"Far and away the best prize that life offers is the chance to work hard at work worth doing." —Theodore Roosevelt

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Credentials Licenses

     Horse Selection Consulting, Horse Sales

     Horsemanship, Stable Management, Riding Instruction

     Balimo Program Certified Instructor, Clinician, or Rider 

     If Certification Must Wait

     Therapeutic Riding Center or Instructor or Therapist, Visiting Pet, Animal Rescue or Sanctuary 

Associations for Professional Standards

Staffing and Human Resources

     Job Descriptions

         Handbook

         Grants and Tax Credits

         Community Needs and Your Impact

     Employee Recruiting

        Equine Job Placement Services

        Applicant Background Checks

        Legal Immigration

        Do You Need to Speak Spanish

        Contractors

      Recognition

        Volunteers, Paid Contractors

        Branded Items for Donors, Clients, Volunteers, Special Events

Public Speaking

E-mail Surveys, E-Newsletters, E-invitations

Officers

Image

Safety

Online Fillable Forms

Print

Press Releases

Crisis Management

Scheduling Tools, Communication, and Software

Meeting Coordination Tools

Safety, Emergency, and Disaster Planning

First Aid/CPR Training

Board of Directors

Encouragement and Motivation

Other_Resources

Product or Service Providers

TOPICS ON OTHER PAGES:

Equine Business Resources Main Page (Index)

Equine Business - Start Up Resources 

     Legal Business Entity

     Mission Statement

     Business Plan

     Internal Revenue Service 

     State Corporation Commission

     Agreements Contracts and Forms 

     Equine Lawyers Agriculture Lawyers Other Special Times for Lawyers

     If Business Goes Badly

     Taxes    

     Insurance

         Liability  Property & Casualty

         Care Custody and Control  Summer Camp 

         Workers Compensation  Critical Illness, Disability, or Key Man Insurance  Pet Trusts

     Banking, Financing

     Accounting and Business Management Tools 

        Reservation Management Software  Membership Rosters and Billing

        Horse Record Keeping Tools

       Accounting Software  

       Service Statistics Record Keeping and Reports State and National Statistics and Reports

       Scheduling, Meeting, Communication Tools and Software

       Cost-Savings

           Horse Trailer

      Other Resources 

Del Camino helps horse facilities and services find timely information that benefits their program and success.  We want to see riding academies, driving schools, dude ranches, carriage services, vaulting clubs, search and rescue teams, equine-assisted activities centers, and retirement stables grow and prosper. We would like horse operations to be well-operated and fully supported by their local communities.  The benefits of horseback riding to humans is a well-established fact, and the therapeutic benefits to individuals, and cultural benefits to the wider society, mean every effort should be expended to develop viable humane businesses that use well-trained, good tempered, well-seasoned horses. It can be done.

For equine entrepreneurs and small businesses there is virtually no professional organization or safety net to guide or support them.  Sure, there are breed associations, and benevolent societies for injured jockeys and trainers, and competitive associations, but these do no focus on the business end of operations.  Then too, there are general business associations and farm or ranch associations, but, again, their focus is on production and distribution of products or services too different to relate to, even on the livestock end.  Few horse breeders, after all, in the entire world, produce horses for consumption  This lack of focused tools and resources just should not happen in a country where 70% of a 330 million person population has a love affair with the horse, and the brightest, most innovative, most successful business minds on the planet are available!  We realized that providing a central clearinghouse of helpful information could benefit all.

Our for-profit horse businesses - whether they are training and competition stables, recreational boarding barns, horse retirement  ranches, riding academies, or carriage operators, are competing in a modern world where they fall between the cracks of the USDA and the SBA.  At Del Camino, we believe our equine-related businesses need all the help they can get to succeed and thrive.  In this way we hope to help thousands of horses, not just one or two.

 If you think we are on the right or wrong track, please give us your feedback.

How This Horse Business Resource Section Works   (Top of Page)

The focus of the site is to be rich in content, and easy to read onscreen.  A majority of small horse businesses are on slow dial-up connections (cannot afford cable or DSL, or it is not available in their rural area) and using older versions of operating systems and browsers on older computer platforms (usually acquired from people who upgraded to newer technology.)  Therefore, you won't see tons of frames, flash, page transitions, and multimedia effects here.  We avoid colored text on dark backgrounds, which can be nearly impossible to read on a monitor.  We even keep the pictures small and to a minimum to facilitate page loading. So if the visual effects are bland, you now know why!  We don't want our visitors to give up due to long page-loads and hard to read color combinations and time-consuming bells and whistles - they just don't have that kind of time.

Credentials, Certifications and Licenses                                     (Top of Page)

Often the founders of a start-up small business relegate the initial dues and other expenses of important memberships and certificates or licenses to the "nice to have someday when we have the money" category of their initial planning.  This is a serious mistake in any field of endeavor, but particularly hobbling to the animal or youth oriented business  As Benjamin Franklin warned our forefathers, "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure." 

Here's why is it not merely important, but vitally necessary for you to budget for licensing, credentialing, and membership in appropriate associations as part of your start-up organizational expenses, but also as an annual expense for renewals like any other overhead administrative expense.

Independently established credibility stands as one of the main benefits of a nationally-recognized certification/credential. For fields such as horse training, stable management, riding instruction, horsemanship instruction, or horse sales, where there is no recognized academic degree, certification is the only authoritative, independent measure available by which to determine a person’s experience, skill and knowledge as defined by our peers.  Because equine science curricula vary widely from accredited colleges, a degree in equine science is an excellent start, but tends to represent an introductory overview of the industry, appropriate for entry level positions, but does not imply expertise in any subfield.

This online accredited equine studies program is licensed by the state of Wyoming: Global Equine Academy

There is a national association of professional horsemen which is a benevolent society for members in need, scholarships for the children of members, and sponsors a Hunt Seat Medal Class and Junior Medal Classes.  The literature of the Professional Horsemens Association states that an important purpose is to "PROMOTE and foster interest in the horse industry, the care and protection of horses through education at local, state and federal levels" However, the group seems to be quite small (900 members), despite operation since 1936, with little to no activity toward this end.  They seem to do a great job coming to the aid of members who experience sudden unexpected hardships.  They do not offer any accreditation program or discounts from vendors.

