The short answer is pay enough. I also pay $15/hour for 10-12 hours a week. My present help works early before her regular job and takes home good pocket money every week.
I found reliable help by contacting another boarding barn in my area and asking their current person if they’d like to do some extra work at my barn. I pay better than their current job so they’re happy to help me out. My boarders do the feeding/turn-in and turnout so the other person cleans stalls, waters, hays, etc.
Check in with the local high school counselors office. They usually know a good kid that could use a little $$ help. I have had success doing this. Or call a local church about a youth in the church
It’s insanely hard. I have lucked out and have several young high school students who work part time, my barn is not big enough for full time staff. It’s challenging since they are young, everything needs to be specifically spelled out for them which does make extra work to manage them. They will not do something that obviously needs to be done unless they are asked, they just don’t seem to notice. They are paid very well for their age compared to other jobs and seem happy with the arrangement. I also have an older person who I pay more who needs less specific instruction.
One thing that matters is having a barn where it’s easy to do chores. Do you have adequate tools and a convenient set-up? Proper equipment, easy water and well organised feed/shavings make a huge difference in how good of a job the staff can do.
I’ve lost several people because boarders are so hard to deal with. So the advice I would give there, is keep your expectations reasonable for your staff. They are not going to do things exactly as you would.
I would contact the horse people in your area, which if I can glean it, is westchester county? There is a westchester horse council on facebook. I would look up the hunts in your area, and ask them. golden’s bridge? Dunno others. then I would post at tack shops and grain stores, as well as local Agway and hardware stores. Farm workers and such folks will be going in and out of them. People who hunt may very well know someone who needs the work. Also post at the veterinarian’s and at any kennels. You get the idea. then look up any news papers - I don’t know if Steed Read covers your area, but it very well might, and the advertising is free.
Look into agencies that are transitioning folks to independent living. Often the individual will have a case manager to help with transportation and promote their success.
Or hire a veteran with disabilities–there is probably an agency in your area that could help locate a suitable candidate.
Have you posted an ad on Connecticut Horsey Folk on FacebooK? You’re just over the line. I see lots of adds that are very quickly answered. Someone always seems to know somebody who is looking for work. At least if you get more hits, you might have better luck weeding out the duds.
There are a lot of trainers in the area. Several have live-in working students that need to work to earn extra money. We’ve had several do Sunday afternoons and Mondays to give the regular grooms a day off and it works great if you can find one whose schedule lines up with the hours you need.
just a suggestion, before you advertise install a complete video system to record everything.
This day and time just by releasing the information that you need the help puts a flag up saying your place is open for clean out
Cameras can be set to email/text message you if they detect movement then send you a live feed
The camera idea is REALLY smart. Thank you.
I did find reliable help. She’s great. We get along well and she’s doing a good job and really seems to care about the horses. Phew!!
As far as not “tolerating” a boarder, I don’t think it’s so unreasonable to want to be alone in my private barn - that’s why I built it. My barn is not set up for boarders, and I’ve boarded in enough barns to know that having a boarder is not for me. I don’t want people in and out of the gate. When the gate is closed, I want to KNOW it’s CLOSED. I don’t want people in and out of the hay loft, leaving lights on, etc. I drag my ring strategically - like before a rain and when I know I won’t use it for a few days. Sometimes I won’t sweep if I’m hurried or going to make a mess in short order. Sometimes I’ll feed an hour early if I have to go somewhere. I don’t have a staff, remember? Forgive me for not wanting to deal with someone else being around and their specific requirements. That does not make me an evil person. It makes me a private person that is very concerned with the safety of her horses.
But yes, despite paying more than any of the COTH suggestions so far, as well thanking and and tipping frequently, I do brutally beat those that work for me fairly regularly.
Hate to say this, but you are very defensive, and because of that come across arrogant. Paying more than $15 an hour…I sure hope so, since you live in one of the most wealthy zip codes in the US. I pay $15 down here in SC! Where the cost of living is nothing compared to NH, where I also live. So, all things relative.
I have a barn owner who lives nearby and is such a micro manager that drives,staff away. Be careful and reasonable in your expectations. I instruct, and let the help go at it. I may cheerfully remind about something, but realize sometimes it is not going to be followed and end up doing it the way I want. As long as 90% of job is being done I am ok with it.
