Live-In Barn And Equine Caretaker

Do you have significant horse and barn management experience and a desire to use that for good? Do you want to work at a place where we treat our horses as valued partners? Rocky Mountain Riding Therapy operates in beautiful Boulder, CO and is looking for a live-in Barn and Equine Caretaker. We are seeking a crucial part of our community and would love to hear from you!

Position Title: Live-in Barn and Equine Caretaker

Reports to: Rocky Mountain Riding Therapy’s Executive Director

Schedule: Part time, 30 hours/week. Majority of work will occur Monday-Friday

Compensation: $22/hour + living accommodations

Rocky Mountain Riding Therapy is a 501 c(3) non-profit. Our mission is to assist individuals with physical, cognitive, and/or emotional challenges to reach their fullest potential through equine-assisted therapies and activities. We have several staff, dozens of volunteers, and many collaborating partners working to ensure our participants have an impactful experience and our horses are cared for and supported in a high-quality manner. We care about being good stewards of our resources, supporting healthy and nurturing connections throughout our community, and striving to make data-informed decisions about how to best help our participants. We are more than just a barn; we are a community of individuals dedicated to the benefits of equine assisted services all working to provide positive experiences for everyone who comes through our gate.

Job Description: This position is critical to RMRT’s operations and requires individuals who can work with a team, communicate effectively, pay attention to details, and solve problems independently. All applicants must understand, appreciate, and be diligent about working towards fulfilling our goal as a non-profit to assist individuals with physical, cognitive, and/or emotional challenges to reach their fullest potential through equine-assisted therapies and activities.

This individual is responsible for duties related to equine and property management. Related to the former, candidates must be experienced and competent with natural horsemanship and able to enforce consistent behaviors to build healthy, beneficial relationships with our equine partners. Regarding the latter, this position requires the maintenance, upkeep, and support of the BARN and residents in order to meet the needs of the programs at Rocky Mountain Riding Therapy (RMRT). This position requires the ability to work effectively with RMRT team, program leaders, and volunteers. This individual will need the ability to take direction and then work to complete tasks independently, both around the BARN and with our equine partners. This position is physically demanding and requires the ability to lift in excess of 50 pounds and to work outdoors in all weather conditions. This position requires the ability to manage all barn help, in particular our weekend ranch hand(s). Live-in Barn and Equine Caretaker must clear a background check (criminal, sex offense, crime to person or animal). This person must be detail oriented, able to communicate effectively and frequently, and comfortable trouble-shooting and fixing small barn-related infrastructure problems. This person will also embrace working with collaborative partners to ensure the barn is suitable for all equine-assisted services offered and be a steward of our approach to providing a healthy and happy environment for our equine herd. Generally, the Live-in Barn and Equine Caretaker is tasked with:

• Building, enforcing, and maintaining strong partnerships with each member of our herd. Additionally, this individual will be key to ensuring that all RMRT staff and volunteers are aware of and act in accordance with practices that help build the equine/human relationship.
• Ensuring that all individuals working in our community are aware of equines’ statuses and/or any special circumstances that affect their day-to-day lives.
• Ensuring RMRT facilities (not including the therapy office) are maintained and appropriately stocked for use by our equines, collaborative partners, RMRT staff, and all visitors.
• First on duty for all feeding, mucking, turnout, and emergency facility issues.
• Provide a positive and customer-oriented experience to all who use RMRT including volunteers, collaborating partners, participants, participant families/friends, and EQUINE support (e.g. farrier, vet).

Specific Job Competencies

Below are the list of competencies that this position requires. These lists are not exhaustive but are cover the vast majority of tasks associated with this position:

Equine Management Duties:

• Competency in building relationship and partnership in the round pen
• Ability to lunge a horse
• Recognize and address behavior issues while leading
• Recognize and address behavior issues when interacting with humans in their run
• Competency in addressing behavior issues while grooming (ie poor hoof manners or tying issues)
• Competency in desensitization to props, environmental stimuli, loud and sudden sounds, etc
• Competently ride walk, trot, and canter at an intermediate or advanced level
• Determination if an English and Western saddle properly fits a horse
• Work agreeably with volunteers, instructors, and other team members and be able to provide training and advice to them as needed
• Believe that horses are our partners and should be treated with respected as unique individuals
• Be able to recognize burnout, address burnout, and recognize when a horse is ready to retire from our program
• Recognize equine illness
• Identification of equine lameness
• Provide equine first aid and administer medications when needed
• Ensure all paperwork and communication with leased horse owners is adherent to RMRT procedures, timely, and in order
• Familiarity with PATH and any other partner requirements and ensure barn/equine compliance with those standards.