For organizations soliciting start-up loans or grants from individuals, government agencies, corporations, or philanthropic foundations, membership credentials in recognized groups, such as the Better Business Bureau, Chamber of Commerce, state horsemen's association, breed association, and a national certification program as a horse trainer, stable manager, riding instructor, or horse appraiser,  vastly upgrades the quality of the impression your firm makes on the communities you serve and solicit. In a modern, mobile, fast-paced world, few people have the time to truly research with whom they do business.  If this work has not already been done for them, many people, bombarded by media stories of scams and scandals, simply pass a worthy cause by.  Sophisticated, accountable corporations, your local banker, and government agencies, unlike family members who might loan you seed money or co-sign for your mortgage, are invariably required by by-laws, legislation, or departmental rules to require these safeguards as part of their due diligence.  Make it easy for them to do business with you with confidence.

Likewise, besides the myriad of benefits to us as individuals and to the clients and their horses whose lives we affect, certification is important as we track the movement by government to regulate and/or license more equine professions.  Equine organizations should take the initiative in their states to improve professionalism, ethics, and standards by developing accreditation programs. The question becomes “should the equine professionals influence government by providing them with valid information and mechanisms that we, as equine professionals have produced, or should government take the lead and define our profession?”

Certification should not be viewed as a policing agent or gatekeeper, and it should not be thought of as a noose around our necks. Certification allows us to stand out as a profession, increase our stature among other professions and influence authority.  Certification helps you establish credibility with potential donors and corporate sponsors.

Professional organizations are able to pool modest membership fees to purchase lending libraries, put on workshops that individual small stables or professionals could not otherwise afford, produce industry newsletters of real value with "how to" expertise and the current events coverage not available from mainstream media.  The benefits to your long term success are numerous and profound.

If you peruse our page for owners of senior horses about choosing a hippotherapy center or horse rescue to work with, you will notice that we repeatedly advise that they discriminately prefer a center that adheres to industry standards of safety and horse care and emergency planning, and that belongs to some appropriate credentialing associations and/or their personnel have invested the time and training in their field to obtain certification by a third party.

"Titles are granted, but it's your behaviour that wins you respect." Opening words to the first practice of The Leadership Challenge.

Horse Selection Consulting, Horse Sales                                            (Top of Page)

If you help your clients purchase or lease horses gratis or for a consulting fee, you resell horses you have purchased and trained, or you act as a commissioned sales agent for your clients as buyers or sellers, or have a horse brokering program, consider becoming certified by and a member of The American Society of Equine Appraisers.  Alternatively, if you will specialize in a particular breed of horse or performance discipline, investigate becoming a licensed judge for in-hand and performance competitions.

Before "used car salesman" was a pejorative label for unethical high pressure sales of "lemons" the term "horse trader" served the same purpose in the common vernacular.  The stigma has never worn off, mostly due to lack of change in the standards, ethics, expertise, and conflict of interest in the way many American horse professionals still involve themselves in the buying and selling of horseflesh.  So long as you are going to be compensated by an existing client with whom you have a relationship of trust, such as a student, you have a fiduciary responsibility to act in that person's best interest rather than your own, and to possess industry recognized skills.

Horsemanship, Stable Management, Riding Instruction

American Riding Instructors Association (ARIA) ARIA does not certify facilities.  However, since 1984 ARIA certifies Instructors in Training (Level I) Instructors of Beginner to Intermediate Riders (Level II) Instructors of Intermediate to Advanced Riders (Level III) in

Certified Horsemanship Association (CHA) CHA certifies about 250 facilities, and has about 4,000 members of whom about 3,000 are certified instructors, in the United States, holds regional and national conferences and clinics and offers benefits, including insurance discounts.  For over 40 years CHA certified horse camp counselors in basic riding instruction, safety, grooming and tacking.  In the last decade it has expanded to a program competitive with the ARIA to certify from assistant instructor to master clinician levels in

American Association for Horsemanship Safety certifies instructors and assistant instructors who participate in their clinic and pass the required exam.  Member stables and instructors receive a quarterly newsletter and have access to an equine law library and safe horsemanship books and videos.

The United States Dressage Federation offers instructor and trainer certification at progressive levels that require attending workshops on lungeing, riding and teaching, pre-certification (mock testing) and testing, participants in this program have required and recommended reading to help prepare them for their exam. Their university credit program receives USDF recognition and partners with several universities as well as their own clinics.  Most of the university programs are breeding courses. USDF Levels of Recognition.   The "L" Program enables individuals to learn about the dressage competition judging process and begin the track toward becoming a USDF Judge.  A variety of membership levels with various benefits meet the needs of competitive riders, trainers, clubs and horse businesses.

United States Pony Club has a Riding Center Program to include stables that own lesson horses and are able to offer instruction on the flat, over fences and in the open, and horsemanship training to students who do not own their own horses, according to USPC standards. Pony Club proficiency standards have enjoyed worldwide recognition for decades and supports members with a wealth of lesson plans in various disciplines, games, and horse management.

Balimo Program Certified Instructor, Clinician, or Rider                         (Top of Page)

From the Equestrian Education Systems, Inc. you can acquire excellent skills as a sports coach and teacher who understands the horse's body in motion and the human's body in motion and how they work together in horseback riding of any kind.  The complete rider certification program takes about 2 years and costs $3,000, and the trainer/instructor program costs about double that using a combination of distance learning courseware and in-person workshops.  However, the quality and systematic organization of the curriculum is outstanding.  Proponents of Centered Riding will take their teaching skills to a higher level, learn anatomical movement at a higher level, and teach horseback riding skills from beginner's mounting for the first time, to upper level dressage movements in a safer, more successful, less stressful manner.  Particularly useful are the floor exercises and ground warm-up routines for the humans that are otherwise sadly lacking in most horseback riding programs, regular and designed for persons with disabilities.  Balance and natural movement is everything for skill development, safety, security, and communication.  Investing in and learning to effectively use the Balimo Balance Chair is a worthwhile goal.

American National Riding Commission promotes a systematic method for teaching the Forward Seat and assessing levels of competency for hunter/jumper riders.  The program is primarily targeted to schools, colleges and universities, but is also used by private competitive show jumping stables.  Two $89 DVD's enable candidates in the certification process to progress at their own pace, then submit videos of their rides to the ANRC judges.  The organization has a sixty year track record teaching English riding, and is affiliated with the United States Equestrian Federation (USEF) and the US Hunter Jumper Association (USHJA).

Horse Training Certification                                                          (Top of Page)

Most Equine Science programs offer one or two courses as part of their curriculum, but not a specific degree in this concentration that fully equips a beginning trainer to set up shop.  Today there are two professions that are seriously understaffed.  This is deeply affecting horse welfare and causing thousands of potentially usable American horses to go to slaughter in Canada and Mexico:  large animal veterinarians in private practice and horse trainers able and willing to start colts or rehabilitate young neglected horses. Countless horse breeders have lamented in news articles since 2007 that their crops are getting bottom dollar from the auction buyers because there are not enough horse trainers to make them saddle horses and thus marketable.

