After Years of Wandering, a Stable Job
Manuel Gonzales, a 38-year-old stable keeper at the Burbank Pet and Equestrian Center, has had a lot of jobs since coming to this country 20 years ago from Jalisco, Mexico.
He has worked in the stockyards of Chicago, the pine nurseries of Michigan and the pear and cherry orchards of Washington. Yet the veteran of eight San Fernando Valley stables says that, given the chance, he would probably take a factory job, where working conditions might be less taxing.
Rising at 5 each morning, he now feeds and cleans the stables for about 80 horses twice a day. He also supplements his pay of $200 a week by exercising the thoroughbreds, quarter horses and Arabians of horse lovers busy with jobs or vacations.
Even if he did not work at the stable, however, Gonzales says, he would still end up spending most of his time there.
“I would have to buy a horse to keep here,” he says. “I have to ride horses--it’s my passion. It’s like having the most beautiful woman in my arms.”
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