Salary

[bhrunner06]

Looking for thoughts and opinions on what salary/compensation should look like for the below scenario.

37-40 horse farm- ranging from weanlings to show horse to retirees.

Barn manager is also the head trainer. Responsible for all things barn manager related- ensure horse care is done and proper, managing staff (and hiring training scheduling etc), turnout schedules (and often doing a chunk of turnout themself), riding and training school horses client horses and sale horses (8-10 horses to ride a day), teaching 60+ lessons a week, some accounting functions, running the blanket washing business (including picking up and dropping off, washing, bagging, invoicing), maintaining the barn (replacing mats when needed, cob webbing, scrubbing stall fronts, cleaning and organizing), managing farrier vet etc, helping run the owners side business as well, some mowing, some fence repair, making grain for each feeding, filling shifts when someone calls off for stall cleaning etc, dealing with outside water troughs (cleaning and filling), dragging arenas, Marketing, record keeping, social media, feed and bedding orders, etc.

how would you set up compensation for this role. Midwest area for geographic purposes.

well aware the farm is understaffed and too much for one person to do, but trying to see how everyone has compensation set up (1099 employees)

[Lucassb]

I pay my farm manager a salary that works out to a bit over $20/hr. She also gets other benefits, paid vacation, riding opportunities etc. That is somewhat over market for this area but she is highly reliable, competent and pleasant and I pretty much worship the ground she walks on. So let’s say a “regular,” non unicorn person might be paid at $15/hr or so. I have a small private barn, no clients or boarders.

As I see it, there are several full time jobs here:
Job 1 Barn Manager (hire, train, schedule, manage, pitch in / cover staff who call out)… Let’s say this is 4 hrs/day
Job 2 Head trainer (ride 8-10 a day PLUS teach 60 lessons a week ?!?!?!) Um. That is more than one full time job. Even if someone else is tacking/untacking the rides. At even 30 min/horse that is 5 hours a day for rides plus somewhere in the neighborhood of 9 hours daily for lessons (so 14 hours /day)
Job 3 Help run side business (let’s just say this is an hour a day)
Job 4 Run blanket business including pick up/drop off… can’t imagine this is less than 2 hours daily)
Job 5 Grooming/stall maintenance/ farm chores (Bare min. 1 hour daily)
Job 6 Admin - Marketing, record keeping, social media, managing supplies and orders (another hour daily)

So now we have 23 hours daily @ $15/hr… $345/day.

Remember that to qualify as an independent contractor (1099 employee) they must have control over how the work is done. The IRS is pretty strict about this and takes a dim view of employers who improperly designate employees as contractors to avoid having to deal with the paperwork and taxes: https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small…ed-or-employee

[Scribbler]

@bhrunner06

Looking for thoughts and opinions on what salary/compensation should look like for the below scenario.

37-40 horse farm- ranging from weanlings to show horse to retirees.

Barn manager is also the head trainer. Responsible for all things barn manager related- ensure horse care is done and proper, managing staff (and hiring training scheduling etc), turnout schedules (and often doing a chunk of turnout themself), riding and training school horses client horses and sale horses (8-10 horses to ride a day), teaching 60+ lessons a week, some accounting functions, running the blanket washing business (including picking up and dropping off, washing, bagging, invoicing), maintaining the barn (replacing mats when needed, cob webbing, scrubbing stall fronts, cleaning and organizing), managing farrier vet etc, helping run the owners side business as well, some mowing, some fence repair, making grain for each feeding, filling shifts when someone calls off for stall cleaning etc, dealing with outside water troughs (cleaning and filling), dragging arenas, Marketing, record keeping, social media, feed and bedding orders, etc.

how would you set up compensation for this role. Midwest area for geographic purposes.

well aware the farm is understaffed and too much for one person to do, but trying to see how everyone has compensation set up (1099 employees)

That job description is not possible. How do you ride 8 to 10 horses a day and also do 10 lessons a day? There aren’t enough hours in the day

[bhrunner06]

Should note that majority of lessons are half hour lessons. And assistant trainer teaches 10ish of those 60 lessons a week.

[Lucassb]

@bhrunner06

Should note that majority of lessons are half hour lessons. And assistant trainer teaches 10ish of those 60 lessons a week.

OK, so 25 hours per week teaching on top of 8-10 rides daily… again even if those rides are only a half hour (not much training happening given appropriate time for warm up/cool down, never mind tacking up and untacking/post ride care) …that is somewhere approaching TEN HOURS daily … never mind the other jobs you list.

[Redlei44]

Agree that it’s a pretty hard question to answer given that it’s not possible for one person to do the job (at all, much less well). Also agree that it’s almost certainly not a position that meets the 1099 reqs.