Lamar Community College, Lamar, Colorado is one of the few Equine Science degree programs that offers a comprehensive horse training curriculum with stable management and equine business management.  Degrees and certificates currently (2008) offered:

ProTrac from Two as One Horsemanship, Middleton, New York offered by Bob Jeffreys and Suzanne Shephard may be an option for East Coast professionals who want to safely and humanely work with young horses to saddle train them for English or Western and to rehabilitate client pleasure horses with gaps in their groundwork or under saddle skills.  The program includes a Certificate upon graduation.  Instead of the time commitment of classes spread over a semester or years, the program concentrates coursework into three one week intensive sessions.

If Certification Must Wait                                                                   (Top of Page)

Without this formal certification, but with similar principles oriented toward western disciplines, you can get started with Will Howe's Balance Board which comes with an instructional video.  We purchased one several years ago and used it, along with vaulting exercises on the ground with vaulting equipment, and traditional gymnastic balance boards like the IndoFLO® Balance Stimulator, to teach our campers balance and skills quickly before putting the children on lesson horses.  These boards are used by physical education instructors for children and adults, and by licensed physical therapists and sports chiropractors for therapeutic purposes. Many come with instructional video, exercises, and student assessment tools. The child's first ride on the bareback pad for even the most timid with the poorest posture improved dramatically.  We also used it to get adult beginners back in touch with their own balance and posture before their first ride.  ( Note: Be sure to use a board of the proper size and strength for children or adults. )

The instructor and horse struggled less to correct for their stiffness and imbalance in the first session. For our schoolmasters who specialized in working with beginners this helped protect their backs, minimize stumbling, and thus helped maintain their happiness in their work.  Also, many people who considered themselves athletic or fit realized for themselves that riding was not going to be sitting on a horse — it was going to be work on themselves for posture, relaxation, and many small adjustments of position to stay in rhythm with the horse's movement.  Accomplishing this on the ground spared the horses and created a professional, positive learning atmosphere, thus maximizing the quality of their time spent with, and on, the horse, their confidence, and fun!

Balance Board Exercises from Fitter First

(Top of Page)

Therapeutic Riding Center or Instructor or Therapist, Visiting Pet, Animal Rescue or Sanctuary

While the majority of the equine facilities offering therapeutic equine activities or horse sanctuary are non-profits, there are growing numbers of for profit substance abuse and mental health centers that want or already have horseback riding as a therapeutic recreational activity, or equine facilitated mental health.  Likewise, the opportunities for animals to visit persons with disabilities or the elderly extend beyond what non-profits can provide.  Further, retirement boarding should meet high standards to attract clients who, after all, would not pay for retiring their beloved horse if peace of mind for high quality care was not a primary consideration.  None of these accreditations require you to offer your services on a non-profit basis.

NARHA, formerly the North American Riding for the Handicapped Association certifies over 700 facilities at regular and premiere levels. It offers states, regional and national conferences and workshops, insurance and other discounts and limited national marketing.  Members include thousands of instructors at registered, advanced and master levels who teach English and/or Western riding to persons with disabilities.  There is also specialty certification in therapeutic driving and interactive vaulting.  There is not equine facility management certification for individuals.

Also see CHA above

St. Andrews Presbyterian College, Laurinburg, North Carolina.   St. Andrews is an accredited undergraduate college that offers, in addition to full baccalaureate degrees, two online courses resulting in certificates:  Therapeutic Horsemanship Business Management and Equine Business Management.  Administering the full operations of a bustling equestrian facility or a therapeutic riding center, from business law and finance, to marketing and human resources are addressed in the curriculum designed specifically for horse-based operations. 

The American Hippotherapy Association (AHA) Founded in 1987, AHA credentials licensed physical, occupational, and speech therapists as to use the characteristics and movements of the horse in their treatment protocols and to work with equine therapeutic center personnel. Therapists and businesses may join to benefit from education and other resources without seeking formal status as a Certified Hippotherapy Clinical Specialist.   There are fewer than 100 members according to their website.

Equine Assisted Growth and Learning Association (EAGALA) Since 1999 this organization has provided education and certification for equine-assisted learning and mental health practitioners and programs.  There are about 3,075 members, not all of whom are certified, and 94 organizations that belong.  Certification and advanced certification tracks are available to mental health professionals and equine specialists.  There is no site certification.

O.K. Corral Series EAP/EAL Certification Series  EAGALA Founder Greg Kersten offers a collection of five multi-day seminars for mental health professionals and educators.  Participants can earn CEUs for state licensing board continuing education requirements. Kersten offers certification in EAP or EAL for work with individuals, families, or teams to achieve goals for growth, crisis-management, leadership, and team-building.

Equine Facilitated Mental Health Association (EFMHA) is a subsidiary of NARHA since 1996.  As of 2007 EFMHA had about 700 members nationally, with 60 NARHA centers offering equine-facilitated learning, and 123 offering equine-facilitated psychotherapy.  They began offering workshops, and expect to offer Certification as an Equine Specialist for the horse professional who partners with the licensed mental health professional beginning in 2008.  For mental health professionals and education professionals, including teachers, coaches, recreation therapists, and guidance counselors who work with equines or equine programs, EFMHA began offering certification exams in late 2007.

Delta Society Pet Partners offers certification of Handler and Animal Teams, and Team Instructors.  If you have a miniature horse that can be trained to visit senior living complexes, retirement homes, senior activity centers, assisted living centers, etc. the need for certified animal visitors will continue to rise as the baby boomers retire.  While fees for visits are unlikely to be paid by VA and state nursing homes that receive these visits from non-profits, commercial care facilities and retirement communities have budgets for entertainment and recreation for their resident services.  They could pay for your time and expenses.  This is unlikely to be a major source of revenue for your horse business, but could be a welcome addition.  It also generates ties to the community, considerable goodwill, and excellent photo opportunities and material for press releases that general media can run in several different lifestyle, senior living, or human interest sections, garnering free publicity for your business.

If you will provide lay-up or rehabilitation services, or off-season horse boarding, or a sales consignment stable, consider certification from one of these organizations. 

The Association of Sanctuaries, Inc. founded in 1992 offers accreditation for

with further specialization in farmed or domestic companion or wild animals.  Their standards are here as a .PDF.

The HSUS through Animal Sheltering offers training, site evaluation, networking and other resources.

See also Associations for Professional Standards on this page.

Job Descriptions

For some support getting started as a manager of a workforce that includes volunteers, visit The Corporation for National and Community Service for resources, tips and tools.

