start having fun with them. Horses can be dangerous if you don't know how to handle them. I agree, you might not be able to get a job now, but look at it this way: you're still pretty young, so if you're serious about this, then start training yourself and learn as much as you can about handling horses. Then when you're older, you have a much better chance of landing your job because you are much more experienced, and you will know whether or not you are acting on a whim.

Answer 8

When I was your age and younger, I had two 'jobs' like what you are describing. I loved to trail ride, and I rode at a barn down the road from my house. I became friends with the owner, and eventually she let me work cleaning out stalls and cleaning tack for rides. I didn't get paid, but every hour I worked I got an hour in the saddle on the trails. Worked out great for me!
And my second job was simular, only she gave me an actual lesson for my work.
You could probably find something like that to do if you live in a pretty horse-y area. Hope that helps you!

Feel free to e-mail me if you have any more questions! :-)

Answer 9

The fact that you ride and have probably groomed and tacked those horses yourself helps. I volunteer at a stable that provides therapay for disabled children and adults. That's a good place to start if there are any nearby. Or vounteering at an SPCA that may have horses so you can get experience.

They would probably have you do things like wash blankets/saddle pads (in a washing machine), clean out stalls, clean out water/feed buckets, clean tack, take horses in and out of the pasture, then probably feeding horses.

Just keep helping out your friend with the horses, observe when the farrier comes, when the vets visits, when they worm the horses etc., so you'll have that knowledge to build on.

Answer 10

Usually I just walk up to a smaller stable, preferably one that looks like it needs work, and then showed I'm interested.
I sometime had to show up everyday for a week but I started working with the animals in a very short time.

In fact if you think you qualified in any job, the first step is to be in the area and be dressed to work. You may not get the job on the first day but if you keep showing up ,most of the time you get hired to do something.