Horse Job - Assistant Barn Manager - Arabian

Assistant Barn Manager ARABIAN #60292B

Established breeding/training/show farm with international reputation, located in Newnan, GA. We stand several world-class stallions, manage world class mares and prepare all ages for the halter arena for select shows. Must be comfortably experienced in A.I. breeding, stallion collection, vet assistance, foaling, handling youngsters and stallions. Contemporary thinker, golden rule ethics & excellent personal skills are all required. References closely researched. Riding skills a plus.

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Job Located in Region 4

Horse Job Advertising - When "Less is More"

When you advertise for help, job seekers will screen your ads.  They will search your ads for reasons not to spend the time and effort to contact you.  In general, the more information you provide in your ad, the greater the chance that a job seeker will find some reason to reject your job without even contacting you. 

If the tone in your ad is negative or focuses on warnings about the job, the duties, and the requirements; you are giving people reasons not to contact you.  If you go into detail about the specifics of your philosophy or your techniques, you give job seekers a reason to reject your philosophy or techniques and not respond.  If you provide a link to your web site in your ads, you may open the door to so much information about you that most anyone can find something they don't like. 

The primary objective of job advertising is to entice people to contact you.  The most effective way of accomplishing this is to give a few pertinent facts about the position and word them in such a way that they invite job seekers to ask questions.  Your ad should be the bait that job seekers can't refuse.  It should arouse their curiosity and invite them to contact you for answers to their questions.

Here is an example of a well worded advertisement.

*************
Trainer
REINING

Nationally recognized full service operation located in Colorado has opening for experienced trainer with successful show record.  Established clientèle are waiting to benefit from your skills and experience.  New customer inquiries every week.  Opportunity to train horses, compete, and be part of our management team. 

Contact Seth Burgess - 303-555-1212 or seth@equimax.com
**************************************************************************

This ad makes the job sound wonderful, but gives almost no information about specifics.  The job seeker is left wondering 1) Who are these people? 2) How big is their operation? 3) What do they pay?  4) How many employees do they have?  5)Do they provide benefits?  6) Do I have enough experience to qualify?  7) What are their facilities like?  8) What kind of show record are they looking for? 9) Exactly where are they located? 10) What kind of clientèle do they serve; beginners, advanced, or both?  11) Where do they compete with their horses on a regular basis?  This ad does not give enough information for a job seeker to reject the job.  The only way that the job seeker can get answers to the questions the job seeker is curious about is to make contact with the employer.  The ad has done it's job.

For more tips on attracting, hiring and keeping good help, see this article. 

Your False Self and Your Horses - Part Two

In Part One of this article I introduced the false self; the part of all human beings that obsesses about past experiences and worries about potential future problems.  We all have a false self and it is not a bad thing.  It helps is keep our behavior socially acceptable, it tries to keep us safe, and it contributes to the relationships we build with people and horses.  In most of us the false self takes over our thinking to such a great extent that we lose some of our ability to perceive and interact with what is happening in the present moment, including with our horses.  Horses don't have a false self and in fact, they react negatively to people who have an "agenda" and are not being present and honest in the horse/human relationship. 

In Part Two, I suggest ways in which we can "tame" the false self and by doing so, improve our horsemanship.  Let me say again  that the false self is not bad. Our objective is not to get rid of the false self, but to tame it and keep it from getting outside of it's proper boundaries.  

The first thing to understand about taming the false self, is that you cannot tame your false self with your false self.  You cannot set out to change the way your mind works and improve your perception by conscious planning and effort. If you set out to tame your false self by your own strength of will, you will encourage your false self to take over your consciousness even more.  The key to taming the false self is to come at the problem indirectly.  In the same way that communication with horses is best done using indirect non-linear methods, the human spirit is transformed most effectively with non-linear methods.  

