As with everything in the horse world, It Totally Depends.
I find the best care comes from barns that employ an average of ~5 horses per worker. The more hands, the less work – and this applies to horses too, where workers can give each horse the quality care they need without needing to rush through chores to meet their task-list of the day. Rushed workers may not cut corners or have their quality of service diminished, but they do tend to not have the time to devote to some more personalized/individualized care – small things, that really make a difference in how the barn looks or is organized. Like folding the blankets just so, keeping the aisle immaculate, rings always dragged every AM, grain always accurately set up with no supplements missed… these “small” things can go a mile in making a difference in the quality service your barn supplies - and are usually the first things to be cut from the daily task list when things start getting behind.
But one worker per 5 horses, is very rare and not the norm. Here, generally 20 horse operations have one chief person that is there from AM to PM feed (so turn out to turn in) and full time - and maybe a person that comes in 1-4 hrs a week to dump late night feed and do night check. This is not a healthy arrangement and is why there is such high burnout in the industry. If you want to keep your workers, you will not subject them to this. If you don’t mind constantly looking for reliable help, go ahead and burn out your workers.
The more exhaustive the services offered (full care vs part or half - including things like blanket swaps as temps change, etc), the more likely you will need a second person. As a BM, I found the best arrangement for the 25-30 horse barn I ran was having two people for AM-Noon chores (which are the most comprehensive), and one person for PM chores (which really only consists of bringing in and dumping feed).
19 stalls, turnout, blanket changes, feed, and barn cleaning is a LOT for one person. It seems manageable when everything goes right – but then you have to factor in the “minor” disruptions that cause major delay in a business day - hay delivery, veterinarian/farrier work, a horse that comes in with a cut or colic, and you’ll see why IMHO it is imperative to have at least two workers so that in the event one worker is “held up” by something unavoidable, chores are still being done.
My suggestion to you, is to do the work yourself for a week, before you make any management changes. You may find the reason for inefficiency is as simple as, maybe the turnout is handled inefficiently, or the manure pile is too far from the barn and could be closer. I’ve taken over several barns now as a BM and I can tell you, there is always something that is a time-waster. Finding that issue and streamlining the chore process, usually makes a huge difference in time management.
I prefer to have my workers each have a set of chores - that way there is accountability. AM workers turnout, do stalls, set feed, and do water. Divide these chores specifically between each worker. I find it’s best to have all hands on deck for turnout and stalls for the best time management and efficiency – and then you can split the other chores like water (which cannot be sped up) and feed set up (which also usually cannot be sped up).
Everyone always has an opinion of how little or how much should be done – but those people are rarely the ones getting their feet dirty doing the grunt work. :yes:
She’s not the go-between for the horse owners and the other staff, and whenever I have a concern about feed, turnout, etc., she tells me “that’s not something I do”, so I’ve stopped doing much more than saying hello to her. (She didn’t get a house to live in!)
