:lol::lol::lol: Sounds like a typical normal day for a BO.
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If I were planning to board there, I would ask polite questions about care coverage and who would fill in if the live in groom got sick or hurt.
If I just saw this on FB, particularly if it was local to me or my frenemies boarded there or etc , honestly I would accept that it was none of my business.
Also honestly, how many FB ads for barns (or horses) are truly honest or accurate? “Drama free and no mud”: everyone says that, but it’s almost never true 
Maybe there are multiple grooms but the person who made the FB post just thought it was easier to talk about “the groom” in the singular. Maybe the groom does a barter work for housing and whips through the feeding in an hour every morning before going to another job. Maybe most of the jobs are done by five tween girls in return for riding lessons but there’s a live in person on site. I mean I would never parse out FB ads for deeper meanings until I actually went and looked at the place and saw how much was true.
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Wow, that’s one of the more serious scenarios I have heard.
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i would say that the question I am asking IS VERY different from a mortgage holder/ business owner who also has a job.
many grooms positions are similar to nannies. Long hours, very low pay, no health insurance, etc
So yes, the homeowner/parent who cares for their own children/runs a day care is in a very different position form a nanny or other domestic worker.
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Meh… they put the ad out there. I could post link , but I do not find that the circumstances described in the ad are entirely wholesome. And I do not have a strong desire to loose the tender mercies of COTH upon the business owners directly.
So no, when a FB targeted ad lands on my feed, I do not feel a need/obligation to keep my concerns to myself.
i do feel it is perfectly fine to broadcast my question.
they broadcast their ad
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Yes the ad did specifically state “x groom does Y duties, he does this 7days/week.”
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Okay, yeah - I’d find that excessive. Partly because, yes, it sounds rather exploitative, but also because this person must get sick/fed up/need a day off sometimes, and then what?
It’s an odd way to phrase an ad, certainly.
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we have seven head here at home, rain/snow/sun being well or sick they are taken care of seven days a week 365 days a year plus one on leap years… and the pay is terrible
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Of course. I’m out with mine 7 days a week myself, and the pay is nonexistent. 
But that’s different from a commercial ad that apparently brags about having exactly one paid person responsible for everything, every day.
Wouldn’t it have been more sensible to say, “Caring staff on site at all times,” or something to that effect?
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if your horses could talk, I’m sure they’d have lots to say 
Would like to know this also!
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Our neighbours have one person to look after their horses/property. It is a large property, with 7-14 or so horses. Some come in, and some not. Their last person worked there for about 10 years before he completely burned out and left. The work itself isn’t hard, but being “on call” 7 days a week is draining, and I can’t imagine how well a person would last as an employee if they were on-call to many owners vs just one. It really is different when it is your own property vs being an employee with less power/control.
Would I board there? Maybe, it would depend on the responsibilities of the person. Do the horses get round bales/grass, and the person just does a head count and ensure water daily? Or do they do more hands on things every single day? Do they own a horse?
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I would assume most barn employees are only on call to one person, their boss - with the obvious exception of the BM/BO, whom everyone feels entitled to bother at all hours (I had a boarder call me at 430am once because she wanted me to take her horse’s temperature; not because he was ill, but because she had been doing it herself and couldn’t that day, and then she didn’t understand why I was upset at her).
Well yes but the employee also has none of the stresses of paying for all.the.things.that.make.it.work. If a tractor breaks, they just report that it broke. They don’t worry about making the mortgage payment, the hay bill, the insurance. If a boarder leaves, it’s less work for the worker but more stress for the BO. That sort of thing.
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I am a citizen born and raised here.
My first race track job was 7 days a week. Days off were a privilege earned with hard work and longevity. The job was 100% legit and on the books.
My next on the books race track job was 6 days a week, as I had some status and had proven myself worthy of deserving a day off.
I’ve had other 7 day a week horse jobs; some on the books, some not.
Guarantees of days off in horse positions are a relatively new phenomenon. Not saying denying people time off is right, I’m just saying it was pretty standard in the horse world for a very long time.
