Though there’s a general hatred for barn owners here, I’m one now, and I also have worked managing a barn and cleaning stalls for the last 35 years.
It is thankless, hard, hot, sometimes freezing, dangerous, work.
While owners love to say their pookie has great ground manners, I’d say that the number of horses that I’ve ever handled that were NOT my own who had what I would call great ground manners could be counted on one hand. And I’ve handled a LOT of horses.
And even so - one of my horses who had superb ground manners will lose the plot when bugs etc are bad and requires skilled handling at that point. No amount of training has been able to sink that into his noggin although all it takes is a firm reminder to put his brain back where it belongs, and that requires someone who isn’t afraid to bump the lead rope and tell him to knock it off. Surprisingly hard to teach people how to do that.
Part of it is that what you see when you come to groom and ride your horse and what we deal with at turn out/in/etc are almost two completely different animals.
And then the other part is that most people undervalue manners. Especially on the English discipline side. I’ve been battered by more dressage horses than I can shake a stick at.
You do need skills to work in a barn, and though you can train someone to clean a stall (although even that is debatable lol) horse handling and care is not easy. At least not if you want quality care.
I do not employ Hispanic workers (although my last name is Hispanic, and I suppose I technically employ my husband rofl) but I would if I could. Not because I could exploit them, good lord no, but because the work ethic and the ease with which many handle horses is just unparalleled. In part that’s because many were agricultural workers elsewhere and the horse is huge in Spanish culture in general, even if we have some differences in training and horsekeeping practices. My husband’s cousin is a relatively recent immigrant and we had great conversations about the differences in horse care - he left his country in part because someone kept stealing his beloved horses.
I don’t need much help because I do much of the work myself at my barn, but the Americans that I’ve hired are awful. The young people have been flaky, and the older workers just…zero judgement and poor communication. We had one gal who had been a pretty decent worker just completely ghost us. I still have her last paycheck. She just didn’t show up to feed one day (I did check her socials, she is alive). No idea - weirdest thing ever.
I pay well and I provide housing and still it’s really hard to get instructions followed. And tbh, I hate micromanaging people so it’s a struggle for me, I shouldn’t have to repeatedly tell you to stuff the hay bag full or how to hang it. Or turn off the hydrant. Or tell me if the grain bin is getting low. Or whatever. Or cross the blanket straps. Blah.
This WILL have a ripple effect on the equine industry, which is an industry that is barely hanging on as it is. No matter what you believe about the status of immigrants, we had best be prepared for prices to go up on everything.