If the description were trimmed appropriately, $15/hr plus housing might be a good start.

[B-burg_Dressage]

If you have a full-time employee you should be paying them as such…not a 1099 contractor. That’s a wholly different thing. This employee would deserve benefits. Also, maybe a bed at the barn because they’re never going to be able to leave.

[crosscreeksh]

Sounds more like the description of a “farm owner” than an employee!! Few people I’ve ever know would take THAT job!!

[punchy]

This is a joke, right?

[mmeqcenter]

IMO, you’ve got at least three different full-time positions there.
Barn Manager (barn maintenance, daily barn tasks/horse care, managing staff, etc.)
Trainer/Instructor (training rides, lessons) (probably two here)
Personal assistant (running “side business” and blanket-washing business - might even be two positions here)

I would hire and compensate each role individually. Barn Manager and Personal Assistant paid salary or hourly. Trainer/Instructor sets their own prices, collects their fees from clients, and pays BO for overhead (usually ~10-20% I believe).

[cheektwocheek]

Been on the receiving end of this type of situation once…Farms that usually want 1099 employees tend to want to skirt the most general of labor laws, also including liability and taxes. Aka 7 days a week 14 -18 hr days, no time off and no overtime. Granted people need jobs right now but nobody wants to be worked into the ground. Needless to say, I didn’t last there very long.

[McGurk]

And the only one of the job descriptions that would legitimately qualify as a 1099 employee would be the trainer/instructor. The other roles are absolutely not independent contractor roles. And even then you’ll get in trouble if the barn schedules the lessons and the training rides, not the the trainer/instructor.

[Simkie]

@bhrunner06

Looking for thoughts and opinions on what salary/compensation should look like for the below scenario.

37-40 horse farm- ranging from weanlings to show horse to retirees.

Barn manager is also the head trainer. Responsible for all things barn manager related- ensure horse care is done and proper, managing staff (and hiring training scheduling etc), turnout schedules (and often doing a chunk of turnout themself), riding and training school horses client horses and sale horses (8-10 horses to ride a day), teaching 60+ lessons a week, some accounting functions, running the blanket washing business (including picking up and dropping off, washing, bagging, invoicing), maintaining the barn (replacing mats when needed, cob webbing, scrubbing stall fronts, cleaning and organizing), managing farrier vet etc, helping run the owners side business as well, some mowing, some fence repair, making grain for each feeding, filling shifts when someone calls off for stall cleaning etc, dealing with outside water troughs (cleaning and filling), dragging arenas, Marketing, record keeping, social media, feed and bedding orders, etc.

how would you set up compensation for this role. Midwest area for geographic purposes.

well aware the farm is understaffed and too much for one person to do, but trying to see how everyone has compensation set up (1099 employees)

Wow. If you can find one person that can do all those things, you pay them ALL THE MONEY. Because they are super human. And if they’re willing to stick in it and continue with all of those things on their plate, they’re priceless.

[ryansgirl]

@bhrunner06

Looking for thoughts and opinions on what salary/compensation should look like for the below scenario.

37-40 horse farm- ranging from weanlings to show horse to retirees.

Barn manager is also the head trainer. Responsible for all things barn manager related- ensure horse care is done and proper, managing staff (and hiring training scheduling etc), turnout schedules (and often doing a chunk of turnout themself), riding and training school horses client horses and sale horses (8-10 horses to ride a day), teaching 60+ lessons a week, some accounting functions, running the blanket washing business (including picking up and dropping off, washing, bagging, invoicing), maintaining the barn (replacing mats when needed, cob webbing, scrubbing stall fronts, cleaning and organizing), managing farrier vet etc, helping run the owners side business as well, some mowing, some fence repair, making grain for each feeding, filling shifts when someone calls off for stall cleaning etc, dealing with outside water troughs (cleaning and filling), dragging arenas, Marketing, record keeping, social media, feed and bedding orders, etc.

how would you set up compensation for this role. Midwest area for geographic purposes.

well aware the farm is understaffed and too much for one person to do, but trying to see how everyone has compensation set up (1099 employees)

You couldn’t pay me enough to take all that on. That’s absolutely insane to expect basically one person to do that.

What about days off? Are they paid days off? Insurance? That’s the perfect scenario for major burnout. Yeah no thanks.