The first step is to appreciate how strong your false self is.  To do this, find a quiet spot where you can sit with no distractions for twenty minutes.  Set a timer, so you won't worry about the time or cut your session short.  Sit in a comfortable chair, but not so comfortable that you will fall asleep.  Close your eyes and begin noticing your thoughts.  Here are some types of thoughts you might have: 

1. Am I doing this right?
2. Is this working?
3. I wonder if I should have said that to Mary last week.
   
4. I shouldn't forget to mow the lawn tomorrow.
5. I wonder how I can convince my horse to get in the trailer.
6. How am I going to pay the bills this month.
7. What would someone think if they see me doing this.
8. How am I going to make it up to Bob for blowing it yesterday.
   
9. How am I going to do a better job to get the boss off my back.
10. How am I going to find a job?

These are normal false self thoughts.  Everyone has these types of thoughts. As you sit, you will notice very quickly that something is going on in your mind most every second.  If you try to stop your thoughts, one of two things happens, (1) Your thoughts "go underground." (You are actually still thinking, but you don't realize it, or (2) When you succeed in stopping one thought, another one quickly pops up. 

The objective of this exercise is not to stop thinking, it is to disconnect yourself from each thought as it comes along; to let the thought go and not get emotionally attached to them.  This is not easy and it takes a lot of practice.  If you commit to doing this kind of "contemplative sit" every day for 20 minutes, over time you will see a difference in the way you see things. You will find yourself more perceptive of what is around you.  You will find yourself less critical of your horses and other people.  You will find that you worry less about the future.  These changes may happen gradually over several months or even years. You may not have much sense of progress, or much sense of anything at all happening.  A sense of progress, or accomplishment is false self stuff.  

As you sit and observe your thoughts, think of sitting on a river bank watching your thoughts go down the river in little boats.  As each boat comes down the river towards you, let it go on down the river and you stay seated on the bank in your mind.  Inevitably, you will not be successful all the time.  You may suddenly realize that you have jumped on a boat and are going on down the river attached to a particular thought.  As soon as you realize that this has happened, focus on your breathing, and place yourself figuratively back on the bank.  If this is not enough, focus on a word or two, such as "in" "out" in time with your breathing.

If you have trouble, getting started with this exercise, try  "walking meditation."    Pick a place in nature which is free of human noise and distraction, such as a walking path where few people go.  As you walk, observe your thoughts in the same way, and let them go when they come up. 

Done properly, this exercise should seem like doing absolutely nothing, and that is the point.  Doing and accomplishing is false self stuff. Your false self will not give up easily.  It may pester you about wasting time.  After a day or two your false self is likely to become more and more creative at keeping your attention.  Don't give in.  Keep returning to the bank and letting your thoughts go.  At its heart, this exercise should be not about your "attention" but your "intention".  This means don't pay attention to your thoughts, instead put your energy into "intending" to let them go. 

Don't expect dramatic results quickly.  You may not experience a difference for quite a while.  However, one day, you will realize that you are better at perceiving your horses and less anxious about "achieving" things with them.  Your horses will notice the difference.  You may see their behavior towards you become less obstructive and more cooperative.  As your false self is returned to its proper place in your consciousness, you are likely to see differences in lots of different areas in your life. 

Leave some comments about what you think, or post your questions.  If you missed Part One of this article, you can find it here.

Horse Job Communication - Don't Assume Anything

When you are looking for a horse job or want to hire help for your farm or stable, communication can break down very easily.  Matters of employment in the horse industry are frequently arranged over long distances.  Initial contact between job seekers and employers is usually handled by telephone, fax, email, or postal mail. Each of these technologies has it's potential for failure.  Here are a few of the failures that can happen.