Barn Upkeep Duties: Specifically, the Live-in Ranch Caretaker is responsible for purchasing and maintaining the following items:

• Ordering Hay and coordinating delivery
• Feeding the horses AM, Afternoon, and PM if and when Volunteers or other staff are unable to fill those jobs
• Checking and filling waters as needed
• Restocking feed and coordinating with leased horse owners
• Mucking
• Ordering and picking up shavings
• Pasture turn out
• Pasture maintenance
• Internet
• Rent
• Repairs/Maintenance
• Telephone/ Utilities/ Waste Disposal
• Ensuring any cars/vehicles RMRT buys or borrows are maintained
• Fly/wasp Deterrents
• Office and Bathroom Supplies
• Restocking Office Water

Management Duties: The Live-in Ranch Caretaker is expected to coordinate and manage all barn help. This includes the weekend ranch hand, execution of any and all emergency operations, and provide frequent (at least weekly) updates to RMRT team about the property status.

• Managing weekend ranch help
• Key coordinator for all emergency execution
• Frequent updates to RMRT staff about status of property

Volunteer Training and Management: The Live-in Ranch Caretaker is expected to work with the Volunteer Coordinator to find, train, and ensure all volunteer work related to barn maintenance is executed properly. This includes:

• Coordinating all property maintenance volunteer work, including ongoing tasks such as mucking stalls and also one-time tasks such as stall mat replacements
• Training all property volunteers
• Ensure turn-out fields are properly maintained
• Ensure outdoor arena and indoor walking area are maintained and ready for programming

Horse Care Coordination

• The Live-In Barn and Equine Caretaker should work with any RMRT equine trainers to ensure that the equines receive the care that they need and that they maintain good physical, mental, and emotional well-being.
• The Live-In Barn and Equine Caretaker ensure that first aid, medicine, and feed are provided to equines as needed.
• The Live-In Barn and Equine Caretaker will schedule all farrier visits and routine vet visits. The Live-In Barn and Equine Caretaker should work with any horse trainers, veterinarians, and farriers to address any lameness or illness of the RMRT equines.

Benefits

• The Live-In Barn and Equine Caretaker may take up to 2 weeks paid vacation each year.
• Time off should be approved by the Executive Director, at least 2 weeks in advance.
• Any additional time off requests will be considered by the RMRT Executive Director and must be requested at least 2 weeks days in advance.
• The Live-In Barn and Equine Caretaker has accrued paid sick leave that can be used for sickness of self, caring for a sick family member, or attending a family funeral.
• Live-in Caretaker is expected to live in the apartment at the property and in accordance with RMRT policies and the agreement between RMRT and Boulder Open Space and Mountain Parks. This includes the following stipulations:
• No smoking at any time, inside or outside
• No more than 2 overnight guests for no more than 7 days. All guests are expected to act in accordance with RMRT policies and expectations and any violations may result in the immediate termination of the Live-in Ranch Caretaker’s position and occupation of the barn apartment.
• Live-in Ranch Caretaker is expected to seek out and work with the Executive Director to find at least one professional development opportunity per year.

Administrative Expectations

• Participate in RMRT barn administration meetings
• Participate in all review meetings with Executive Director
• Participate as able in all team meetings
• Should the Live-in Barn and Equine Caretaker need to leave, we kindly request at least 4 weeks notice.
• This agreement is between RMRT and the Live-In Barn and Equine Caretaker .
• Other duties may arise unexpectedly. The Live-In Barn and Equine Caretaker is expected to work agreeably with the RMRT team around any changes and to provide input as appropriate.
• RMRT offers Workman’s Comp to all employees in the event that an employee is injured while working.
• Retirement funding is an option for all RMRT employees through Colorado SecureSavings.

Professional Behavior

• Promote and support an effective team environment, including adherence to Ethical Communication practices with team, participants, volunteers and community members.
• Represent RMRT in a positive and professional manner.
• Maintain safety as RMRT’s paramount concern. Place safety first in all actions and activities.
• Demonstrate respect, interest, compassion and caring for program participants, volunteers and community members.
• Know, and abide by, ALL RMRT’s Policies and Procedures.
• Know, support and promote the Mission, Values and Goals of RMRT.
• Attend and participate in team meetings (as able).

Move-in would be no later than May 2024.

Please send a resume and cover letter detailing your experience, why you care about our mission, and how you would be able to contribute in this role to rmrt.director@gmail.com

Job Types: Full-time, Part-time

Pay: $22.00 per hour

Expected hours: 30 per week

Benefits:

• Flexible schedule
• Retirement plan

Schedule:

• Monday to Friday
• Weekends as needed

Ability to Relocate:

• Boulder, CO 80303: Relocate before starting work (Required)

Work Location: In person