[clanter]

Responsible for all things barn manager related- ensure horse care is done and proper, managing staff (and hiring training scheduling etc), turnout schedules (and often doing a chunk of turnout themself), riding and training school horses client horses and sale horses (8-10 horses to ride a day), teaching 60+ lessons a week, some accounting functions, running the blanket washing business (including picking up and dropping off, washing, bagging, invoicing), maintaining the barn (replacing mats when needed, cob webbing, scrubbing stall fronts, cleaning and organizing), managing farrier vet etc, helping run the owners side business as well, some mowing, some fence repair, making grain for each feeding, filling shifts when someone calls off for stall cleaning etc, dealing with outside water troughs (cleaning and filling), dragging arenas, Marketing, record keeping, social media, feed and bedding orders, etc.

surely you jest… Wonder Woman already has job and Super Man is not interested … is slavery still being used in your area?

$2,000 a week plus full benefits would not be enough

[Lucassb]

@bhrunner06

Looking for thoughts and opinions on what salary/compensation should look like for the below scenario.

37-40 horse farm- ranging from weanlings to show horse to retirees.

Barn manager is also the head trainer. Responsible for all things barn manager related- ensure horse care is done and proper, managing staff (and hiring training scheduling etc), turnout schedules (and often doing a chunk of turnout themself), riding and training school horses client horses and sale horses (8-10 horses to ride a day), teaching 60+ lessons a week, some accounting functions, running the blanket washing business (including picking up and dropping off, washing, bagging, invoicing), maintaining the barn (replacing mats when needed, cob webbing, scrubbing stall fronts, cleaning and organizing), managing farrier vet etc, helping run the owners side business as well, some mowing, some fence repair, making grain for each feeding, filling shifts when someone calls off for stall cleaning etc, dealing with outside water troughs (cleaning and filling), dragging arenas, Marketing, record keeping, social media, feed and bedding orders, etc.

how would you set up compensation for this role. Midwest area for geographic purposes.

well aware the farm is understaffed and too much for one person to do, but trying to see how everyone has compensation set up (1099 employees)

I see our OP has not come back to respond to this thread. But I am curious - even as a farm owner (albeit one whose “side business” - otherwise known as the fulltime job that pays for the farm - takes a bit more time than the above might do - how is all this an expectation, much less an expectation of a contractor/1099 employee? Do 8-10 rides, a blanket washing business, side hustle and teaching 60 lessons per week not generate enough revenue to pay a decent salary and benefits??

[Libby2563]

Given the vagueness, I’m wondering if the OP is actually the employee in question, not the potential employer, and is slightly overstating their duties (because yeah, there’s no way one person can do all of that as written).

[Marla_100]

OP is a Russian Bot looking for Putin’s next barn slave.

[Simkie]

@Libby2563

Given the vagueness, I’m wondering if the OP is actually the employee in question, not the potential employer, and is slightly overstating their duties (because yeah, there’s no way one person can do all of that as written).

I kinda wonder if someone WAS doing this (or most of it) and left because holy hell, there are not enough hours in the day. And now farm owner is juuuuust beginning to see how lucky she was to have that person…

[beowulf]

I’ve certainly been on the receiving end of the above job description and it was not pretty and I lasted 3 months. Sadly rather common for BOs to expect their workers to basically shoulder the burden of three different jobs at minimum wage, and is exactly why there is such high burnout & turnover in this industry.

There really are not enough hours in the day for this kind of job for one person, but sadly I have seen many ads like this in my area.

Something always falls to the side. For me, it was being able to actually ride.

OP would be better off hiring PT for the labor (stalls, fixing fences, etc) and FT for a Trainer/Instructor – since it sounds like that’s really what they need. Neither of which would qualify as 1099, though…

I shouldn’t even do the math, but, here goes – assuming they are there for 9 hours a day:

• 37-40 horses turnout, assuming they are AM/PM and you have one helper - will probably take you 30m-1 hr depending on barn set up, longer if you’ve got paddocks further away (I once worked for a BNT, who had a “back 40 paddock” that was a TEN MINUTE walk there and back!), 2x a day - 9 hrs - 2 = 7 hrs left

• 8-10 horses ridden a day - who is doing the tack up? 1 hr each horse? 7 hrs - 10 = -3…

• teaching 60 lessons a week, yeesh… k, so, 30hrs here if they’re each 30m… lets say you work 5 days a week, means you’d need to teach 12 lessons a day… say they’re each 30m, that’s still 6 hrs at the least – -3 hrs - 6 = -9

• daily ring dragging, usually takes 20-30m… now you’re at 9.5hrs deficit…

• daily water filling and scrubbing, for a 30-40 hrs operation, is likely an hour job – 10.5 hr deficit…

That doesn’t even begin to cover the non-daily essentials, like holding for the farrier, vet, farm maintenance, mowing, weeding, small barn projects, etc… On the days you are holding horses for vet and farrier, you can pretty much guarantee that is a “loss” in project hours…

Yeesh. I feel bad for whoever is in this position currently.