1. Telephone

2. Fax

3. Email

• email account "over quota" or "mailbox full" resulting in messages being returned
• email address given or entered incorrectly
• email address changed without notice
• "reply to" address is incorrect in email header.
• corrupt recipient mailbox
• recipient email server down
• message deleted without notice due to certain attachment file types or any attached file
• message filtered out by recipient's spam filters
• message not allowed because sender's email account is not set up according to established rules.
• message not delivered AND no notice of non-delivery is sent to sender.
• attachments in incompatible/non-standard format

4. Postal Mail

• Wrong address given or entered.
• Apartment number not given
• Street address is used when recipient gets mail at a P.O. Box.
• Shared address without use of "care of" (c/o), resulting in mail being returned
• Wrong zip code
• City and Zip code do not match street address (two addresses mixed.)
• Mail lost in transit
• Improper postage
• Mail addressed to wrong person
• Mail delivered to wrong person

These are only a few of the most common ways in which communication can fail.  You can see how easy it is for most any kind of communication to fail.  Even if your message gets through, it can still be misinterpreted, misplaced, or contain insufficient information. 

To increase your chances of success in hiring, be on the lookout for communication failures.  When possible, speak to employee by telephone first.  When you speak directly to a person, you know immediately that your message has been received and you get an initial reply.  If you use any other method, voice mail, email, fax, or postal mail and you don't get a reply, always follow up to find out if your message was received. 

If you are hiring help, get more information on tools and techniques from this page.

If you are searching for a job, be sure to play The Career Game and spend some time with the resource pages.

 

Fast Fixes for Fear with Horses - Guest Blog

Hope for Discouraged Candidates for Jobs with Horses

Sometimes an article comes along from outside the horse industry which speaks volumes to people looking for equine jobs.  Here is just such an article by Susan Adams from Forbes.

How to Find a Job When You've Been Looking Forever

For more information on building careers in the horse industry take a look at The Career Game, a free on-line tool for building a career in equine employment. 

Assign Tasks to Your Equine Job Applicants - Ultimate Screening

Every equine employer wants people who are organized, self-motivated, punctual, attentive, loyal, and trustworthy.  However, these are subjective qualities that you as an employer will need to assess in each applicant for your horse jobs.  Putting words like these in your help wanted ads reveals your ignorance of sound hiring practices and may send the message that you have trouble hiring good help. 

So, just how do you find the organized, self-motivated, punctual, attentive, loyal, and trustworthy horse people?  Conventional wisdom says, "Check out their background. Get references."  Background checks and references are important, but they are not the best indicators of how an applicant will perform on the job.  To find out if your applicant is likely to be organized, self-motivated, punctual, attentive, loyal, and trustworthy on the job, give your applicants tasks to perform.   For instance, when you schedule an interview, be clear about the time an place and ask the applicant to bring a written resume.  If your applicant shows up on time, in the correct place, and brings a carefully prepared resume, you have learned that they are probably attentive, punctual, and organized.  If they are late and don't bother to call with a reason, if they get lost because they didn't write down the directions, or if they give you a hastily prepared or sloppy resume, you will know that they are NOT very attentive, polite, and organized. 

Be creative in the tasks you assign to your equine applicants.  Ask applicants to look at your advertising or at your web site and come to the interview with a written list of at least four suggestions to make your web site or your advertising better.  If your applicants would be handling horses on the job, ask them to catch and move a horse from one pasture to another.  If the job involves hauling horses, ask applicants to hook up your horse trailer.  Give your applicants some cash and ask them to go out and pick up lunch for the crew at the barn.  Tell the applicant to find out what everybody wants, give them directions to the nearest McDonalds and turn them loose.  When they return, notice if they bring you a receipt.  Did they get everybody's order straight?  Did they return the exact change? 

Devote some time to thinking up tasks that will help you uncover the truly outstanding applicants.  Be sure to ask all applicants to do the same tasks.  This will not only help you compare applicants more effectively, it will help avoid the appearance of discrimination.  For more information on this and other ways to scope out the best people, read this article.  For help with background checks see this page.

Your False Self and Your Horses - Part One

Everyone has a false self.  Sometimes it is referred to as the ego. By ego, I don't necessarily mean puffed-up self-centered importance.  Your ego, or your false self is the part of you that gets you to the doctor when you are sick, prevents you from offending other people, learns from your mistakes, and makes plans for the future.  In short, your false self is the part of you that relives the past and worries about the future.  Without it we would not be human.

