Know the animals.
Feed, water, clean, observe, and notice changes in condition, behavior, appetite, movement, or anything else the team should know about.
Farm Operations · Year-Round
Farm Hand
Help care for the animals, maintain the property, and keep the farm ready for riders, campers, guests, and the rest of the Autumn's Gate team. This is hands-on work for someone who notices what needs to be done and takes pride in doing it well.
Hours12–32+ / week
TypeNon-Seasonal
ScheduleNon-Fixed Weekly
CompensationBased on Skill & Experience
LocationRansomville, NY
Animals first. Property ready. Team supported.
The work behind every good day at Autumn's Gate.
Lessons, camps, trail rides, events, and guest experiences only work when the animals are cared for and the property is clean, organized, safe, and ready. Farm Hands are a big part of making that happen.
Some days are routine: feeding, watering, cleaning, turnout, supplies, and barn organization. Other days include fencing, trails, repairs, event setup, horse preparation, weather cleanup, or helping another department solve a problem. We are a small operation, so being able to notice, adapt, and help matters.
Your mission
Keep the animals cared for and the farm ready.
Take pride in the property.
Keep barns, feed rooms, enclosures, trails, fences, supplies, tack, equipment, and shared work areas clean, safe, functional, and organized.
Help the whole farm work.
Prepare spaces and animals for programs, pitch in on projects, and help other team members when a busy farm day changes the plan.
What you'll own
Your responsibilities may include:
- Feeding and watering horses and other farm animals according to their daily requirements.
- Cleaning stalls, barns, paddocks, shelters, and animal enclosures.
- Helping with turnout and routine horse and animal handling when trained and appropriate.
- Monitoring animals for changes in health, soundness, behavior, appetite, stress, or condition and reporting concerns promptly.
- Managing feed, hay, bedding, water, and supplies so animal-care areas stay stocked, clean, and organized.
- Cleaning, maintaining, and organizing barn supplies, tack, tools, and equipment.
- Helping maintain fences, gates, trails, grounds, common areas, and farm facilities.
- Completing basic maintenance, seasonal cleanup, and farm projects within your training and ability.
- Preparing horses for lessons or programs when needed, including grooming, tacking, lunging, or other approved preparation.
- Helping keep riders, visitors, campers, and guests safe by reinforcing Barn Rules and reporting unsafe behavior.
- Supporting setup, operations, and teardown for camps, trail rides, lessons, events, and special programs.
- Using tools, machinery, or equipment when trained and authorized to do so.
- Helping other Autumn's Gate departments when farm operations require it.
Before you apply
We're hiring the person, not just the résumé.
Life is pretty awesome.
We genuinely care about animals, the people who visit them, and the work required to care for a busy farm correctly. Farm experience is useful, but it is not the only thing we evaluate.
Skills can be taught. Experience can be built. The right person can grow with us.
- Reliable, punctual, and able to manage time without constant supervision.
- Physically capable of demanding work and comfortable working outdoors in changing weather.
- Observant enough to notice an animal, fence, gate, water source, or work area that needs attention.
- Willing to take ownership instead of walking past a problem because it was not specifically assigned.
- Calm, respectful, and safety-minded around horses and other large animals.
- Comfortable working independently while still being a strong teammate.
- Coachable, willing to learn, and able to follow animal-care and safety procedures.
- Positive enough to contribute to a farm environment where people should actually enjoy being here.
Is this you?
The work should feel right on both sides.
You may love this role if...
- You genuinely enjoy caring for animals and being around a working barn.
- You like physical work and prefer moving around to sitting behind a desk.
- You notice what needs to be done and naturally start solving it.
- You take pride in clean, organized, well-maintained spaces.
- You enjoy learning horse care, equipment, facilities, and farm operations.
- You like variety and being useful across multiple areas of a small operation.
This may not be the role for you if...
- You want a climate-controlled job with predictable indoor tasks.
- You strongly dislike cleaning, mud, manure, weather, or repetitive physical work.
- You need every task assigned individually before taking action.
- You are uncomfortable following strict animal-care and safety procedures.
- You are mainly looking for access to horses rather than responsibility for their care.
- You want a narrow job description where helping outside your normal task list is unusual.
Where this can lead
Start with farm care. Build professional capability.
Strong Farm Hands can grow into broader responsibility as they demonstrate reliability, judgment, animal knowledge, technical ability, and leadership.
Animal Care
Develop deeper knowledge of feeding, behavior, observation, routines, and multi-species care.
Barn & Horse Management
Build stronger horse-handling, barn-management, organization, and program-preparation skills.
Facilities & Equipment
Grow into fencing, trails, maintenance, tools, machinery, grounds, and property projects.
Leadership
Earn more responsibility, additional hours, project ownership, supervision, and potential full-time opportunities.
Depending on role, availability, and fit, additional benefits or opportunities may include participation in Autumn's Gate programs and events, hands-on training, increased responsibility, and personal horse boarding opportunities when available.
The application process
Simple, conversational, and human.
Review the role
Make sure the physical work, schedule, animal care, and team culture sound like something you actually want.
Submit the application
Tell us about your availability, work history, animal experience, physical-work experience, and why Autumn's Gate interests you.
Interview with Bit
Bit reviews your submitted application and conducts a tailored initial interview based on what you shared.
Human review
Qualified applications and Bit's interview summary move to the appropriate Autumn's Gate team leader.
Apply for the position
Ready to get your hands dirty?
Complete the Farm Hand application here. Once it is submitted successfully, you will continue to the Bit interview page. Bit will use what you shared in the application to personalize the initial interview, so you should not need to repeat information unnecessarily.
Bit helps organize and evaluate the initial conversation. Qualified applicants are then sent to the appropriate Autumn's Gate team leader for human review. Bit does not make the final hiring decision.