Handbook                                                                       (Top of Page)

Without our wonderful employees and volunteers horse businesses simply cannot function.  Whether you operate a horsemanship and lessons program, a show training stable, a dude ranch, a rehabilitation or retirement facility, or a youth horse camp, employees and volunteers contribute a most valuable asset - skilled labor.  The most expensive cost of operating any for-profit business is labor and benefits.  This is even true for most small horse businesses, like boarding stables and lesson stables that have farm mortgages and horses "on the payroll" to house, feed, shoe, etc.

Are you putting your new employee Orientation and Training videos on You Tube, or sharing a slideshow on Picassa?  Why not?  You can restrict access so they are viewable only by users whom you invite.

There must be at least 100 books available on the topic of employee recruitment and management.  These are the two we recommend, as the most meaty, well-written, and up-to-date resources.

Grants and Tax Credits                                         (Top of Page)          

Many equine-related businesses have heard about grants, and are anxious to apply for them.  Others have never considered this possibility because they believe only not-for-profit businesses qualify.  However, there are grants available for commercial businesses.  One of the best ways to start is by hiring and training groups of people whom the government or foundations especially wish to assist.  See the Grant Writing Section for the criteria you need to meet, and help getting started.

Community Needs and Your Impact                                       (Top of Page)

From the very beginning, collect and keep verifiable statistics on the equine community, and larger local community that you serve.  As your equine business grows, and you become eligible to apply for grants and participation on government and civic committees and boards that impact your mission, you need to clearly and briefly articulate the impact of your organization on the equine, and larger community. 

 

For example, let us say you have a therapeutic riding center that wants to assist wounded warriors who are amputees from Afghanistan and Iraq.  How many are there in your geographic area?  Nationally, as of mid-2007 there were 803.  What if you open your vision to include Vietnam veterans?  Nationally, there are 75,000 Vietnam veterans with disabilities.  Perhaps a reasonable client base live within a half hour drive of your center, and have conditions you are well equipped to serve.  This knowledge directs your grant requests toward a slightly different audience.

 

If you are writing a grant request for a horsemanship camp for at-risk youth, you must make the case that youth in your community are at risk, and that similar programs have had positive results for other communities.  What information can you cite from state, county, and local schools, churches, and government and non-profit youth programs concerning at-risk youth in your area?  What have been the historical experience trends?  Are there more or fewer documented cases over the last five years?  Are the cases specific to a time of year, or concentrated in particular zip codes?  What are the gender, age, literacy proficiency, and English skills of the at-risk youth? 

 

You may find that no such statistics are available, once you make contact with and develop positive working relationships with local agencies.  Perhaps your first grant will actually be to set up a system for collecting and analyzing this data.  Perhaps you simply need to make telephone calls once monthly to complete a questionnaire you design to collect the data.  But make no mistake.  This data is valuable.

Recruiting                                                                                     (Top of Page)            

Mastering the recruitment, effective use, scheduling, and recognition of your employees and volunteers is imperative.  Otherwise you will face the same "burn out" problems as other small business entrepreneurs  - trying to do everything from daily horse care to website maintenance to purchasing to fielding calls.  If you want your horse business to last, providing a service to people and job security or a secure home to the horses, you must be an organizer and a people-person who can master the art of managing the workforce roster.

Equine Job Placement Services                                          (Top of Page)

Equimax is well-established serving the United States, since well before the internet made it easy.  Because they list openings for so many types of jobs and represent so many applicants, they are an excellent source of information for job descriptions, the hiring process, interviewing, orientation, training, and more.  For applicants screened and forwarded by Equimax, they can even provide background check service.

Equistaff is another national equine employment website.

Hire Vets First is a free government service of the Veterans Administration, and an excellent resource to list job openings and recruit highly motivated, hard-working, trainable employees.  Transition Assistance Online TAOnline is a free government service of the Department of Defense to connect transitioning military men and women with civilian jobs.

Hire a Hero is a non-profit membership job bank with services for employers and veterans that lists nationwide jobs for veterans.  They have a database of 190,000 veterans resumes.  A basic employer annual membership fee gives you 25 job postings, expert assistance, and confidential e-mail service, among other valuable benefits.  Small employers such as stables and horsemen's associations can pool their resources to purchase a membership.

"To date Hire A Hero has come in contact with over 190,000 service members and helped them transition back into the civilian world. 3 out of 10 service members (and their families) who are active in our community find meaningful employment through our services. "

Time Magazine has listed Hire A Hero at number 11 for the top 21 ways to fix America, click here to read the article.
 

Hire Veterans is a cooperative free service of military veterans and world class employers. While most of these jobs are with large employers seeking veterans with security clearances and advanced management and technology skills, you can learn why the best companies seek the best Americans transitioning from military service with the latest training for their jobs.

Check with your local or state American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, or state veterans administration office.  Virtually all of them have employment assistance programs bursting with resumes of veterans who want to work.  Many of these men and women are parents who need to work.  Many recently returned soldiers, marines, air force personnel and sailors yearn for a position in the quiet countryside for awhile, with a job that gives them some time to get reacquainted with their families, in touch with wholesome nature, and the opportunity to nurture animals.

There are plenty of veterans looking for work who are ready, willing, and able to work with horses.  A large percentage come from rural backgrounds and rode horses in their youth, or have families that still enjoy horses.  Many also speak Spanish as a first or second language.

Veterans are trained to work side by side with individuals regardless of diverse race, gender, geographic origin, ethnic background, religion, and economic status as well as mental, physical, and attitudinal capabilities.   They have the sensitivity to cooperate with many different types of individuals. They are reliable compassionate staff for equine-assisted therapy centers, and equine lay-up and rehabilitation centers where following careful routines and protocols are important to the welfare and progress of the client people or horses.

If you need grooms who can get horses ready on busy Saturdays, travel to shows and work under pressure, and reliably handle the horses without causing them more stress, consider hiring veterans.  Veterans are used to the rigors of tight schedules and limited resources. They know how to accomplish priorities on time, in spite of tremendous stress. They know the critical importance of staying with a task until it is done right. It is such a relief to have veteran men and women at the show barn when you are coaching ringside or warming up for a class, and they can even graciously greet a prospect who wanders into the hospitality room while you are away

Veterans know what it means to do "an honest day's work." Prospective employers can take advantage of a track record of integrity, often including security clearances. This integrity translates into qualities of sincerity and trustworthiness. This provides employer, clients, prospects and vendors visiting your stable with peace of mind and a sense of safety for themselves, their vulnerable children or family members with disabilities, and just as importantly, their family horse.  When the veterinarian must treat a colic case at 9:00 p.m. a physically fit, mentally alert, morally strong, female or male veteran who is not squeamish, trained in basic first aid emergency procedures, and will politely challenge a scruffy-looking stranger hanging around the cars of the owners in the parking lot is a welcome asset to your organization.