Your false self is "false" because it focuses on events that have happened in the past or events that may happen in the future.  By definition, the false self is not focused on the present moment, which is the only moment that is real. Hence the name false self. 

When we are small children, we start building our false self through experience.  We make judgments about our behavior and separate it into good behavior and bad.  If we decide that a behavior is good because we like it, it pleases our parents, or it results in getting what we want, we store that behavior so our false self can use it to plan future activities.  If we decide a behavior is bad, we suppress it in our "shadow self" and store it so our false self can review it to avoid punishment, avoid getting hurt, avoid offending people, etc.  

As we grow older, our false self has more and more experience to draw on.  Eventually it consumes most of our thoughts day and night, either planning for the future, or reviewing the past to bring about good times or to avoid bad times. Most of us eventually lose touch with what's going on right in front of us in the present moment.  We don't stop to look at a flower while we rush off to our next appointment.  We don't listen to each other as we are planning our next response.  We don't see another person's point of view as we worry about how it affects us.  

Horses don't have a false self. They live almost entirely in the present moment.  They don't harbor complicated agendas, and they don't spend much time mulling over their past.  They don't plan for the future, and they don't manipulate their behavior to hide what they really think about us. This makes them both frustrating and incredible at the same time. 

When we are with our horse, we may be "under the influence" of our false self, planning how we want our horse to behave, or worrying about having hurt his feelings last week. Our horse is not concerned with either of these agendas. When we are around, our horse is busy observing us from moment to moment.  Horses are so good at this kind of observation, that they may see emotions and states of mind in us that we ourselves are not in touch with.  They might see we are angry when we are trying to deny it.  They might see we are worried about something when we are trying to "fix it" by manipulation. 

Horses always mirror back to us our current state of mind and emotion.  We may interpret a horse's behavior as being contrary, stubborn, or uncooperative.  The horse may simply be telling us that he doesn't want to be around us if we won't be honest with ourselves and be present in the relationship.

If we play with our horse, or worse, get on and ride when we are not focused on the present moment, if we relate to our horse when we are planning what we are going to serve for dinner, or worring about what the boss said yesterday, we are asking for trouble.  Horses don't like people who bring their false self into the round pen or arena. 

So, to improve our horsemanship and our relationships with our horses, we need to learn how to quiet the false self and how to be present.  This is not an easy task, because, by the age of 10 or so, we have become false self experts. 

Next time I will write about how to quiet the false self and become more present. Leave some comments about what you think.

Part two of this article can be found here.

You Are in the People Business - Not Just the Horse Business

In my conversations with job seekers and employers, I quite often hear people say that they like horses more than they like people.  I sympathize with this sentiment.  People can be unpredictable, devious, hurtful, and downright nasty at times.  Horses are generally predictable, straight forward, and honest.  Whether you have one back yard horse or 200 brood mares, enjoying and caring for your horses leads to relationships with a few key people and perhaps with hundreds.  The quality of your relationships with suppliers, veterinarians, farriers, customers, employees, competitors, and a host of other horse industry people will influence how much enjoyment you get out of your horses.  If your business is horses, improving these relationships can translate directly to improvements in your bottom line.  The good news is that relationships with people can be as rewarding and satisfying as an afternoon with your horse on a cool summer day.  

Many of us would like to leave this world a better place for having been here.  Relationships with the people you interact with on a daily basis are the foundation from which a better world is built.  You cannot control how other people behave, but you can control how you behave.  Be patient, respectful, honest, professional, and attentive.  Pay your suppliers and employees promptly.  Respect the expertise of your professionals.  Cater to the needs of your customers.  Encourage your competitors.  Bepatient with your boss and your employees.  Be ready to give anyone the benefit of the doubt.  You will not only have more fun with your horses, you will improve your bottom line or your career.

For more on relationships in the horse industry, download this article.