Message from: Cada McCoy: Just wanted to extend a rather last-minute invitation to those in the Charleston, SC, area or anyone planning to visit the area this weekend (or might be looking for a good excuse for a mini-vacation to a beautiful part of the country! .

I am co-hosting a free equine nutritional seminar on Saturday, November 12, featuring Stance Equine founder and nutritional biochemist, Dr. Tim Kempton. Dr. Kempton was responsible for introducing copra (coconut meal) to the Australia’s livestock world some 20 years ago. Copra’s nutritional benefits proved so remarkable, it was adopted by horse owners there and in Europe who were looking for naturally clean, low NSC equine feed. It is now available in the US, first introduced a few years ago on the West Coast and, most recently, on the East Coast.

This seminar was initially planned for folks in our local vicinity who are using (with huge success) CoolStance and want more information about it. However, the overwhelmingly enthusiastic response necessitated that we move our gathering to a larger facility, so now we have space for even more attendees.

Read the rest of this entry

If you rely on your horses for income, you are going to have to have good marketing skills just like any other business. That’s right, horses don’t sell themselves! If you are a breeder, riding instructor, trainer, boarding facility, or horse dealer, you are going to need to reach and impress your potential customers in order to sell them your products and services. How do you do that? Just follow the steps illustrated below and you’ll be well on your way to enjoying a successful horse-related business!

1.) Know who your customers are. Who needs your products and services? If you are a training facility, then people with untrained horses need you. If you are a boarding facility, then horse owners who don’t have space at home for their horses need you. If you are a riding instructor, then your potential customers are anyone who wants to learn how to ride horses. You get the picture! A big part of making sure your horse business works is identifying your customers.

2.) Find out where your customers hang out. Where do horse people congregate? At feed and tack stores, at horse shows, at online horse-related web sites and chat rooms, to name just a few. Now break it down even further. Let’s say you are a breeder of Morgan horses. Sure, you’ll find some Morgan enthusiasts at the tack shop and feed store, but you’ll likely find them in droves at breed-specific shows. Find out what newspapers and magazines your potential customers read as well.

Read the rest of this entry

How a new equine business is born from noticing a hoof problem

In July of 2006 Bryan Tilghman contacted me about purchasing a horse logo design for a horse hoof product he was working on marketing. The product idea seemed sound to me and I was impressed with the fact that he seemed to have done his homework by researching the available product options and markets.

Too many people contact me wanting to start some kind of horse business, but they haven’t done ANY research at all. I have even turned down logo clients telling them to rethink their marketing plan (like make one in the first place) and then get back with me.

The birth of a business idea

Read the rest of this entry

Horse Breeder Opposes Nation Animal Identification

I just found a web page on a horse breeder’s website that points out more scary points about the NAIS and if you have anything to do with horses I think you should go read this page on the Pharaoh’s Horses site.

They spell out five great points about why the National Animal Identification System is not a good deal. They also have a list of six links where you can go to find out more info.

Words like, monstrous, mandatory, forced, unacceptable, governmental intrusion, and Read the rest of this entry

Unwanted Horses are a huge problem in the US

I just found a press release yesterday about a new horse web site and I just had to post the news here because I believe unwanted horses affects everyone in the horse industry or anyone that loves horses.

Read the rest of this entry