Extensive training means veterans are aware of health and safety protocols both for themselves and the welfare of others. Individually, they represent a drug-free workforce that maintains personal health and fitness. On a company level, their awareness and conscientiousness translate into protection of employees, property, and materials. They have valid driver's licenses and are likely to be good at driving large, heavy rigs with precious cargo in adverse conditions, such as your horse trailers, and at taking care of and using properly valuable and potentially dangerous farm equipment to drag your arena like tractors (the leading cause of accidents among farm workers).  They can read the maintenance instructions and operator's manual, and are accustomed to performing field repairs efficiently and without resorting to baling twine, rusty straightened baling wire, duct tape, or other trash that is unsafe, too temporary, or unsightly.

As of March, 2009, while the country as a whole experiences 8.1% unemployment, our veterans are suffering from 11% unemployment.  For men and women trained to be responsible, the inability to provide for their children is very difficult.  If you need any assistance using veterans service organizations and employment services to reach out to this outstanding workforce, or have any questions or reservations, please contact us for a free consultation.

Applicant Background Checks                                       (Top of Page)

People who work at your facility and could come into contact with vulnerable animals or people, such as children, women, or special needs adults, should pass a background check.  Prudent employers in the private sector and government sector require background checks.  Persons who will have access to financial, corporate, or confidential information, especially if their role is a "virtual" one, should be "vetted" by a background and/or credit check.  Even if you know the recruit personally, attending to these matters can make a difference in your insurance costs, as well as improve your professional image as a start-up or established business, and attract more people of quality as employees and clients.  Once upon a time in small town America and tight-knit city neighborhoods, this was unnecessary and impossible.  Today, with a mobile population of 330 million souls, it is both necessary and easily administered via the internet.  To skip this expense is simply not good business.

TIP: While you are thinking about this aspect of hiring, also consider your neighborhood, whether urban, suburban, or rural.  Take a few moments to go online and check your county or state law enforcement websites until you find the list of registered offenders.  Enter your zip code and see if a list turns up.  These are just the folks who have not changed addresses without notifying the authorities as required.  Just as schools, parks, playgrounds, carnivals and state fairs attract families, ladies, and children, so do horse shows and horse stables.  That is good for your business.  It is also attractive to people you do not want hanging around your customers or visitors.  Become an informed neighbor, and require visitors to stop in the office to sign your guest book before being escorted on a tour.  Don't allow clients to leave children unattended at your place of business.

Legal Immigration                                                                 (Top of Page)

Many states now require employers to use E-Verify to confirm that a job applicant is legally authorized to work in the United States.  Since the amnesty of the 1980's, employers were required to have an applicant complete the I-9 status form, confirming their citizenship with identification documentation, but without turning the form in to any government agency that could cross-check the identification presented.  E-Verify catches phony or stolen social security and driver's license information.  Many social justice political groups representing socially disadvantaged constituencies, and farming businesses dependent on cheap labor that does not rise in expense along with other costs, such as the meat-packing industry, and crop manual harvesting, are also powerful lobbies against E-Verify.  It is ironic that the exploiters and the exploited both want low wages, sub-standard living conditions, lack of benefits, and the crime that preys on these undocumented, untrackable workers to continue.  Boarding stables, horse trainers, riding academies, dude ranches, horseback riding camps, carriage ride concessions and equine-assisted therapy centers, however, produce a different product for a different clientele.  Their customers would rather have American citizens who need entry-level work, especially youth who can tolerate the rigors of manual labor, filling these jobs.  As the ICE raids on the packing plants have so powerfully illustrated, when 24 illiterate illegals who do not speak English are removed from these jobs, an average of 500 citizens line up to apply for them.

Our customers, typically white collar workers, especially females, appreciated the fact that we did not hire illegals like the other stables in our area.  They understood that our prices reflected a legal wage plus employer taxes, workers compensation, further training and end-of-year profit-sharing to retain quality workers attending to them, their children, and their horses.  Many of them owned businesses, or were responsible for departmental budgets of large and small companies, and were fully aware of the cost of hiring, paying, and retaining good workers beyond the bsic wage rate. Many told stories of frustration with trying to communicate about their horse or his care with laborers who did not speak fluent English, and the constant low-level worry this had created for them. 

We also experienced a lower incidence of end-of-season tack and equipment theft than our competitors, when it was time to pile the family and belongings into the pickup for the trek back South over the border.  In the few instances bridles and clippers disappeared, it perfectly coincided within 12 hours of when stable hands and grooms were leaving our neighbors' employment or taking a Christmas holiday.

So, use E-Verify.  It is easy and takes little time, and in many jurisdictions, it is the law.

Do You Need to Speak Spanish?

Your clients, employees, and local business vendors could be Hispanic.  The most important way to reach out to any population is to speak their language!  

 We've found a cost-effective Spanish language course that teaches American and Latin American colloquial Spanish, not fancy diplomatic corps Castillian Spanish. Click Here!

The vast majority of government grants today are specially ear-marked to serve socially-disadvantaged groups, in both rural and urban America, which includes Hispanics.  Those that are not, often require at least a percentage of the group you serve to be from those demographics.  The equine non-profits who have a plan to effectively work with these neighbors and possible participants is both forward-thinking and better situated to cope with an economic downturn. 

The Green Card Lottery.  Consider sponsoring immigrants from countries other than Mexico!  The United States issues 50,000 green cards annually via this lottery, plus another 5,000 set aside for citizens of Nicaragua and Central America.  Applicants registered for the DV-2009 program were selected at random from over 9.1 million qualified entries received during the 60-day application period that ran from noon on October 3, 2007, until noon, December 2, 2007. The visas were apportioned among six geographic regions from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States with a maximum of seven percent available to persons born in any single country. During the visa interview, principal applicants must provide proof of a high school education or its equivalent, or show two years of work experience in an occupation that requires at least two years of training or experience within the past five years.  Lottery winners must still complete the medical exam, proof of employment awaiting them, identity documentation, and criminal background check for all legal immigrants. Those who win one of the lottery cards have the opportunity to bring their spouse and children under age 21 with them and obtain Permanent Resident status and a chance at citizenship. Immigrant Visa Card, Inc. manages the application process.

Legal Temporary Agricultural and Other Workers More information from the Department of State concerning the three types of visas of interest to stables, horse farms, and equine-assisted activity facilities.  See the Employer Information.

H-2A classification applies to temporary or seasonal agricultural workers;

H-2B classification applies to temporary or seasonal nonagricultural workers. This classification requires a temporary labor certification issued by the Secretary of Labor (66,000);

H-3 classification applies to trainees other than medical or academic. This classification also applies to practical training in the education of handicapped children (50);

Contractors

The Veterans Business to Business Directory is an online resource to connect you to skilled small business owners, entrepreneurs, and services owned, operated and staffed by veterans.

