Horses are creatures of habit, and when something seems different than usual, we often notice and wonder whether what we are seeing is normal, or if we should be concerned that something might be wrong. Here are some helpful tips that can help you make that determination.

Your Horse’s Attitude
Horses that feel good are usually alert and quick to respond to stimuli, often pricking their ears when they hear sounds, looking at things that are happening around them, and interacting with their owners or caregivers.

If your horse seems listless and unresponsive, check to see whether he is napping; if his head is hanging and he seems out of sorts, see whether things that normally pep him up get his attention. If he is not bright, alert, and responsive, he may be sick.Watch for deterioration, and err on the side of caution. Your vet won’t blame you for calling out of concern.

A Normal Appetite
Horses usually have excellent appetites; this is because horses evolved as grazers, constantly eating unless travelling, socializing, or resting. Strenuous activity can sometimes interrupt the appetite – in fact, some horses show little interest in their feed for up to twenty-four hours after a tough competition.

On the other hand, lack of appetite or lack of interest in feed or favorite treats can be one of the first indicators of illness. Be sure your horse always has access to water, and ensure you feed good quality hay. If you’re a new horse owner, be sure to learn about horses’ nutritional requirements as any deviation can lead to colic, founder, and other serious problems. If in doubt, talk to your vet.

Body, Coat, and Hoof Condition
Your horse’s body should be neither thin nor fat; and his coat should be shiny and even, rather than dull and patchy. The hooves should not flake or crack, and the frogs should be well shaped with an almost rubbery texture. In addition, you should not be able to detect an odor coming from the hooves.

If you’re new to the world of horses, spend time learning what is normal and what is not.Horses are much like us in that they occasionally develop problems; knowing what to look for can help you to intercept trouble before it becomes severe. If you’re not sure about something, ask an experienced horse person to look at your horse. It’s normal to worry and it is better to be too concerned than not caring enough.

Droppings and Urine
Your horse’s droppings can tell you quite a bit about how he or she is feeling. Normal droppings should be oval-shaped, slightly firm, and a little moist. Once you have spent time around horses in good condition, you’ll know what normal horse manure looks and smells like; if your horse has diarrhea or foul-smelling droppings, investigate the cause.

Sometimes it is something as simple as too much spring grass, in other cases, it can be an indicator that something is amiss. Your horse’s urine should be clear to yellow, and sometimes it will have a slightly cloudy look; dark yellow urine that has a very strong odor can indicate dehydration, and urine that looks red or black indicates serious trouble – if you see it, call the vet.

Vices
Vices, like wind-sucking or cribbing, weaving while stabled, or constant pacing while confined can indicate stress or psychological problems. To prevent these problems, ensure your horse is not kept confined for days on end, and ensure that he or she is able to socialize with other horses.

Horses need exercise, and they need mental stimulation. Imagine what would happen to your own psyche, were you kept in a small room with no entertainment – you might start to destroy your surroundings or pace to keep yourself busy. If you keep your horse stabled and can’t visit every day, be sure he or she is being turned out regularly.

These are very basic ways to tell if your horse is in good health. There are plenty of great resources available; for instance, every horse owner should keep a basic veterinary manual on hand, and new owners should definitely seek the advice of someone with practical experience. In general, horses are hardy, active animals. Properly cared for, they can live long and productive lives.

Making a living doing something you love is what most would consider a “dream job”. What horse lover has not at least considered, even for a brief instant, what life would be like if they could make a living with horses? For some, that’s all it will ever be, a brief consideration.

Others may dabble in the industry part time but be unwilling to jump head first into a full time horse business, knowing the risks and high chance for failure. Then there will be a few who want to take that risk. For those people it’s just a matter of deciding what part of the industry they want to stake their claim.

For those who are intent upon starting a horse business of some kind, breeding is one option to consider. Like any potential business there are pros to consider as well as cons and doing research in advance to make yourself aware of both sides, is always the smart thing to do.

