Stable Assistant

Job no:

R-0000001904

Position Title:

Stable Assistant

Faculty or Staff:

Staff

Full Time or Part Time:

Part time

In-Person, Hybrid, or Remote:

In-Person

Minimum Starting Rate of Pay:

$19.12

Rate of pay commensurate with experience

Start Date:

04/21/2025

Job Description:

The Mount Holyoke College Equestrian Center is recognized as one of the finest facilities for educational and competitive riding available to students. With top-notch boarding, high-quality care, and expert training, the facility emphasizes the well-being of horses and riders alike. Our 59 stall facility offers expansive amenities including two indoor arenas, an oversize outdoor arena, permanent dressage arena, heated tack rooms, heated wash stalls, and full locker room for riders. The Equestrian Center offers students exceptional resources and a nurturing environment for advancing their equestrian skills.

The Stable Assistant is a critical member of the Equestrian Center and it’s mission as they perform all tasks relative to care for horses stabled at Mount Holyoke College. This position will take care of general maintenance of the facility and equipment while providing a welcoming atmosphere to new students, boarders, prospective students, and the community. The hours/days for this shift vary during the year.

DUTIES / RESPONSIBILITIES:    

• Providing hay and clean water to horses

• Feeding horses according to grain cards and making sure horses are consistently getting any supplements which are assigned

• Turning out horses and rotating turn out regimes

• Cleaning 12-13 stalls daily. Infrequently, there may be a need clean additional stalls as needed

• General pick-up, sweeping, and tidying of stables

• Cobwebbing, cleaning drains, cleaning wash stalls, changing trash bags, opening hay, moving hay, grain, etc.

• Daily tasks such as cleaning outside tubs, mucking paddocks, racking up hay, leaves, etc

• Regular facility maintenance projects and some seasonal/special projects as assigned, including: Dragging arenas, raking outside areas, moving jumps, cleaning/dusting knee-walls in indoor arenas, readying paddocks for overnight turn out, preparing for boarders return

Each stable assistant will be assigned a group of school horses whose care and maintenance they are responsible for. Each person will be expected to know the following:

• Horse’s normal temperature

• Any normal lumps, bumps and swellings

• Any normal behaviors

• Ordinary drinking behavior

• Horse’s turn out preferences

QUALIFICATIONS: 

• Previous horse handling, husbandry, and general farm experience

• Ability to work both independently as well as part of a team

•  A level headed approach to horsemanship

• Some minimal computer knowledge, and general understanding of horse rehabilitation care, or the ability to learn both is required

PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS: 

• A minimum of 5 years experience in a professional equine facility of at least 30 stalls

• Experience with Warmbloods, Thoroughbreds, and various breeds involved in jumping and/or dressage

• Experience in a school horse/lesson environment

• Experience operating farm machinery 

• Riding experience or riding is not a requirement for this job although lunging knowledge is an added bonus for the hire

• We are looking for longevity in the hire so the desired hire will be long term

PHYSICAL DEMANDS/WORKING CONDITIONS:

• Must be able to work on your feet for the tenure of the duty day (8 hours)

• Ability to lift a 55 lb hay bale overhead

• Squat and lift a fully loaded 10 yard wheelbarrow and push it up an incline to be dumped

• This job requires the hire to work in all types of weather to include snow and rain conditions, varying temperature conditions (occasionally in extremes consistent with current New England weather), uneven terrain as well as non-improved surfaces

• Known equestrian hazards of working with large animals in differing environmen