Volunteers                                                                                         (Top of Page)

Volunteer Match is the largest volunteer online network where you can post volunteer opportunities at no charge. 

4laborsoflove.org is another very large volunteer matching network.  They also help you get started with volunteer background checks.  

Recognition                                                                          (Top of Page)

Recognition of your employees' and clients' accomplishments is an important part of retaining your best human assets and building your business.  There are many creative overt and subtle ways to recognize and reward people.  Often, our passion for horses or riding leads us to think that the benefit from the joys of interaction with horses is enough reward alone.  For the truly committed, for the supremely passionate few, who found a horse lifestyle, it is.  For everyone else, whose lives are not totally wrapped up in the venture 24/7, or for whom the novelty has worn off, peer and community recognition is a real boost to their motivation and continued participation. 

Think of our service men and women.  They represent a fraction of the patriotic citizenry - the fraction that volunteer to do tough jobs and make personal sacrifices, putting their families, their civilian careers on hold, and their very lives on the line, to serve.  When they return home, shouldn't the rest of us say "thank you" whenever, however, we can?  They know they have done well, and they did not do it to get a Homecoming Parade or special favors, but isn't our "thank you for your service" the minimum we owe them?  And, when we give that simple recognition of their willing sacrifice, don't they appreciate it very much?  They do.  It matters. 

Find some way to recognize everyone who invests time or money in your equine business as a customer or employee or regular vendor, besides delivering the service for which they paid, paying their bill promptly for services received, or cutting a good paycheck on time.  If you have to start with just sending thank you cards in the mail, DO IT.   If you need help devising a manageable recognition program that fits your resources of time and money, please contact us.

TIP:  Acknowledge your customers, employees, and vendors in your e-Newsletters, on your website, blog, or Facebook page.  Be sure, if you use photographs or videos, to obtain a proper photo release along with your liability release as part of your new customer or employee process.

President's Volunteer Service Awards   Did you know that any business, either profit or non-profit, can register to recognize employees or volunteers for their community service hours?  Did you know that the awards are very nice, and there is a lower hours requirement per award level for children?  How about that the administration is all done by the employees or volunteers or the automated database for you?  Yes, they set up their own accounts, so they can track their service for more than one group, and all you do is confirm their hours when you get a message that they have reached an award level.  But it gets better.  The awards are sent to the business or charity, so you can do a presentation.  What is the catch?  It costs you about $2.00 - $3.00 per award per person, or about $1.50+ per person when done in bulk for big projects.

So what are you waiting for?  It takes only minutes to sign up, and your organization can do first class volunteer recognition, which can only help with retention.

Best Trophies and Awards, Mesa AZ

MyFreeDegree.com helps find scholarships and grants for free education that can be given as a recognition to paid employees.  Did you know there are Equestrian scholarships available?

Branded Items for Staff, Clients, Tourists, & Special Events via e-Stores       (Top of Page)

Staff identification for visitors, professionalism, belonging to a team. and recognition are all reasons for making farm shirts, sweaters, vests, jackets, visors, hats, and headbands available to your stable employees.  Doing so also improves farm recognition off premises at horse shows, trail rides, and other special events, and helps staff find one another in crowds.

Do not underestimate the value of a coaster, calendar, mug, ball cap, refrigerator magnet, t-shirt, or mouse pad.  Companies worldwide spend millions per year to provide permanent positive reminders to clients, investors, employees, and, yes, vendors.  Small businesses that provide a recreational or hobby service have even more reasons to recognize staff and clients, vendors, tourists and special event or clinic attendees.  It is also important to identify staff as professionals, and volunteers on your property for visitors, at community outreach events, or to new clients.  While you may give a sports bottle or T-shirt as a gift, many people will gladly purchase additional items to enhance their sense of belonging.  Make it easy for them to do that, and put some money in the till at the same time.

Four of these methods are online shopping solutions that enable you to offer logo items without the initial outlay of cash for inventory to stock and resell.  What was formerly only available to larger companies is now accessible, via printing on demand and drop shipping to even the smallest home business and start-up non-profit.

Lands' End Business Outfitters E-Store.    Submit your logo, select your items, and receive commissions on purchases made by donors, clients, staff, and special event supporters.

CafePress  provides an e-Store that links from your website with items you select.  CafePress offers items with artists' work for sale from which you can select, or you can set up your e-Store with logo items from among thousands of products that are printed on demand with your logo, wording, photo or event artwork. You simply provide the artwork and make your selections and receive commissions on the sales.  No need to collect funds.

Fund-net  provides an e-Store that links from your website with logo items you select.  Fund-net specializes in logo items from among 800,000 products for non-profits, schools, clubs, teams, corporate, special events, and medical facilities.  You simply provide the artwork and make your selections and receive commissions on the sales.  No need to collect funds.

Public Speaking                                                                (Top of Page)

Is one of your board members, officers, or employees a dynamic speaker with a story to tell?  Has your organization implemented a successful program?  Have you overcome adversity?  Is your mission important?  Perhaps you can package that enthusiasm, knowledge and message into a half hour or fifty minute presentation.  While many opportunities to speak are not paid, others are.  It is appropriate to receive an honorarium for speaking, in addition to travel expenses.  The same presentation that you give as a guest speaker at a corporate event for $1,000 plus expenses might be delivered gratis to a non-profit association.  Why make the non-profit presentation?  In many cases, members in the audience are decision makers at for-profit or government agencies that would be able to pay for the same presentation to be given to their employees or customers.

Visit idealist.org and search their database of 3,668 speakers for some ideas of how presentations are marketed to non-profits, a friendly venue in which to get your feet wet and hone your topics that sell.

E-mail Surveys, E-Newsletters, E-invitations                           (Top of Page)

Communicate regularly with employees, special event volunteers, interns, and regular vendors who are on your premises every week through e-mail.  With templates, signatures, and distribution lists, you can quickly produce and send e-mails to each group using features in robust user e-mail software like Microsoft Outlook. 

If you want a more polished e-newsletter, with opt-in and opt-out subscription managed automatically for larger databases, the capability to conduct e-mail surveys and polls, and even event invitations, an online service stores your templates, address lists, and is able to import and export data. Three popular services are listed below: For more help, see our Advertising and Marketing Section.

Vertical Response includes a design template library for e-newsletters and polls, but no event invitations as do Constant Contact and iContact below.  It has a nice inexpensive printed postcard program.