The Pros
Walking To the Barn Vs. Driving to Work
There are some people who actually enjoy working in an office. The excitement of the corporate world gives them great satisfaction. Others long for freedom from the white walls of a corporate career and a daily commute. For these folks, getting up and heading out the back door after a cup of coffee and merely walking to work, would be a dream come true.

Seeing the Fruits of Your Labor
As you progress with your knowledge of bloodlines and genetics, it can be very rewarding to look forward to the birth of a particular foal and see that he/she is everything you hoped and more.

Maybe you are breeding for a Perlino Foundation Quarter Horse colt and you end up with exactly that-except he has an even better conformation than you hoped for and you are able to sell him for a nice price as a stallion prospect. Being able to have an idea in your mind of your end goal and reaching or exceeding it can bring any breeder a very high level of job/career satisfaction.

Selling Quality Horses for Top Dollar to Happy Customers
This is how you begin to establish yourself in this business. Let’s say you are a halter horse-breeding farm and you sell ten weanlings after your first year to show homes. If even half of those weanlings do well in the show ring, you will get customers from it. It may be repeat business due to the customer being so happy with their first purchase, or it may be more of a referral sale-someone seeing one of your colts or fillies at a show and asking about their breeding.

The Cons
Breeding Quality Horses Requires Quality Knowledge
This is not meant as a discouragement to anyone from going this route if they feel they have a lot to learn. Much learning can take place through trial and error and as you go, although,  you do need to have some knowledge.

Starting a breeding business if you are a novice horseman or horsewoman is not only dangerous, but does not serve your horses or customers well. Now, that doesn’t mean that you couldn’t hire the knowledge. If you have the money to spend, a qualified breeding manager can teach you all you need to know as well as ensure your breeding program runs smoothly. If this is not an option be sure to take the time to educate yourself before embarking on this journey.

Large Upfront Cost and Slow Return
Starting a quality-breeding program requires quality stock. You may choose to stand a stallion along with some great mares, or you may choose to focus only on top quality broodmares and pay a stud fee for your pick of stallions.

Then you will also have to pay for the upkeep of every horse in your breeding program. Whichever way you decide to go is going to require a decent amount of money. Even if you are prepared to spend this kind of money-be advised that it will take at least a year for your first crop of foals to be ready to sell as weanlings.

Highly Competitive Market
The horse industry has been around for years and in that time many farms have established themselves in the breeding industry. This is not to say that this market is impossible to break into, but it will likely take some time and patience.

Arming yourself with great marking strategies, as well as picking a good nitch for your breeding program (such as Dunn colored reining prospects or Swedish Warmblood hunter/jumper prospects) will go a long way towards helping you enter this competitive market.

Organization
Do you find yourself always rushing and frequently late for appointments? Have you ever scheduled your Farrier only to be surprised when he shows up during a lesson? Do you have to hunt through the stack of paperwork on your desk for the sticky note your wrote your new clients number on? If this sounds like you, it may be time to pull yourself up by your bootstraps and get organized.

Practice Promptness
Lacking punctuality is a common human flaw. If it’s the exception rather than the rule, then it’s probably not having a negative impact on your business or relationships. It’s when you find yourself frequently “running five minutes late” that you may be sending the wrong message. Showing up late for an appointment-any appointment, especially on a regular basis, tells the other person that your time is more important than theirs. This type of message creates disrespect and poor customer relations. Practice promptness with your business and customers. Stop what you are doing 15-20 minutes prior to your next appointment to give yourself time to prepare (saddle horse for a lesson, tidy the barn for a new client tour, brush horse for potential buyer) and then commit to giving the person your full attention. This not only shows people you value their business but it helps you stay organized and on schedule through your entire day.

