Truthful Tuesday

 

Oof. Guys. Today's confession? I think I'm going to have to make a big change, and I HATE change! Here's the story:

I'm having some trouble with my barn helper and I don't think I can fix it. Which is really hard as he's been my reliable helper for close to ten years now. But he's being careless. One day last week I looked outside and he had Shiny loose eating grass in my backyard. Shiny's not supposed to eat grass. And no horses should be loose anywhere outside of the paddocks or ring. And then this morning I went out to get in my truck and I see he's left the gate wide open. Now this is a secondary gate, so he did not let any horses loose (again) but still. That gate is there as a safety measure as my barn is right on a busy state road. It's the last line of defense before a loose horse could run into the street. It's to be kept closed at all times. And when I spoke to him about it he made out like it was no big deal. Mind you, I've had this talk with him MANY times. And what's different this time? He snickered at my reaction. Like it was funny. I felt like I was dealing with a petulant teenager. But this is a 50+ year old man. 

Over the last several weeks I've found stall doors not latched, water buckets empty, manure left in the ring (we turn out in the ring), and hay not picked up. I spent two hours on Sunday picking hay out of the footing because he hasn't been picking it up after turnout. I know these are tedious tasks. But they need to be done. I don't have 50+ grand to redo my arena footing. And that's what will have to happen if they aren't done. I personally clean up Wednesdays (because my helper informed me this summer that he has to leave early on Wednesdays) and on the weekends when I do chores. So it's not like I'm asking for something I don't do myself. 

And not to make it about money, but I'm paying him for a five hour day from when I used to have four horses, but he's only working about 3.5 hours. 2.5 on Wednesdays. I didn't want to cut his pay when I sold Pammon, so that's on me for being a nice person. But I'm feeling taken advantage of now that he's not getting all the tasks done on top of being careless.

I know what needs to be done, but man I hate change. I'm not sure I hate change more than I hate being let down and taken advantage of though. So anyway... if any of you know anyone in CT that would like a job, I'm looking for help!