 Constant Contact and iContact.  At present Constant Contact offers a longer trial period, while iContact offers a lower monthly rate. Service and features are comparable, so if you are just starting to use e-mail to communicate with distribution lists, besides individual messages, and do not foresee your needs growing dramatically in the near future, getting full service while spending $10 less per month is a good deal. 

Want some help getting started with one of these options?  Contact us.

Officers                                                        (Top of Page)

Volunteers, Paid Contractors                   (Top of Page)

Unless you are a Medusa and able to work a 24 hour day 7 days per week, 365 days per year, you need help.  If you have ever been a supervisor, manager, or small business owner, you know that staff turnover is costly in time and money and that training and supervising staff is a major part of running a successful enterprise of any kind. 

From Day One you need to recruit, identify skills and interests, train, and keep energized a group of volunteers.  Whether a volunteer cleans restrooms and mucks stalls, drags the arena and pulls weeds, or maintains your mission critical website, he or she is a valuable asset.

Almost one third of the U.S. population volunteers. Approximately 28.8 percent of Americans over the age of 16 volunteered through or for an organization in 2005. [Source: National Center for Charitable Statistics (NCSS)]

Volunteers CAN help for-profit businesses, as well as charities.  Ensure that unpaid workers are properly trained and supervised and given appropriate jobs, and declare them properly on insurance applications.  The most appropriate jobs are those that involve little risk, require the least training and supervision, are the most routine, require minimum client interaction, and do not directly contribute to producing revenue.

Image     

One of the most important influences on the caliber of employee or volunteer you can recruit is your business' public image.  No recruiting advertisements, no employee or volunteer recognition program, no training, no job perks will do more to help you attract the best qualified and most committed staff than a quality well-recognized public image in the community you serve. 

Safety                                                                                 (Top of Page)

If you have women, teenagers, or disabled individuals employed or volunteering on your premises, you also need to assure the adult ladies and the families of youth and workers with special needs as well as the clients with whom they may come into contact that the environment is safe.  For a very small group of employees and volunteers (yourself and your spouse operating a mom-and-pop ranch with a couple of teenage volunteers), background checks may not be necessary, nor training in protective behaviors for vulnerable populations.  However, the physical safety and security of the premises, including the lighting of the parking area for folks leaving the ranch after dark, is something you have an obligation to address.  Likewise, controlling visitor access in a friendly and welcoming manner is simply prudent.  Also, appropriate restroom arrangements other than entering your home at any time are critical.

Online Fillable Forms                                                                      (Top of Page)

Invariably, a glaring need exists to get paperwork under control.  An absolutely necessary evil of commercial equine operations paperwork such as applications, release forms, sign up sheets, timesheets, horse descriptions, show entry forms - you name it, have to be created, made available to the people who use them, completed, received by someone, used, and stored. 

Are your basic client, camp, clinic, show entry, or employee applications available on your website in obvious places?  Are they in a form that does not require specific software, like a certain word processor or spreadsheet package?  If they are forms with sections (fields) for the applicant to complete, or boxes to check, did you type a line or symbol, or create a database field that they can fill in without changing the form?  If you created a form, can they download it, fill in the data on their computer, save the form, and send it back to you as a form rather than just a document, so you can import it right into your client and lead management software and generate a report or make the information available to a staff member who does initial follow-up calls part-time from his home computer?  If you are not using fillable forms online, YOU ARE WORKING TOO HARD and you are reducing the chance that the visitor to your website will TAKE ACTION by as much as 50%.

For help turning your spreadsheets and documents into fillable forms in .PDF or other formats and making them available on your website, contact us for more information.

For online software to do it yourself, visit FormSite, an online web form builder  and look at the sample forms, like the camp registration, and the features of the free plan as well as those that cost money to use. There are templates for volunteer applications and other forms you might use.

Print                                                                                 (Top of Page)

Everything you produce for print distribution discussed on our Advertising and Marketing Resources page (press releases, media kit, brochures, etc.) must be available in digital form on your website, too.  This gives a prospective employee a good idea how to focus on his or her knowledge, skills, abilities and experience that are relevant to your equine business when applying for a job.  That saves both of you a great deal of time in the applicant screening process.  It also helps unqualified people realize that their skills do not match what you do.

Press Releases

Many publications are happy to print brief, well-written press releases accompanied by good photographs.  Do not underestimate the value of press releases for recruiting.  This is especially helpful for staffing seasonal businesses.

Need a press release written for your horse business and distributed electronically quickly?  Need a planned set of press releases for your next calendar year prepared and a list created of media to distribute it to?  Contact us for help.

Crisis Management                                                  (Top of Page)

Sooner or later something negative or sad happens and you may be asked to comment about it or even be interviewed for television, radio, or print coverage.  It could be something directly involving your stable, such as a fire, flood, loose horse, trailering accident, client fall from a horse, or current hay prices.  Or it could be something more general, even politically charged, like a proposed city ordinance or the national debate over horse slaughter.  Make sure employees know WHO is allowed to speak to the press.  For more information on this topic, see the Crisis Management Section in Equine Business Resources

Scheduling Tools, Communication, and Software        (Top of Page)

Organization is a powerful tool.  Meeting with creative people and service providers can be time consuming, and difficult for horse trainers who are on the road to shows and clinics.

Google Apps is a Suite of Web-based applications that include Gmail (email & chat including mobile devices), Google Talk (text and voice), Google Calendar (including meetings and shared calendars), Google Docs (create, share, collaborate on documents real-time), Google Sites (team sharing of internal information, employee handbooks, marketing materials an artist or writer is designing for you, a report for the bookkeeper, etc.), Start Page to collect all of the applications together.

Microsoft Small Business on MSN has many tools for small businesses for free or nearly free.

Meeting Coordination Tools                                             (Top of Page)

Scheduling a meeting of a planning committee, a board, part-time staff that work different shifts, or clients preparing for an out-of-barn show can soak up precious time.  Today, travel around town to attend a meeting is expensive in fuel as well as time.  People who would like to help you part-time or on an as-needed basis and have great skills to offer may live an impractical distance away or, due to a full time job, can only meet in the evening but can't drive to your farm at night.

Gain flexibility and participation by skilled advisors and part-time staff by holding meetings online, or a combination of online and at the farm.  Here are some tools to investigate, besides the traditional telephone conference call.  Can you do the part of your extra seasonal staff orientation and training that does not have to be hands on as an online seminar?  Can your board or officers meet this way some of the time?  How about standing committees of associations that you belong to?  Being on these committees can be valuable to your business, but can't take you away from the stable and revenue-producing activities.  That is probably true for the other members as well, so they may be quite receptive to learning to use online meeting tools. 

Can you offer online courses to supplement income?

