Position available - Working Pupil/Groom
We are looking for our next invaluable team member - someone who loves horses and will care for them as the precious members of the family that they are. We have big, strong (and sometimes silly) equines, so confidence but also patience and empathy are critical.
The main part of the role involves feeding, tacking up and, cleaning stables (max 4, and generally only in winter). However, we also have 400 olive trees, 80 fig trees and a small vineyard – there will be times of picking/sorting fruit, bottling olive oil and pruning trees. There will also be plenty of time mowing (a fun zero-turn commercial mower), whipper snipping and doing general farm maintenance work. You’ll be the glue who keeps up to 16 horses healthy and happy, and you'll learn impressive organisational skills coordinating us (we all work full-time, as well as managing the farm), farriers, vets, feed and everything else required to keep 6 dressage horses in work and a commercial orchard/olive grove running, and you’ll become a pseudo parent to our menagerie, including chooks, cats and dog.
Although you may not yet know how to do all these things, we are happy to teach those who are keen to learn. You must be prepared to work hard, often with limited supervision. Diligence, resilience, flexibility, attention to detail, reliability and above all, trustworthiness, are essential.
In return, you will receive all the things that should (but sadly don't always) come with a job in the equine industry, like hourly award wages, super, pay slips etc, but you will also be immersed in a high-performance environment, learning on a daily basis. We're not a sales barn, a big agistment centre, or a riding school, we are focused on training a small number of quality horses, to Grand Prix.
There is the opportunity to bring your own horse/s and the possibility of attending the major dressage competitions throughout Eastern Australia. We have demonstrated experience taking young horses right through to FEI and continue the development journey by hosting regular clinics on the property. For the right person, we also have a couple of well-bred horses that an experienced and capable rider might like to compete or help get ready to sell, although this isn't the main component of the role and definitely isn't a requirement.
If you know someone from outside our region who might be interested, our farm is just 25 minutes’ drive from the centre of Canberra, or 10 minutes from the closest suburbs; 2.5 hours from the NSW ski fields and the NSW South Coast beaches; and 3 hours from Sydney. That said, applicants must have their own car. We count as ‘Regional’ for those seeking their second or third year working holiday visa (though long-term applicants preferred).
It's a full time 38-hour position (3 full days, 3 half days), although we would consider part-time for the perfect applicant. We're flexible with which days are the half days. Please only apply by email ([email protected]) with a CV and contact details for two referees, and if seeking a riding position, a video of your riding.