Cleanliness With a Cadence
Have you ever found yourself at the end of a busy day on the farm and you realize you have about 4 solid hours of cleaning to do? Then you find yourself cutting corners putting off the less important tasks for morning? Avoid falling into disorganized habits like this and learn to “clean as you go.” For example, let’s say you have a lesson at 8am, 9am and 10am and each lesson is scheduled for 45 minutes. Instead of wasting the 15 minutes in between, utilize that time to clean up from the previous lesson and prepare for the next. If your client wishes to discuss their lesson, ask them if they wouldn’t mind walking with you as you clean up from lesson one and prepare the horse for lesson two. If you build a rhythm like this into your workflow you will soon find yourself cantering through your day with cadence and organization.

Utilize Digital Aids
We all use aids on horses to improve the flow of communication between horse and rider. What if we placed that same level of devotion on customer/stable manager communication? The results would no doubt be very positive. Utilize digital aids to improve the flow of communication with your customers and employees. Invest in a blackberry or phone capable of receiving emails, so you always have contact with your customers on the go. Also, consider investing in farm management software like LaRaedo to keep customers informed of events, lessons, or anything else on the schedule. You will improve customer satisfaction as well as feel prepared to face each and every busy day with a smile.

The care and maintenance of owning a horse can be quite substantial over time. It is extremely important to look at the bigger financial picture before deciding on the purchase of a horse. It is easy to become so emotionally attached to a horse that without realizing it, over time, the financial obligation can become a real obstacle. It takes a great deal of personal commitment and passion to regularly care for a horse.

Leasing provides a great opportunity to get a feel for whether this is something that you may want to do for a long period of time. Caring for a horse takes up quite a bit of time and you will be spending much of it in training, exercising and grooming your horse. If you find that it may not work for you, it is much easier to release the lease rather than go through the process of selling and finding a good home.

If you are serious about an eventual ownership then lease for at least one year to give yourself a better feel for what it takes to be a horse owner.

Leasing is a great way for you to improve your riding skills and enter into horse shows, too. Leasing a horse that has already been trained in the particular discipline you plan to take lessons in will provide more opportunity to compete at a higher level.

How to Find a Horse to Lease
One of the first places to start would be to go on-line and find horse farms in your area. Call them and ask if they lease. You can stop by your local feed stores or tack shops and ask if they know any reputable farms that lease. Riding schools are also a good place to find a possible lease. Ask any of your friends that ride if they could recommend a farm that may lease.

Ask Lots of Questions
Once you have found a few farms that lease, ask questions. How old is the horse? What type of discipline are they most familiar? Who has trained them in the past and by what methods? Has the horse been in many shows? What kind of health history does the horse have and can you see the past medical records? Would you prefer a younger horse or an older, more experienced horse? You may even want to have your vet check the horse before you make the final decision. You want to be sure that you and your horse are a good match. It is always better to ask before you sign the leasing papers.

Get it in writing
Once you have made the decision to lease and have picked out the perfect horse, it will be time to get it all in writing. There are a variety of leasing contracts available and it is your job to be sure to read thoroughly before you sign. In general, when someone leases a horse full time, the lessee will be responsible for all boarding costs, medical bills (including dental) and farrier charges. In most cases, you will be responsible for providing your own tack. But in return, you will have full use of the horse whenever you want including use at horse shows. This will include the horse being available for all lessons, exercising and pleasure riding.

Any leasing contract you sign, must be thorough and list out everything you will be responsible for and that which the horse owner will be held responsible. If the horse will require supplements or additional feed, be sure that it is included as to who will pay for this addition. Will you be the only person who can ride this horse or will there be others riding if you are not at the barn?

Insurance is a Must
Before you even begin riding your leased horse, and this should also be part of the lease agreement, get insured! The owner may already have insurance on the horse but it is always a good plan to make sure you are covered in case of any accidents that may bring a lawsuit later. For instance, someone else gets injured due to something the horse does or the horse is stolen. This is a big sometimes-unpredictable animal and as the saying goes, it’s better to be safe than sorry.

Owning a horse can be one of the most fulfilling moments of your life, just be sure you understand what you are in for before you buy. Happy trails!