Typically, the software offers access to both PC and Mac users, enables you to share your entire desktop, and transfer control to another user, as well as record the meeting.  Some offer video conferencing and/or audio conferencing, and current versions of most plans do not require downloading software to the attendees' computers.  Virtually all offer a free trial period and an unlimited number of sessions per month. Big variables among the industry leaders are:

1. the number of users per session ranging from 10 to 150,

2. the monthly fees ranging from $29 to $100,

3. whether or not they include onscreen live chat or integrated voice-over-internet (VOIP). 

Here are five major vendors for you to check out.

Safety, Emergency, and Disaster Planning                             (Top of Page)

September is National Emergency Preparedness Month each year.  The prestige and credibility of your equine business can be enhanced by providing community service as a partner with the Department of Homeland Security.  Using materials conveniently available through Ready.gov, you can distribute information and tools for large animal emergency planning, or coordinate local large stables, fairgrounds, racetracks, horse show venues, rodeo or roping arenas as temporary shelters in the event of an emergency. 

First Aid/CPR Training

This is a great time to re-train or review all your emergency procedures with your employees.  Also consider offering on-site First Aid/CPR training during this month.  To have enough people attending the classes to get the training provider to do an on-site session, consider inviting customers, or other horse businesses in your area to attend - perhaps a nearby horse rescue or tack shop, if not a training or boarding stable.

TIP: If your business works with the special needs population, consider a link on your website to: Disabilities/911, the disaster preparedness website for persons with disabilities.

As you develop your equine business' own safety, emergency, and disaster plans, don't forget to maintain good regular backups of your computer software and data, from email address books to online accounts to actual accounting data, contact databases, and horse records.  The first thing you may need to access following an evacuation may be your lists of clients and vendors.  No backups should be more than a week old, and if you need to subscribe to an automatic online service to get this peace of mind, you only need to use it once when a computer's hard disk crashes to realize it is worth every penny.

Board of Directors                                                       (Top of Page)

Having a Board of Directors is critical to the success of an organization.  For a start-up or a busy horse business, even a mom-and-pop, or family-run operation, it is imperative.  You must differentiate yourself from backyard horse trainer, breeder, or instructor wannabes or hobbyists.   

For all equine related businesses, profit and non-profit alike, that seek grants or loans from government agencies, or foundations,  having a board of directors speaks volumes about your ability to grow your business and step out of the statistics of overwhelming failure of entrepreneurial one-man-bands that have short lives and poor business practices because one horse trainer or one horse rescuer or one equine mental health therapist is trying to run a complex business single-handedly.

Speaking of being a one-man band, or mom-and-pop team, without a board of directors to provide support and a perspective one step emotionally removed from the day-to-day issues, sooner or later you will burn out.  If you are a riding instructor or retirement boarding stable operator who wants to do this until the day you can comfortably retire and just ride your own horses, or you are a horse trainer, or a travelling clinician, you need a group of supporters with whom you can share confidential business planning,  issues, and choices, including personnel management.  It is a big mistake to vent to clients or employees.  Many horse business operators are tempted to do so because with the long hours they work at the farm, the temptation is extreme.  Unlike other industries, there are few professional clubs with local chapters where they can talk business without customers present.  You are, however, in contact with employees and clients every day,  The urge to discuss farm affairs is strong, and in no time, concerned customers or well-meaning part-time employees who have differing goals are running your operation by ad hoc committee or developing conflicts among themselves that causes key employees or customers to pack up and take their skills, passions, or business elsewhere.

Board members not only have experience in areas you lack, and can thus help develop resources that would take you forever to "get up to speed on", but board members know people in your community.  Every person knows 250 people - whether it is a customer who can refer business, an employee who can refer more staff, or an investor who knows other people who might invest.  The same is true for your board of directors.  They know other people in their field, and they know other successful people generally, and key people, like suppliers, in your industry.  While a veterinarian on your horse lay-up and retirement facility board should not be expected to donate free veterinary care to paying retirees, he is probably called upon by manufacturers and wholesalers who have a marketing and sales budget.  The sales departments of these companies routinely give away samples, purchases raffle tickets, buy advertising in community events, etc. as normal ordinary sales expenses.  Your veterinary board member can funnel their largess to your outfit.  It is easy for him to ask the salesman during a regular quarterly delivery/sales call if XYZ company would like to buy a full page ad in ABC Sanctuary's upcoming Barn Sale promotional catalog going out to all the local horsepeople, or a sponsorship that underwrites their full page ad in the State Horse Monthly Magazine.   

But how to recruit a board, who to recruit for your board, and what their function should be, is what you need to master.  There are millions of businesses in the U.S.A.competing for the best, brightest, most capable board members to guide and enhance their organizations.  Some, as we have seen in 2008 repeatedly, are paying huge salaries to board members who are complete duds.  Before you begin recruiting, learn a little bit about how to identify the right people for your start-up or next-stage equine business, and how best to attract them and make the experience a win-win for both of you.

These books offers some very practical advice.  Don't just buy one and skim it once.  Read it and keep it near your desk as a reminder, just as handy as a phone book.

Once you are ready to recruit a board, it is possible to reach out beyond your small circle of friends, acquaintances, vendors and business contacts to find experienced business board members interested in your field.  As important as it is to involve your local community influencers, it is also important to enlarge your horizons. 

Keep your board energized and effective with the quick newsletter from CompassPoint, called Board Cafe.   Here's an example of one containing a succinct discussion of how to handle contact between staff/volunteers and your board to prevent undermining you as CEO, but enable positive communication to flow for committees, programs, and, if they arise, complaints. CompassPoint Board Cafe Communication Article  Here's another on ways to improve board meetings, with links to other sites of value to board members:

Another excellent resource for board members is Board Source  with links to information and helpful articles specifically for those with oversight and mission responsibility.

Cost-Savings

 Visit our Quarterly Tips, Forums, Blog, or Products for Horse Businesses and Senior Horse Resources section for ways to save money.

Encouragement and Motivation

 Sponsorahorse.org is a network of Equine Rescues with members only forums.

Simple Truths offers inspirational short videos on leadership, teamwork, customer service and many other aspects of life at work.  While their goal is to sell inspirational products as corporate gifts, watching one of their videos can be time well spent on a rainy day.

Other Resources                                             (Top of Page)

The Del Camino Horse Owner Products and Services catalog offers some horse products of interest to owners of senior horses, and horses being retrained or rehabilitated.

The Del Camino Stable Manager's Product and Services catalog offers products and services of interest to those operating a horse facility.

The Del Camino forums provide a place to network with other horse non-profits, and the blog covers related timely topics.

Horse Welfare Statistics

Product or Service Providers

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