# Stall Cleaning in WA



## AQHA13 (Apr 19, 2017)

I don't need any stalls cleaned, but I wanted to welcome you to the forum! I am also from WA, the Yakima area.


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## nucks93 (Dec 7, 2011)

Haha aww, well thank you!!!


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## Saddlebag (Jan 17, 2011)

Most barns only want to pay $1 per stall and not much more for paddocks. Good luck.


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## Dreamcatcher Arabians (Nov 14, 2010)

LOL, out here they don't do paddocks usually and it's .50/stall! $6, YIKES!


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## nucks93 (Dec 7, 2011)

;_; come on guys! Help a college student out! ****!


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## Clayton Taffy (May 24, 2011)

I pay $9.00 an hour with a two hour minimum, so at least $18 every time they drive on the property.


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## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

1$ per stall? That's outrageous. HOw long does it take? Are they talking about picking the poo and wet bedding or stripping and refilling.?

In WA things are a lot more expensive, consequently wages are also higher.
Minimum wage here is around 9$.


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## Eolith (Sep 30, 2007)

I help out around a barn in WA state and get $10 an hour.

I think for stall cleaning, an hourly rate is a better way to go. I could probably clean 4-6 stalls in one hour, depending on how thorough I needed to be that given day. So, when it gets down to it, even at $10 an hour (which I consider VERY reasonable for what I do) I'm only getting maybe $2.50-$1.60 per stall.

To the OP, I think you should offer to work for an hourly rate... that way you aren't "limited" to one task. You can clean the stalls, then wash out water buckets, then sweep, then clean some tack etc etc etc and probably end up with more work and more profit overall.


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## waresbear (Jun 18, 2011)

50 cents a stall? I will give a buck to vacuum out my car & another buck to sweep my floor, forget the stalls! Sorry, forgot my manners, Welcome to the Forum.


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## Dreamcatcher Arabians (Nov 14, 2010)

Errrrrrm, out here most of 'em habla......


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## nucks93 (Dec 7, 2011)

Haha, well thanks waresbear! And hmm..hourly wage isn't a bad idea..


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## Saddlebag (Jan 17, 2011)

Over the years I have found that the bulk of the barn owners want glorified slaves who shovel poop for the love of it. How many men do you see doing this? Very few cause they're the smart ones. They know they can make more pumping gas or working at McDonalds. I should add - when the barn cleaner gets fed up with working conditions and expectations, just try to collect what's owing to you. All of a sudden no one knows you. If you do this make it clear you have to be paid at the end of each day. Skip their excuses. Tell them if you pay is a day late, you'll come to work a day late. Sorry to sound so brutal but I've seen to many barn helpers get royally cheated.


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## nucks93 (Dec 7, 2011)

Saddlebag said:


> Over the years I have found that the bulk of the barn owners want glorified slaves who shovel poop for the love of it. How many men do you see doing this? Very few cause they're the smart ones. They know they can make more pumping gas or working at McDonalds. I should add - when the barn cleaner gets fed up with working conditions and expectations, just try to collect what's owing to you. All of a sudden no one knows you. If you do this make it clear you have to be paid at the end of each day. Skip their excuses. Tell them if you pay is a day late, you'll come to work a day late. Sorry to sound so brutal but I've seen to many barn helpers get royally cheated.



Ohhh I know how that goes. I used to clean stalls when I was in middle school, and it was like pulling teeth to get the owner to pay me. I guess I'm a weird kid, but cleaning stalls to me is like retail therapy to city kids I guess haha..


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## Sanala (Feb 18, 2012)

Hello, fellow Washingtonian! I am in Bellingham.

I have two stall cleaning jobs. I get $3.11 at one place where I do 20 stalls (10 stalls have attached runs which I clean for no extra) 3x a week, and at the other I get $2.50 per stall where I clean 5 stalls (all with runs.)

When looking for a horse job, do not start out with an asking price. Always negotiate until you have enough clientele or reputation to ask a set rate. When you think about a stall cleaning job, ask yourself, why do you want this job? Do you want money, or do you want the opportunity? Money, you will surely never get from stall cleaning. The job where I get $3.11 is the most I have ever been paid for cleaning.

I have worked for as little as FREE. Why? Because I want to be a professional horseperson. I get choosy with the barns I work for. I'm working for professionals, and I am cleaning their stalls for practically no pay but it is worth every second of my time. It gives me the opportunity to talk to professionals, ask them advice, talk about how they got to where they are and how I can maybe get there some day. I bring in some clients on occasion when the trainer has no time. At one stable I've started riding their horses to save them some time to spend with the ones who need extra training. Having the opportunity to meet people who show on a world class level is amazing and worth every ounce of effort I have put into it. The pay? It's just gas money to get me there, and maybe enough to spend on lunch if I go to McDonalds...

If you have enough time away from school and you want the experience or enjoyment of picking poop out of stalls for hours every morning just because you love it, do it. If you want the money? Your time is better spent elsewhere. You MIGHT get lucky and be able to find somewhere that pays hourly, but if you are not a speedy and efficient cleaner they won't keep you.

Good luck with whatever you decide.


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## Celeste (Jul 3, 2011)

So people should pick your horse manure for free because they love it?
Hmmmmmmm.


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## yadlim (Feb 2, 2012)

The other factor around here, WA Puget Sound area, is that the big stables where they would have enough stalls to be cost effective to go out to, are few and far between. They are not close to any of the big schools. Most of the big barns I have seen around here have a very poorly paid kid who lives on site and gets a wage of maybe $300 a month for six to eight hours of work a day. And yes, they realy speek engligh.

There is also the problem of supply and demand. Because it is so darned expensive to keep a horse around here, there are a plethora of kids (from little to collage age) who are willing to work for free or the occasional time on a horse - just to be near a horse.

I have been offered general manager at a stable for $200 a week and the opportunity to train with the trainer - so I could also break horses for him for free on top of six hours a day of feeding, turning out, and cleanign stalls. I turned down the position, but there was a line of people behind me waiting to say yes.


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