Where Did All of the Grooms Go?

The equine industry is facing a labor shortage. But you probably already knew that. My next question to you is why? And, if you are a professional in this industry, what have you done about it? Those are the two most important questions we can ask, because without them we will be doing what everyone else is doing: complaining and carrying on with business as usual. We have to ask why the industry is short on employees, we have to ask why employees leave their jobs, and we have to ask why employees stay. Next we have to make changes. There are many changes to be made. Changes that go beyond every employer’s worst nightmare, the dreaded “You need to pay people more” discussion. The industry has to made these changes for one simple reason: there are no horse businesses without employees. There are hobby farms, there are horse enthusiasts, there are people who ride, but there are no professional trainers, riders, boarding facilities, without the workforce of professional grooms, vets, farriers, braiders, and the most import, the professional stall muckers. We need to acknowledge that right off the bat. This industry exists because of the unseen, under-represented, and rarely acknowledged workforce that keeps everything running. 

There this tendency among equine employers to to disregard and at times disdain the underrepersented workforce of grooms, stall cleaners, working students, and farm manteniace workers. I know I will have push back on this, people will be clamoring to tell me I am dead wrong, that they treat all of their employees with respect, pay them more than a fair wage, and that they are practically family. I actually believe you. I know you exist, I don’t dispute that at all. But, I promise, whether you know it or not, there are plently of other people out there who don’t, and you don’t need to go very far to find them.

I know there are times where the employee and the job are not suited for each other. Not that they are a bad person, or that the job or employer was at fault either, just that there was no way it was going to work. On the flip side, I have worked with and overseen less than ideal employees. These were employees that endangered horses, disrespected the people around them, or just stopped showing up all together. But this is not about playing the blame game. That has already been done. That there are articles on. Lots and lots of rants about how “kids these days” are lazy, addicted to their phones, don’t want to work, only care about money, and the list of epithets goes on. Then there are the forums, the blogs posts, and the angry videos of employees who were “worked like slaves”, who were outraged by the hours they had to work, the amount of heavy lifting they had to do, and the fact they never got a raise, never got to ride a good horse, and again, the list goes on. We need to acknowledge the grain of truth from both sides in all of these anecdotes. If we want to see this industry continue, if we want to maintain a work force of any size, this is our first step.