Trainer Burnout Is Real – And Tech Could Be the Lifeline We Need
Race mornings start before sunrise. Feed-ups, gallops, vet visits, stable management, all before most people have brewed their first coffee.
Then there’s the racing itself, trial logistics, media calls, managing owners, and navigating the constant financial pressure.
Being a trainer in 2025 is more than a full-time job, it’s a way of life. But that life is becoming increasingly unsustainable.
The Weight Trainers Carry
Australian horse racing runs almost every day of the year. Between early morning trackwork and evening race meetings, the hours are punishing. Many trainers are running lean operations, often doing the roles of foreperson, communications officer, and general manager all in one.
If you are doing it on your own and can’t afford to have a foreperson or office staff… then it gets to you if you’re not having a bit of luck.
I can be up until 10pm on a Friday night when we have a race meeting, back awake at 2am… and then have to back up for the Sunday.
Those experiences aren’t rare, they’re the norm. But behind the scenes, the pressure is mounting.
Burnout Is a Business Risk
Burnout isn’t just about fatigue, it’s about losing your edge.
Your patience runs thin.
Communication suffers.
Decisions feel harder.
And the long-term costs, to health, staff retention, owner satisfaction and business growth, can be significant.
According to McKinsey (2023), companies that embrace automation and process optimisation can cut task times by up to 30%. Imagine what that looks like across a week of emails, updates, and admin.
Entrepreneur (2023) also reported that 66% of employees say automation makes their jobs more efficient. The racing industry has lagged behind in adopting these tools, but that’s starting to change.
The Communication Catch-22
Owners expect more today, and rightly so. They’re emotionally (and financially) invested. But delivering consistent, high-quality updates on top of everything else? That’s the part that often gets dropped first, not from neglect, but from necessity.
Yet communication is what keeps owners close. And retention is built on connection.
You can’t afford to let comms slide, but you also can’t clone yourself.
Where Smart Tools Step In
That’s where platforms like Stablfy come in. Purpose-built for racing stables, it takes the pressure off communication without compromising quality.
Stablfy lets you:
- Send professional, branded updates in minutes
- Use templates that learn your tone and style
- Pull trusted data from Punting Form to add insights owners actually value
- Keep messaging regular, even during busy weeks
In a pilot group of regional and metro stables, trainers reported saving 3–5 hours per week on owner communication alone.
Stablfy helps us stay ahead of the chaos. Updates that took us all afternoon now take 10 minutes. It’s changed our week.
Towards a More Sustainable Stable
Trainer wellbeing isn’t a soft issue – it’s a structural one. If we want to retain good people in this industry, we need to build smarter, more sustainable systems.
That doesn’t mean taking the human out of horsemanship. It means keeping the human in, by offloading the grunt work and freeing up trainers to focus on what they do best: preparing horses to perform.
Final Word
The racing industry is evolving. The stables that thrive will be the ones that adapt — not just on the track, but behind the scenes. It’s time to treat trainer burnout as more than just part of the job. It’s time to work smarter.
To learn more about how Stablfy can support your stable, contact us and book a demo.