I would definitely bring your concerns up to the owner. Ask for a straight answer as to what your pay is and let him/her know about the incident with the horse kicking at you. It may be a known problem in which you should have been warned or it may be something else.

Either way definitely talk to the owner.

 

I absolutely agree. I honestly sounds to me like you're being taken advantage of. Maybe not, but the only way to find out is talk to the BO and tell them your concerns. Depending on their response that will give you your answer.

I know it's hard to confront people with matters like this, but it must be done.

 

What's minimum wage in your area? I would definitely approach the BO with your concerns, and if they are not willing to pay you fairly I would start looking for another job immediately. It's difficult with barns sometimes because a lot is done under the table. In reality, they should be insured to cover you, should be paying you proper wages, deducting taxes, etcetc. but so often none of that gets done...

 

Sounds like they are taking advantage of you.

 

Sounds to me like they're doing you a favor.

Anyone can do this. The job pays what the skill level demands.

If you don't like the pay, (which I hope you don't) then find another job.

Oh yea....study hard....so you don't have to do this very long....

 

I think this happens all too often in the horse world. So many people are desperate to work at a barns they bring people in for bottom dollar and people tolerate it because they "love working with horses". I'd get the heck out of there, your being taken advantage of!
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FIRST Welcome to the forum second talk to the owners see what they have to say about it and third take treats out with you so when you get to the paddock the horse puts there head down I am 5' 2' and work with drafts

 

I'd be careful about letting them anticipate treats just to get their head down. An unruly and disrespectful horse will get even more unruly and disrespectful looking for its treat. They need to learn to lower their head because they've been asked to do so.

 

True, but OP hasn't been hired to train the horses and doesn't sound like she has a whole bunch of extra time on her hands to run through ground manners. If they were OP's horses I'd agree with you 100%, but when you've got a job you need to get done sometimes you need to take the easy way.

 

I'd start looking for another job while staying where you are.

It's not okay to pay that low. Even under the table jobs are supposed to benefit both parties. This is doing neither. Confronting the owner isn't a bad idea, but could jeopardize your job.

 

This is slave labour.
You should be paid for the hours you work at a fair rate. Obviously if there are two of you working together then there will be less hours but, this doesn't give the owners the right to halve your money.

When I employed staff on an hourly rate that was it. If they finished 15 minutes early I paid them the full hour, if they finished 15 minutes late then they only got paid the hour, swings and roundabouts.

You have to look at your safety and if the horses are being ill mannered and you do not have the experience to let them know that you are not going to suffer it, then get the owner to turn them out. Otherwise say that you are going to turn them out, turn them around go the other side of the gates and just unclip the rope and leave the halter on. Tell them that your safety is more important than their ill mannered horses.

 

Minimum wage in Canada is $10.20 for adults. I really don't know how I feel about taking the time to essentially teach someone else's horses how to halter respectfully. That's above my pay grade, as it were.

It's not that I "love" working with horses, it's actually quite opposite, I don't really enjoy working with other people's horses. They aren't trained and handled the same way mine are. The ones that put up less of a fuss are tolerable enough to do the job.

This place just happened to be nice and close, and because I handle horses on a daily basis, it wasn't really one I need prior schooling or training for. I just expected that I would be paid at a fair rate.

I'm prepared to discuss this with the owner, but I'm also prepared to start looking for a job elsewhere.

 

Many barn owners are well known for taking advantage of their help. Here in the US most barn help was illegal and had no recourse so they put up with whatever was given to them. I still know barn owners who pay .50/stall for mucking, regardless of how messy the horse is, whether the stall has to be stripped, yada yada yada. So, if you're cleaning a 20 stall barn, you get paid $10 regardless of time it actually takes. They assign arbitrary values to all the other chores too, such as feeding, watering, grooming, turn out, etc, etc. It's ridiculous and unfair.

Just for fun, I took your minimum wages and put them into the US tax calculator, based on a 40 hr work week, x 52 weeks/year. If you're full time, you should me making roughly $20K/year or $400/week. Take approx 20% off for taxes and you'd have $320/week or $8/hr for a 40 hr week.

If you're barn owner is truly only paying $5/hr, that is no where close to what you should be making and I would definitely sit down and have a discussion. Especially about the ill trained horse that kicked you. I would almost bet they aren't carrying insurance to cover any work related injuries.

 

The unfortunate thing about working at a barn is that there is usually always someone who will do the job for next to nothing in order to be around horses, or to work off board.
It has been my experience that many barns have one competent person on payroll, and the rest of the employees are floaters or freebies.
Unless you can secure yourself as the one on the books, barn jobs are temporary at best. Generally.
I imagine if you are being paid in cash, then it is off the record, and you are not protected by any gov't standards.
I would be looking for something more reliable.

 

sounds like you wouldn't even have workers comp had you been injured by the kick. I don't know where you live but 9.00-10.00 an hour is the norm for stable help.

 

Here's some things going on.

Horse farms are NOT required to adhere to minimum wage laws. Horse farm workers are considered agricultural workers by law: "
Raising of Livestock

Includes fattening, feeding and general care of such animals as cattle, sheep, swine, horses, mules, jackasses or goats among others. It does not include such operations as feeding livestock at stockyards. Employees hired by a farmer who breeds, raises and keeps race horses to take care of the horses, clean the stalls, cut the grass, and repair fences would be considered engaged in agriculture."

UFW: The Official Web Page of the United Farm Workers of America


Farms usually pay by hour, or by task (for example, $x per stall). I can't tell if your farm is paying you one way or the other, but it sounds like they're kind of by task and are designating a lump sum to the task then splitting it up between each person. So if they're paying $50 per feeding, 2 people feeding would get $25 each - regardless if it takes an hour to feed, or two, or three.

When I do chores at my barn, I am paid per task. The other girl that does chores, it also paid per task. It takes me 1.5 hours to feed, blanket change, and turn out 14 horses and 3 ponies. It takes her about 2.5 hours to do it. We get paid the same per feeding.

It's okay to ask for more pay, but be prepared for them to say no. You could also propose a different method of pay (like the straight per task, per person method so you get paid for what you're doing), but be prepared for them to say no.

Dangerous horses are not worth my time if I'm not being paid to train them. I would look for something else while staying on.