Change in any business is necessary and healthy for it to survive and grow. Taking the next step and trying something new can sometimes create doubt, procrastination and fear. What if we try it and we fail? What if we don’t attain the results we want?

Lisa Derby Oden, owner of Blue Ribbon Consulting, wrote an article called “Grow or Die: How Change Affects Your Horse Business” and she really nailed it.

Doing business the same way we’ve always done can keep things moving along at a fairly smooth pace. But over time, the way the world does business shifts, and new ideas and opportunities to move in a different direction may be the difference between flourish or famish.

Lisa states

Have you built “change” into your business? You’ve built a reputable business on solid tradition, but have you also provided a mechanism for change as needed?

Trying something new and different means having to make a shift in the current process and the way things are done today. You may have to train your staff and inform your customers of the new changes and that might take some time and they may even initially resist.

But often times, the pros far outweigh the short-term, getting-outside-your-comfort-zone cons. If you look beyond the current status quo and make even small changes, it is very possible to bring in more revenue than ever imagined possible.

It doesn’t take much, just a bit of refocusing of your energy and being open to thinking outside the box. Be creative. The horse industry is changing as business in general is changing, and who knows, you could be the one to start tomorrow’s newest trend. It’s worth the effort and if it doesn’t work out, you can always fall back on the same old, same old.

So what are you doing to move forward in your horse business?

We had cloudy and somewhat cool weather today during the tour at Horse’s Haven in Howell, Michigan. I had been wanting to get a glimpse into a day in the life of a farm that has been providing help to neglected horses since 1995 for many months now. Today was the perfect day!


Our tour guide Barb showed us around the entire property, stopping at the numerous paddocks and giving a history of every horse. She knew each one by name, how long they had been at the farm, any physical issues, their likes and dislikes and who they enjoyed hanging out with the most. I was amazed that she was so connected and remembered each and every one so well. Many of the horses would arrive pretty beaten and downtrodden and over time they changed into peaceful and loving animals that they already were at heart.

Horse’s Haven rescues horses that would otherwise have to be euthanized. Many are blind or have physical defects that make it difficult for anyone to ride them. There are some that arrive with more emotional neglect or simply abandoned and after time can be given to a foster home or adopted by a loving family.

There are over 60 horses on the property along with various miniature horses, donkeys, goats, and even a pig. Currently, the farm has about 100 volunteers that have their own shifts and assigned work to do. There is always something that needs to be done on the farm and Horse’s Haven is grateful for the help and welcomes all volunteers. If time is limited, donations are appreciate as well.

Check out their website and you will see for yourself how fortunate Howell, Michigan is to have Horse’s Haven call it their home.

Not too long ago I offered a contest for all horse boarders to celebrate why their boarding farm was the best. I vowed to write another contest post for all the farm owners to talk up their great horse boarders.

This contest will run for one week, starting April 6 and running through midnight of April 13 (EST). The winner will be selected from those farm owners leaving the most unique and genuine comments about their horse boarders.

The winning farm owner will receive an $25 gift certificate to Amazon.com.

It requires a great dedication and responsibility to own a horse and participate in the sport of horsemanship. I have seen from my experience as a horse boarder that there are various types of horse owners.

I’d like you to share with us the wonderful experiences that you have enjoyed with your boarders. Recall those memories that made you feel that running a horse farm and caring for other people’s horses is all worthwhile.

What makes running a horse business worth it to you? Who do you recall that just jumps out at you and makes you say to yourself “Yes, this was the reason I went into this business”.

So leave your comments below. I look forward to reading and Good Luck on the contest.

I recently joined a Mastermind Group that was started by a local networking and social media-learning center called the InSights Group. At first I wasn’t sure what I was getting myself into but thought I would give it my best.   I had heard that Mastermind Groups were instrumental for entrepreneurs that wanted to help each other grow in their business.


Napoleon Hill, author of the book called “Think and Grow Rich” described a Mastermind Group as “two or more minds working actively together in perfect harmony toward a common definite object”.

