About this role
Summary of Purpose:
Provides daily care, cleanliness, comfort, and enrichment to KHS horses, ensuring excellent animal care.
Duties (Essential Functions):
Provide daily care, cleanliness, and enrichment to animals in care and maintain common areas.
- Responsible for daily cleaning and sanitation of equine areas and common areas with emphasis on disease control protocols.
- Feed and provide daily care for equine of all training/behavior levels in such a manner as to ensure a low stress environment while adhering to safety protocol.
- Administer medications or treatments to ill/injured animals under direction from a veterinarian.
- Assist in movement of equine as needed.
- Responsible for loading and unloading of animals for transport to foster, veterinarian, or rescue partners.
- Provide physical exercise and/or social interaction for equine in care as assigned.
- Follow and maintain excellent knowledge of organization, cleaning, sanitation, and safety practices to provide a healthy and safe environment for animals and people.
- Unpack, sort, and organize donations as needed.
- Help maintain inventory of shelter supplies and communicate with appropriate manager to order supplies when needed.
- Assist in maintaining a clean and uncluttered environment; clean stalls, sweep, take out trash, clean offices, etc.
- Drive KHS vehicles including tractor and trucks in a safe and courteous manner as needed.
- Perform routine facility and grounds maintenance as appropriate.
Monitor the behavior and health of animals in care.
- Monitor health of animals to rapidly identify any health issues/injuries and report to manager while recording observations in departmental software systems (Petpoint).
- Gain and maintain knowledge of animal behavior including animal body language and signals of stress/illness to safely handle equine of all sizes and temperaments.
- Monitor behavior health of animals to rapidly identify any behavior issues and report to a manager while recording observations in departmental software systems (Petpoint).
Provide professional, compassionate, stellar customer services to all who visit, call, volunteer, donate or work for KHS.
- Communicate any animal health or temperament concerns to management in a timely manner.
- Work with and supervise volunteers to provide animals and humans with a safe, clean, organized, and pleasant experience.
- Communicate with manager on duty regarding unusual activities, significant problems or concerns.
Other duties as assigned.
Qualifications
Qualifications/Requirements:
- 2+ years of experience working with equine preferred.
- Experience working with equine of unknown health & behavior including feral horses preferred.
- Equine training experience preferred.
- Ability to load, haul and handle horses of all temperaments for transport.
- Intermediate knowledge of equine health, medical needs and treatment.
- Ability to work independently with little direct supervision.
- Great interpersonal skills in person and by phone with clients, staff, and volunteers.
- Demonstrated attention to detail, and ability to process paperwork accurately and efficiently.
- Ability to handle multiple tasks simultaneously in a fast-paced environment.
- Humane attitude towards animals.
- Ability to manage the emotional aspect of end-of-life services and humane euthanasia, and support staff in high-emotion circumstances.
- Accept, support, and represent KHS core values, programs, policies, and procedures.
- Basic computer knowledge.
- Support the usage of approved AI tools when they can improve efficiency and reduce time spent on routine or administrative tasks while meeting quality, accuracy, confidentiality and professional standards.
- Ability to lift or otherwise move large items and animals – up to 50 pounds; full range of motion, including stooping, bending, reaching, etc.
- Must possess a valid driver’s license and clean driving record and be willing to drive KHS vehicles.
- Background Check required.
Physical, Psychosocial, and Cognitive Demands/ Working Environment
- Requires travel, including overnight stays.
- Frequent bending, reaching, kneeling, walking, and standing regularly while performing job functions.
- Frequently lifts, carries, or otherwise moves and positions objects weighing up to and exceeding 100 lbs.
- Includes working with equine in a barn setting (indoor/outdoor) in varying weather conditions.
- Potential for exposure to allergens (including but not limited to pet dander, dust, peanut butter), and zoonotic diseases (diseases transferred from animals to humans).
- Exposure to chemicals.
- Exposure to loud noise.
- Exposure to emotional circumstances.
- Fast-paced environment.