I was reading a survey that was done by the folks at Stable Management magazine. I remember being asked to participate in this online survey, so I was counted among the number of people who responded. They asked many, many interesting questions about those people who run, manage or work at equine businesses. Here is just a sample of the questions and responses-
1. What is your position?
66.1% Barn Owners
15.6% Trainers/Instructors
11.3% Barn Managers
5.4% Breeders
1.6% Employee
2. How long have you worked at or owned the current business?
36.8% Over 20 years
26.8% 11-20 years
25.7% 6-10 years
10.7% Less than 5 years
3. Age of the respondents (in years)-
61+- 30.5%
51-60- 36.0%
41-50- 19.3%
31-40- 10.2%
Under 30- 4%
4. Education level-
High School- 20.4%
College- 57.3%
Master’s- 17.2%
Doctorate- 5.1%
5. Residence State
California 9.6%
Florida 6.8%
Pennsylvania 6.6%
New York 5.6%
6. 80% of respondents own their property. Property sizes-
Less than 5 acres- 15.5%
6-15 acres- 24.6%
16-25 acres- 10.7%
26-50 acres- 13.8%
50+ 15.5%
Making Money–
65.2% of respondents said their equine business was their secondary form of income. Only 20% were making more than $100,000.00 per year in gross income, with the largest group (64.3%) making under $50,000.00. Most of the respondents felt they were underpaid (56.2%) while only 0.9% felt they were highly paid.
Boarding was the largest source of income reported at 42.8%. The average (47.0%) board fees for full care ranged from $251.00 – $500.00 per month. Lessons came in second on the income spectrum at 18.9%.
Most respondents felt they had no change in income from the previous year (37.6%) while 25.7% felt their income had decreased by at least 15%. Only 2.7% felt business had increased. The largest expense reported was feed at 60.5% with labor coming in second at 14.3%.
Staffing & Hours-
Most of the equine businesses are being staffed by sole proprietors while a few have some help.
Just me- 46.2%
Less than 5- 44.5%
6-10- 4.2%
11-20- 3.0%
20+ 2.1%
A full time work week is usually considered to be 40 hours. But in the equine industry, that is not the case. Most owners work well in excess of 50 hours weekly.
Hours worked per week-
50+- 27.4%
40-49- 19%
30-39- 16.9%
20-29- 23.2%
Less than 20- 13.5%
So looking at all these statistics tells me that I fall into the following categories along with most of my counterparts.
I own the property and have worked at it for over 20 years.
I live in California.
I am over 51 years old.
I have a college degree.
I am grossly underpaid!
I work more than 50 hours a week.
Our biggest expense is feed.
It’s a good thing Steve has a great job or I wouldn’t be able to do what I love every day!
I remember reading somewhere that if you do what you love for a living, you’ll never work a day in your life. Well, I do what I love and it (usually) doesn’t feel like work. Having great horses and clients makes everyday worth getting up for!