Making Money
To further explain why the equestrian industry is a business community it is important to clarify what a horse farm is. According to The United States Department of Agriculture (2007), in order to classify a horse operation as a horse farm, the farm needs to sell $1000 worth of agricultural products. A majority of horse farms have the goal to sell more than $1000 of agricultural products, which are horses. It is important to realize that the first year of building a farm the owner will invest a substantial amount of money into the business. Nevertheless, there is a chance that owners can make a profit. According English (1995), who wrote the book The complete guide for horse business success, “Investing money in any business is a gamble- the greater the investment, the greater the risk. The most obvious example is horseracing, where high profit is attainable, but with it comes substantial investment and some risk” (p. 2). However, for those who are skeptical of how profitable the horse industry is it is important to look at a few statics. In the equine industry there are nine point two million horses in the United States and those horses contribute to $39 billion that the equine industry makes (Parker, 2008, p.1). All of the horses help support the one point four million jobs that Americans hold due to the equine industry (Parker, 2008, p.1). Therefore, there is money to be made for people in the equine industry; they just have to figure out what their business is going to be.
What is the business?
For Lauren Nethery horseracing is what she considers the business not the medium sized eventing farm she owns. Eventing is a sport where the horse and rider compete in three events. They will compete in dressage, cross country, and show jumping. It is a challenging sport, but one that many people participate in. Lauren Nethery explained about how her eventing farm is not a business she said, “The farm here is just really a break even. We take care of it and get a small salary which basically pays the bills. We really do not make much money here.” In my opinion, it is a hard lesson to learn, but horse owners need to realize that they need to treat the horse industry as a business, not a hobby, and this distinction is vital to keep the farm running. This was a lesson that Bain (2008) who wrote the book The business of horses: Creating a successful horse business learned quickly. He states, “When I started, I was naïve enough to believe that I could make a living at doing what I love, training horses. I know now that it can be done and over the years I have learned that the secret is to treat it as a job, not as a hobby or something like that” (p. ii). Learning to treat a horse farm as a business is the first important lesson that horse owners need to learn immediately, and this is what allows for them to fully understand the business they are getting into.
To learn more about eventing click here
To learn more about eventing click here