Our group meets every week and we are all committed to attending.  Each week we discuss our business successes and areas that we may need some new ideas.  It is really quite fun and entertaining when everyone comes together to use their creativity in helping each person overcome obstacles in their business and move forward.

I think what I have found most refreshing is that I am not alone in my passion to succeed.  There are others that feel the same way and the energy and enthusiasm to press forward using a positive focus and determination to achieve our goals provides such a sense of freedom.

My business focus is on horse farm management software but everyone else in the group has totally different business platforms.  It really makes it interesting to learn about how others manage their business and that there isn’t just one path to success.  We can often learn methods of improvement from those with businesses nothing like our own.

If you ever have the opportunity to join a Mastermind Group, I highly recommend it.  Share your joy and passion and see how fast your business grows!

Where could you benefit from a group of minds working together for one common goal?

You’re not the only one so focused on managing a horse-boarding farm that you have become unorganized, especially when it comes to paperwork.

You know the importance of being organized, but you’re just not very disciplined about it. It’s time to take a step in the right direction and dive into those piles.

When your immediate physical surroundings support what you do, you will spend less time digging and more time doing — be that work or play.

The first area most of us need to tackle is paperwork. Knowing where everything is located can help you keep track of inventory and quickly streamline your routines. Being organized will save you tons of time and give you more freedom to focus on your farm.

Take a few minutes today to remove the clutter from a:
• pile on your desk
• box in a corner or
• drawer in your office

Don’t answer the phone, check your e-mail or allow yourself to be distracted. Take this time to focus on one area. It will involve less time than you think and you’ll feel better than expected when you’re done.

Designate a place for the stuff to go:
• Recycle
• Trash
• File
• Delegate
• To Do

You may find yourself motivated to complete this once a week or every day until every area that has been bugging you is handled. Then, put at least one new system in place to prevent the problem from recurring.

Successful people have a certain air about them and one reason is because they are organized. They are not distracted by recurring thoughts about what they know they need to do.

You deserve the benefits of being organized. Your business will have a stronger marketplace advantage, more repeat business and higher profits.

Share and motivate: What have you done to make your horse business more organized?

Since our launch on December 11, 2009, we’ve been getting one question in particular from our farm owners before they sign up for our 15-Day Free Trial of our horse boarding management software, so we thought it would be great to answer that question on the blog to ensure that you understand LaRaedo completely as well.

That question is:
LaRaedo is a Web-based equine management software – What does that mean for me?
If you use e-mail like Gmail or Hotmail or if you access your bank account, credit cards or your child’s academic status on-line, you are using a web-based software.  Basically, it is software that you log into over the Internet via a web browser like Internet Explorer, Firefox or Safari, in order to access your information.

LaRaedo also works on any platform, so it doesn’t matter if you are using a Windows PC or a Mac, how big your hard drive is or the processor speed.  If your computer is connected to the Internet, it can access LaRaedo.

That is what makes using LaRaedo so easy because you don’t have to worry about anything.  You just log in, manage your daily tasks and everything else is left up to our server management support group.  We will make sure that your data is backed up on a daily basis and secured.  All our software updates occur on a regular basis, and are applied directly to the server database, so you won’t be hassled with downloading and installing these updates. We’ll simply send you an e-mail notification from time to time, letting you know of any latest and greatest features that have already been added to the software for you.

With traditional software, the data is saved on your computer which can lead to security issues or data loss if the computer is stolen or if back ups are not performed on a regular basis.  Not to mention, hard drive crashes or viruses that can wipe out data completely.  With LaRaedo this is never a worry.

In addition, what is nice about using a web-based software like this is that it can be accessed from any Internet connected computer at any time with your own personal member login. So if you are miles away at an expo or horse show or even on vacation, you can always access the software and your information securely.

And since everyone on the horse farm works from the same centralized database specific to your farm, everything is in one place.  No worries as to who might have the latest information.  Everyone has it.

So what are you waiting for?  Sign up for your Free 15-Day Trial of our horse farm management software today!