The First Tension

I don’t dispute that there are many aspects of this industry that make it more challenging than others, for both employees and employers. You cannot simply close a barn for the holidays, or to go on vacation, or because it is a weekend. Horses still need to be fed, mucked out, turned out, brought in, water buckets dumped, blankets changed, and that’s just the usual. That’s the normal stuff, not to mention when a horse colics on Christmas day, throws a shoe on New Years Eve, tears a fence down on a Sunday, and the unfortunate list goes on. In short, if you attend to living creatures, someone is always working. Any barn owner or manager will tell you, weekends and holidays are the hardest to get covered. Those are days when many other people are not working, and which, in general, people are loath to work. And really, can you blame them? If they have friends, family, kids, or a significant other, they are going to want to spend time with them. That is employment constraint number one. Now, from personal experience I can tell you, it is one thing to tell your family you can’t see them this Christmas because you are a nurse or doctor, or some other socially respected profession, but it is entirely another to tell them you cannot see them because you have to feed and turn-out some naughty horses, clean their stalls, and haul around a sledge hammer to break some iced-over water tanks. That just doesn’t sit well unless you are exceptionally blessed with a forgiving and understanding family. 

So that is the first employment tension. The need for one or more people to be present and work at a barn every single day. This means no matter what is going on, whether it be a holiday, a hurricane, a heat wave, or a normal Sunday. Someone needs to be there. If there is a snow storm and the roads are blocked, someone has to get to or stay at the barn. If there is a pandemic and only grocery stores and pharmacies are legally allowed to be open, yep, you guessed it, someone has to be at the barn. In essence, including hell, high water, and Armageddon, someone better be with the horses.  The industry's problem is, at this point, we only have humans for employees. I promise you, the first day there are androids that can reliably lead horses and clean stalls, every barn owner in the world will be lined up, Black Friday style, to buy one. In the meantime, we need a suitable and sustainable solution.