[QUOTE=LauraKY;7695819]
OP, call your local high school and ask for the FFA coordinator. Usually they will have several kids who are interested.[/QUOTE]
This made me laugh…I highly doubt there is an FFA in the local HS.
[QUOTE=CourtneyANYC;7706648]
I do brutally beat those that work for me fairly regularly.[/QUOTE]
I think you can charge money for that these days :lol:
Someone implies that I don’t pay enough. I explain that I pay well. Someone else implies that I’m difficult to work for because I don’t want a boarder. I explain the perfectly valid reasoning behind not wanting a boarder. Then I’m defensive and arrogant?
Kind of hard to win here, eh?
And you want to put up cameras to catch your misbehaving staff hahaha no you probably can’t win this time 
Don’t feel too bad, it’s hard to explain one’s self succinctly on a bb in such a fashion as to not come off negatively to someone.
For what it’s worth, I’m an English professor and love words. I am always explaining to my students the importance of precision in language, because words have meaning. Your use of the phrase “can not tolerate a boarder” perhaps had a connotation stronger than you intended, or perhaps not. We have little besides choice of language here to sort out one another’s character. An imperfect system, but alas, a system nonetheless.
Also the implication in your OP that you can’t find good help and don’t know why because people should be grateful to you for the work…not perhaps the best way of starting off, and probably not how you intended it to sound.
In a way, I think the cultural infiltration of bbs (and all written communication) are kind of cool because they (hopefully) do make us think more about our choice of language and how we present ourselves through our writing. Except my students. They just think it means they can use “u” and “r” as words.
[QUOTE=CourtneyANYC;7707081]
Someone implies that I don’t pay enough. I explain that I pay well. Someone else implies that I’m difficult to work for because I don’t want a boarder. I explain the perfectly valid reasoning behind not wanting a boarder. Then I’m defensive and arrogant?
Kind of hard to win here, eh?[/QUOTE]
Ignore them. I don’t like having local boarders either, for the same reasons that you posted.
I’m not seeing arrogant at all, but I am sensing snark from other poster(s)…probably jealousy. Just ignore it.
[QUOTE=fivehorses;7706742]
This made me laugh…I highly doubt there is an FFA in the local HS.[/QUOTE]
FFA had their banquet in Salem, so it appears that, yes they do have FFA in the HS.
I understand your sentiment. I get it (even though I never said or meant “grateful”). Still, a lot of the time all the nitpicking on these threads seems like witch hunting to me.
I’m actually a really nice person that just needed barn help and couldn’t find anyone reliable. That’s it.
Lastly, I suggest you read the post about the cameras one more time. In my opinion that poster was not suggesting spying on employees at all.
[QUOTE=CourtneyANYC;7691668]
Seems like in this economy people would be happy to find work but it does not seem so![/QUOTE]
Similarly with the cameras (and I’m pro-camera, fwiw) it’s never a matter of what was intended, it’s always a matter of how it was interpreted. Audience is at the heart of communication.
I’m a very nice person too…but can be a pedantic pain in the ass.
I’d also say it’s almost always harder to find part-time help in any field because anyone who ONLY wants a part-time job probably already has one, and anyone who really needs or desires full-time work is going to leave as soon as that opportunity (or a more desirable part-time position) arises. This can appear “flaky” to the part-time employer. And anyone who has a job but wants a part-time is going to pick a job that fits with their existing schedule (which isn’t necessarily yours).
And rest assured, you don’t come across nearly as badly as someone in your local area who is offering 20k for a full-time head groom and rider position with no housing…cause can’t the groom just live in their car or something? Oh, and involved travel to Florida, so car was necessary (from the ad)…cause again, that’s where you’ll be living.
I think a lot of us who work in some capacity or another in the horse world are just very sensitive to these kinds on things.
(And how people read you does matter, especially in these instances. Another CoTHer I don’t know anywhere but here was recently looking for a show groom for HITS. I sent her a friend of mine, and it worked out really well for everyone involved. I wouldn’t have done that for some others).
[QUOTE=LauraKY;7707142]
FFA had their banquet in Salem, so it appears that, yes they do have FFA in the HS.
Actually, Salem, NY is about 150 miles from N. Salem. Crazy, right?
N. Salem is beautiful, but very, very expensive.