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The ad describes an “elite” coop. They highlight the 7 day/week group as a factor that makes it an ‘elite’ coop. I am kind of hoping some other people will stumble upon the ad themselves. Thusly spare me from the issue of having to post a link.
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I have certainly have had 7 day situations (when I was younger, dumber, and a lot more desperate…) however… I would hope that the horse industry would work to improve upon on that. Especially for ‘groom’ positions, or limited opportunity positions. As opposed to ‘sales’ positions where the job description includes hustling to makes sales/gain clients/get lessons, etc.
The horse industry is subject to the same criticism of business and sport as the rest of the world. We need to be a lot more proactive about IMPROVING all aspects. “That’s how they did it in the way back when” is not going to protect the industry in the future. We can police our own industry or wait for outside forces to kick our asses, and regulate us from a place of true ignorance.
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Found it…:lol: that video though.
It feels like one of those jobs where when the horses can be out a lot, it’s fine, and when they can’t it’s not.
Also the only thing that really makes it a co-op is the you have to buy your own materials but they can facilitate the ordering.
It feels like they could charge three times the price and just call it a boarding facility, but I wonder if there are licensing and insurance things that make it a bigger pain in the behind.
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My backup job is one of those 7 days a week, 365 on call, my phone is on 24/7 and I answer it, even on Christmas Day when the furnace breaks at 2am. It is on the books in the sense the IRS knows about it, believe me my boss’s accountants aren’t going to miss any form. On the other hand, it is a W2 I file not a W9…and that difference is out of my pocket not my boss’s! I’m also about as blue eyed and 'blonde '(red actually) as they come.
Am I desperate? Yeah. am I ‘young and dumb’ as OP and others suggest upthread? No. Sorry, OP and others but not all of us end up in that sort of job as a ‘life stage’ some of us end up there to pay for parents, children, health, bad luck, etc. Is it open for abuse, oh yes. I happen to have a very fair boss, I’m lucky. I’m still on my knees scrubbing toilets though.
I absolutely would not, ever, use that barn if they advertise that as a selling point. 365 days on call is a recipe for burnout. If that is ‘evidence’ that they are caring horse people? No, a thousand times, no. It suggests a bad plan for any sort of back up if the 365 day person quits, dies, breaks their leg, or is otherwise not there. In my case, that is okay: I manage inanimate property that is not going to die if I don’t give it clean water. That is not the case with horses. Huge red flag on horse care, ethics towards other people, and general S—t happens planning skills.
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I think it’s all an “it depends” type of thing.
I’ve boarded at two places that had a 7 day/wk staff member. In both cases they are older women who are in more of a BM position. They get up early to feed and turnout, do some stalls, then have the afternoons to themselves. Come back to turn in and feed. Evenings off, might do night check.
Both women love the lifestyle, are very social, love the horses. They often only “work” 5-6 hrs/day. But between riding their own horse, hanging out with boarders, playing with the foals, etc they might end being around for 10-12 hrs.
I worked for a few years as a groom and BM. I was a live in staff member. 6 days/wk at home. 6/7 days/wk in Florida. I loved it. I loved going to the shows, I loved hanging out with the boarders (still friends with several of them), I loved the horses that I worked with. I never felt like it was work.
I left because I wanted to do my post grad, and travelling to Florida for 3-4 months every year puts a strain on a relationship.
I worked part time at a different barn through my post grad. I didn’t enjoy it as much. Since I was only there 1-2 days/wk it was stressful trying to keep track of the horses and their management. And it was hard to befriend anyone since I wasn’t there often.
Now, I agree that 7 days/wk may not be sustainable. But it depends on the person and the barn atmosphere. And yes, there absolutely needs to be a backup person.
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Agreed. “He does this 7 days a week” is not necessarily something I would advertise to make this barn “elite.” LOL.
Kind of weird.
But again - it’s not necessarily illegal or unethical. If he lives for free and gets paid…it isn’t necessarily a bad gig for someone. It really depends on a lot of things - is he paid “for real” or in cash? Or possibly, does the co-op money go to the groom and the board money goes to the barn? If so, that’s sketchy - and definitely not something I would advertise. LOL. Most accountants would suggest not advertising “We have a guy we pay under the table!”
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