What should I offer for pay for this?

[StormyDay]

So after a recent family emergency I realized I was really not covered in the case of an emergency. I have great neighbors that stepped in for me with the horses, but it was pretty stressful AND then one of my horses decided to try to colic in the middle of a funeral I was at. Sigh.

So I’m thinking about hiring a part time helper to do stalls for me 1-2 times a week, plus any other odd jobs I need done, with the idea that when I leave on vacation/shows/am sick etc that person knows the horses well enough to step in without much fuss. Of course, that would be compensated (near me that tends to run about $50 a day, $75 with stall cleaning)

But What would you pay a person to muck stalls for a little under an hour? I want to make it worth while for the person, but also not pay an arm and a leg.

[SLW]

@StormyDay

So after a recent family emergency I realized I was really not covered in the case of an emergency. I have great neighbors that stepped in for me with the horses, but it was pretty stressful AND then one of my horses decided to try to colic in the middle of a funeral I was at. Sigh.

So I’m thinking about hiring a part time helper to do stalls for me 1-2 times a week, plus any other odd jobs I need done, with the idea that when I leave on vacation/shows/am sick etc that person knows the horses well enough to step in without much fuss. Of course, that would be compensated (near me that tends to run about $50 a day, $75 with stall cleaning)

But What would you pay a person to muck stalls for a little under an hour? I want to make it worth while for the person, but also not pay an arm and a leg.

I pay the teenager next door $15 per visit ($30 a day) to drive over & toss hay/grain to 3 equines & check water. No stall cleaning involved.

You’ve got to make it worth someone’s time stop what they are doing to drive over & do the task. Kids cost less than adults unless you find an experienced but currently horseless adult who would love the gas money so she could hang out with your crew.

[Foxglove]

I have a “deep bench” of horse sitters/house sitters – I pay the horse sitters (four horses, twice a day feeding, no stalls) $20 per feeding. She arranges her own transportation. I have had three others at various times, and can call any of them should she have a reason she can’t come --she has the phone number of the back up person in case she can’t reach me. House, I pay what it would cost me to board three cats and a dog – for EVERYTHING it is $60 every 24 hours --sometimes to horses and house separate, but not usually.

One thing I do, and I had a COTH member criticize this for being snoopy --is the first time I use a house sitter/horse sitter, I have a “spy.” My horse owning neighbor drops by to see if tanks are filled/hay is out. I tell the new horse sitter that the neighbor will be by “sometime” to pick up a saddle pad, or bridle. I ask if the horse sitter wants the woman to call first, or if she is ok with her just getting whatever out of the tack room. Either way is good. Spy comes, chats up the barn girl/boy if there, picks up item, checks out tanks and hay without being obvious about it, and leaves.

I do this because another horse-owning friend hired a relative who did not do the feeding/watering as directed. She had no idea the teenager was not filling water tanks until she got home ONE WEEK later --horse tanks were bone dry. It had rained enough that the horses were ok --but I don’t want that to happen to my horses.

[joiedevie99]

Around here it takes $25 or so to make it worth someone’s time to drive out and drive home for that first hour of work.

[StormyDay]

@Foxglove

I have a “deep bench” of horse sitters/house sitters – I pay the horse sitters (four horses, twice a day feeding, no stalls) $20 per feeding. She arranges her own transportation. I have had three others at various times, and can call any of them should she have a reason she can’t come --she has the phone number of the back up person in case she can’t reach me. House, I pay what it would cost me to board three cats and a dog – for EVERYTHING it is $60 every 24 hours --sometimes to horses and house separate, but not usually.

One thing I do, and I had a COTH member criticize this for being snoopy --is the first time I use a house sitter/horse sitter, I have a “spy.” My horse owning neighbor drops by to see if tanks are filled/hay is out. I tell the new horse sitter that the neighbor will be by “sometime” to pick up a saddle pad, or bridle. I ask if the horse sitter wants the woman to call first, or if she is ok with her just getting whatever out of the tack room. Either way is good. Spy comes, chats up the barn girl/boy if there, picks up item, checks out tanks and hay without being obvious about it, and leaves.

I do this because another horse-owning friend hired a relative who did not do the feeding/watering as directed. She had no idea the teenager was not filling water tanks until she got home ONE WEEK later --horse tanks were bone dry. It had rained enough that the horses were ok --but I don’t want that to happen to my horses.

Something similar happened to me years ago. The girl just didn’t feed the grain. She did hay, water, etc but I had grain baggies made up that she didn’t give.
Luckily the place I rent for my horses has people who I trust living on the property. They know enough to know if something is wrong.

[StormyDay]

@joiedevie99

Around here it takes $25 or so to make it worth someone’s time to drive out and drive home for that first hour of work.

I think that seems pretty fair