Requirements of a Barn Manager

The current economic market allows employers to uphold increasingly higher standards with their employees. The equine industry, too, requires more skills, certifications, and experience from its members. The changing requirements for the position of barn manager sparks the recent debate over which skills and experiences are most valuable and relevant for employers to consider when hiring a barn manager.

A barn manager is essential to the overall success of a facility. According to equinest.com, a website dedicated to finding careers in the equine industry, the following is a list of barn manager responsibilities.

Responsibilities

· Hiring & firing of barn / stable employees

· Training new employees

· Overseeing barn / stable staff

· Developing & enforcing feed & cleaning schedules

· Ordering supplies & feed

· Maintaining equipment, supply & feed inventory

· Dispensing & applying prescribed medications and treatments

· Developing & enforcing exercise routines and lesson schedules

· Available for emergency after-hours

· Managing disposal of waste

· Arranging and overseeing vet visits, worming & shots

· Arranging and overseeing farrier visits and schedules

The barn manager oversees all aspects of horse care, requiring an expertise that spans the entirety of the industry. Which begs the question, which skills and experiences are the most important?

In the past, being hired as a barn manager required little formal education; employers valued horse experience above everything else. Now however, as employers gain more liberty in choosing appropriate candidates, a higher education greatly increases one’s chances at obtaining the job.

An education in management or veterinary practices is invaluable. The business knowledge gained in a formal education enhances one’s ability to oversee the facility. From managing accounts to improving computer skills to adjusting budgets, a barn manager with a business education will boost the facility’s efficiency and organization. Veterinary skills allow the manager to react quickly and appropriately in situations where the local veterinarian cannot assist promptly. A manager with veterinary skills may also decrease the owner’s overall cost, as he will be able to treat minor aliments without the medical diagnosis a veterinarian.

As beneficial as a formal management or veterinary education is, employers must continue to assess candidates’ personal experiences with horses. Horse sense is an elusive quality, highly valuable and obtained solely through experience. Only through years of working around horses may one acquire horse sense. A barn manager must have horse sense in order to run the facility successfully, as he must understand the horse and his actions in every situation, prepare for them, react to them, and prevent them if necessary.

In the end, a barn owner must assess his priorities and consider his aspirations for the barn manager. A barn manager with a formal education will increase his facility’s efficiency; a barn manager with horse sense and experience will run his facility effectively. A barn manager with appropriate, balanced skills and experiences will fulfill his role most desirably.